The NCAA rulebook is pretty explicit about when a DQ is assessed versus a 
GM.  The penalties are defined in Rule 4.  GM is 4-4b and is basically 
"get out of here" with the player leaving the game being played with 
no further penalty.  A DQ is defined in 4-5 and includes ejections from 
subsequent games in a progressive manner.  DQs can also generally 
result in further penalties assessed by the league.

The NCAA rulebook also has a "Summary of Penalties" section where you can 
quickly scan the different situations that result in one or the other.  If 
you do this, it is immediately obvious that the DQ is the more severe 
penalty.

You will not find boarding under the DQ list; as you pointed out, it 
warrants a minor or major.  However, I imagine the DQ was added under 
6-13, which allows a DQ to be assessed for excessive roughness.

J. Adam Butts
[log in to unmask]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2009, Mark Lewin wrote:

> At the conclusion of the RPI-Cornell game, RPI  defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer
> checked a Cornell forward into the boards starting a near brawl, which,
> fortunately, was contained by the officiating staff.
>
> The Cornell forward was down on the ice was a long period of time.  At this
> point, I don't know the name of the player nor the extent of the injury.
> However, Burgdoerfer received a 5 minute major for boarding (meaningless
> since the game was over) as well as a game disqualification.
>
> My curiosity took me to the rule book to find out what the distinction is
> between a game misconduct and a game disqualification (other than the
> obvious suspension for one or more games that comes with the
> disqualification). The rules stated that boarding could be a minor or a
> major penalty at the discretion of the referee based on the violence of the
> contact with the boards.
>
> However, I couldn't find anywhere in the rules any guidance as to when a
> referee calls a game misconduct vs a game disqualification.  I've always
> used a rule of thumb that a game disqualification comes from the referee's
> perception of an "intent to injure" but I've never seen anything in writing
> to back that up. In this specific instance, a game misconduct would have
> been meaningless since the game was over.
>
> Does anyone know what the guidelines are in the NCAA between assessing a
> game misconduct or a game disqualification?
>