How much physical contact is allowed in Ice Hockey ?
In the rules of hockey a player is allowed to contact another player in order to remove the puck from his presence. The contact must in no way be intended to injure the player. The stick must not be used to contact the other player either intentionally in order to remove him from the puck or inadvertently through careless use. A player in contacting another player shall not drive the player into the boards with unnecessary force. Such force is interpreted as being two complete steps prior to contact. One must also not contact a player unless he is in possession of the puck. That in a nutshell are the rules on body checking in hockey. Anything above or beyond that is punishable by the offending player being awarded a penalty to be served off the playing and the player is not to be replaced on the playing surface until expiration of such penalty or the non offending team scoring a goal.
