Pest (hockey)

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In hockey, a pest is a player who attempts to annoy, anger, or distract opposing players in order to reduce their effectiveness. Pests can employ legal, illegal, or borderline tactics to accomplish their goals. These methods include trash talk, slashing and hooking while referees are not looking, and agreeing to fight and then either refusing to drop their gloves or waiting to do so in order to draw a penalty. If the pest is effective, he will draw penalties or draw opponents' attention to him and reduce their focus on the game.

Pests are different from enforcers, though some players play both roles.