Ice hockey may have a reputation for fights breaking out in the US and Canada's National Hockey League (NHL), but that behaviour is prohibited in international games.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) state in their rulebook that fighting is "not part of international ice hockey's DNA".

This includes Winter Olympic ice hockey games.

Players who do get involved in fights could face penalties or be ejected from the game.

When suspensions are issued, they can be carried over from one IIHF event to another.

For instance, should a player be suspended in the gold medal match at the Winter Olympics, it would carry over to the next IIHF tournament.

However, fighting in the NHL is a regular aspect of the matches, for which both sides can be given a far less harsh punishment of up to a five-minute penalty for individual players.

At the 2026 Winter Olympics, there are 12 men's teams and 10 women's. Great Britain failed to qualify for the Games with either team.

But for the first time since 2014, we will see NHL players from the United States and Canada in action at an Olympics.

What are the Olympic ice hockey rules?

Each team fields six players on the ice, made up of five skaters and a goalkeeper.

The players are continually rotated from a game-day squad of 22 players.

There are three 20 minute periods during the game, where each side will aim to hit a puck into the back of the net.

Should scores be tied, there is a period of overtime, lasting between five and 20 minutes, depending on the stage of the tournament.

Crucially, skaters are reduced from five to three for both teams during overtime.

Whoever scores first in this period wins - and if it is still a tie, the match goes to a penalty shootout, apart from in the gold medal match where the winner must be decided through open play.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

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