There are a number of terms that you should be familiar with in order to better understand and enjoy the game of hockey. Once you know these terms, the game will be easy to understand. To begin with, the surface of the track is delimited by a series of lines. The line that divides the ice into two equal halves widthwise is the “center line.” It is more commonly called the “red line”. This line runs directly through the middle of the “faceoff circle”, where faceoffs occur at the start of each “period” and after a “goal” is scored. There are three periods in hockey, each 20 minutes long.
A “head-to-head” occurs when each team lines up with the umpire dropping the puck in front of the “centers” of both teams, who battle for control of the puck. There are also two matchup circles in each team’s “defensive zone” where matchups can also occur. The offensive or defensive zone of each team is the area inside the two blue lines. The blue lines are the most important in determining “offside” calls. A player is offside if he crosses the ice into his team’s offensive zone (over the blue line) before the puck does. If this happens, play is stopped and the puck is carried over the blue line, where a faceoff occurs.
There are also two lines at each end of the ice that mark the area behind the net, called “goal lines”. In addition to offsides, there is another time in ice hockey when play stops, called “icing”. Icing occurs when a player on the offensive team shoots the puck from behind the red line and across the blue line and goal line without anyone else touching it. When this happens, the umpire whistles, play stops, and the puck is lowered to the faceoff circle at the other end of the ice.
Each team has six players on the ice at a time in ice hockey, one goalie and five skaters. There are three forwards: The left, the right and the center. There are also two defenders on the ice at a time, the “left defender” and the “right defender”. A professional hockey team consists of four forward lines and three defensive pairings for a total of 18 players. A goalkeeper and a substitute goalkeeper complete the 20-player squad.
Penalties are another important component of ice hockey. There are several different ways a player can be penalized. The most common are “trip”, “hook” (with the stick), “interfere” (block another player from reaching the puck), “hold”, “cross” (hit a player with a stick when held by hand). two hands in front of you), “high hitting” (making contact with a player’s head or face or hitting the puck when it is above the height of the hockey goal), and illegal hitting. “Hits”, also known as “checks”, are legal in hockey and occur when one player knocks down another, or to the side, also known as “knocking down the puck player”. A hit is illegal if it is made from behind, from the “blindside” (when a player cannot see it coming), hitting a player when he is several feet from the boards (“tackling”), or with an elbow to the head (“nudges”). Minor penalties like these will result in a player being sent to the “penalty bench” for two minutes.
When a penalty occurs, the penalized player’s team must play with only four players. His team is then on the “death penalty” and the opposing team is on a “power play”, so called because they have a one-man lead for two minutes. “Heavy Penalties” are less common, and result in a player being “in the box” for five or ten minutes. These are awarded to players for certain types of penalties, such as fighting, or when a high stick or illegal hit injures a player or causes a serious injury, such as a cut that requires medical attention. Players can also be banned from games for serious penalties in some cases, and can be suspended for serious offenses. Multiple penalties may be called at any time for both teams, but the number of players on the ice for each team (other than the goaltender) may not be reduced to fewer than three players.
Other common hockey terms are “wrist shots” which are the standard type of shot played in hockey, “slap shots” which are a very hard and fast shot usually taken from the “spots” or the area on the ice between the top of the circle and the blue line, and “snap shots,” which are halfway between a wrist strike and a slap shot. A shot that scores, or goes past the goalkeeper and into the net, is called a “goal”. If the goalkeeper saves the shot, it is considered a “shot on goal” or a “save”. The relationship between saves and shots on goal is the goalie’s “save percentage”. The two players on the team who hit the puck before the goal are credited with “assists”. The player who scores is credited with a “goal”.
If a game is tied after 60 minutes or three periods of play, there is a five-minute overtime period where teams play four on four. This is a “sudden death” overtime, where the first team to score wins the game. If neither team scores during the overtime period, there is a “tiebreaker”, where players from each team can shoot the goalkeeper one at a time until the team with the most tiebreaker goals is declared the winner. However, during the playoffs, teams play 20-minute overtime periods until a winner is declared, with no penalties.
After an 80-plus game season, the sixteen teams with the best win-loss record (eight in each conference) enter the playoffs in a best-of-seven series. After three rounds of play, two conference champions (Western Conference and Eastern Conference) are declared, and the remaining two teams play in a best-of-seven series to determine who will win the National Hockey League Championship trophy, the “Stanley Cup”.