Ice Hockey Rules

Modern ice hockey is a tremendously popular sport with legions of fans, often where it's cold. The National Hockey League is the main governing body in North America and has 30 franchises. Theirs are the conventions that will be described below.

Rink and equipment Ice hockey is played on an ice rink measuring 85 feet in width by 200 feet in length. Six players compete to shoot a puck using specially designed hockey sticks into the opposing team's goal. Regulation ice hockey goals measure 6 feet wide by 4 feet high. Holding the puck in the hand is prohibited, as is intentionally kicking the puck toward the goal. Unintentional redirections of the puck are permitted, but the use of hands is not. Players and positions The forward positions of the hockey team are comprised of a center and left and right wings. These players are the attacking component of a team and are often considered units. A team may have a number of forward lines that play together only. The defensemen line up by the goal, and the goalie defends the goal directly. The game is aggressive and players are encouraged to check opponents into the boards.

Rules governing puck movement

Offside- This is called when an attacking player enters the attacking zone prior to the puck entering the zone. This prevents a forward from hanging out near the hockey goal and waiting for a pass. If a defender moves the puck into his defensive zone (offenses attacking zone) an offside call will not be made. Play is stopped then resumed with a faceoff at a point near where the offence occurred.

Icing- An icing offense is called when a team shoots the puck past at least two red lines, the last of which is the opposing team's goal line, which runs the width of the rink and defines, with the goal posts, the hockey goal. A puck crossing the goal line and into the hockey goal results in no icing offense. The rationale is to keep play interesting by preventing weaker teams from shooting the puck down the ice without a plan. In professional play, icing is not called until a player on the opposing team (not the goalie) touches the puck. If the icing team or goalie touches the puck, play continues. Upon an icing call, a face off occurs near the goal in the defending zone of the icing team.

Out of play- Play is stopped if the puck goes over the glass, onto protective netting over the glass, onto the hockey net, or otherwise out of play. The puck is dead and a face off is held.