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Introduction

Ice Hockey is one of the world’s most popular ice sports and is played mostly in places that have cold winters: Canada, Europe, Russia, and the U.S.

Hockey is played on a large ice rink with colored markings that divide it into smaller sections. Teams are small: six players on the ice at a time, including the goalie, two defensemen, and three “forwards” (offensive players) called a center, a right wing, and a left wing. Hockey has the distinction of requiring a lot more equipment than most other sports, because a hockey player needs quite a lot – a stick, a full set of body pads, a helmet, and two skates.

Hockey is not an extreme sport, but it is a contact sport. Players will body check each other frequently, and while this might seem violent viewing, the sport has matured quite a lot since its birth.

How to Play

A standard hockey game is 60 minutes long, divided into three 20-minute periods with short break in between. Each team’s net is at the far end of the rink, and the ice markings divide the rink into four rectangular sections: one around each net and two in the middle. Play begins in the middle of the neutral zone in a face-off circle, where the puck is dropped and each team’s center fights for possession. Trying to pass the puck to a teammate who is more than one section away is a foul play called icing, so the puck is usually brought up and down the ice by players rather than passed around.

A goal is scored whenever the puck is shot into a team’s net, and the team with the most goals at the end of the game is the winner. In the event of a draw, the teams play additional periods until one team finishes with a goal lead. During play, hockey players use their sticks to handle the puck, pass it to teammates, and take shots on the net. Doing all of this while skating on ice is very difficult, and it can take a long time for a hockey player to develop these skills.

Hockey is a contact sport and there is a lot of physical punishment during a game, but there are rules: players must keep their sticks below their waists, and cannot use them as weapons. A check – which is one player slamming another into the boards or the ice – must follow certain limits or the checking player risks a penalty from the referee. Incurring a penalty can mean a player is put in the penalty box, and his team will be down a player for a short time – up to two minutes in severe cases.

How to Spectate

Spectating hockey can be difficult at first: players are rushing up and down the ice, the puck is very small, and the positions can change on the fly as the situation calls for. Players can also be changed during play, which means that a hockey team could potentially cycle through its entire roster in a game.

More than other sports, it is important for spectators and viewers to follow the puck: the place of the puck determines whether a team is on offense, on defense, about to score, or sitting in a comfortable position. Players don’t often have the puck stolen from them, but with five opposing players on the ice, being checked and losing possession is a constant risk.

Leagues

In Canada and the U.S., ice hockey is mostly monitored and regulated through the National Hockey League (NHL). Although the NHL includes many American teams, the majority of its players and most of its star players are Canadian. Hockey is a popular sport at the college/university and high school levels in Canada.

Outside North America, there are many leagues in Europe for the various nations there, and many of these leagues distinguish between amateur and professional play, just as in North America.

European, Asian, and Russian ice hockey feed into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), which is the premiere professional league outside of the NHL.

Trivia

Fighting is also a somewhat common occurrence in hockey, not just because players’ tempers can flare on the ice. Fights between players are a historical way for teams to settle their differences on the ice, and in the past there were even players who specialized in getting into fights. These players, colloquially called “goons,” would start fights with key players on the other team. Once the fight was broken up and both players were sent to the penalty box, one team would be down a goon – no great loss – and the other team would be down its key player.

The practice of being a goon has mostly disappeared in professional ice hockey, and teams do not retain players simply for their ability to fight. Fights have shifted into a way for players to blow off some steam on the ice – provided nobody gets hurt.