Hockey 101: The Basics

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my articles. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the kind words about them.

However, I've also come to notice while people enjoy reading them, they also tell me they don't know enough about the sport to fully enjoy them.

Well, I am here to help.

Hockey is easily the most difficult sport to understand. Not only are the rules a little tough to pick up on, but there are little intricacies to make the game as exciting as it is.

It took me a long time to fully understand the game, as I grew up in a small town and hockey was really the only sport that my friends and I played. We didn't know all the rules, we just played the game because we loved it.

Hockey is my favorite sport, and to appreciate the game, I am going to pass my knowledge on to each person who reads this, so they can fully understand how hockey works.

Ok...let's tie up some loose ends and go through the VERY basics:

Hockey is a game which consists of two teams, each with 5 skaters and 1 goaltender. Points are attained by scoring goals, which consists of a puck crossing the goal line into a net that is 4 feet high and 6 feet wide.

Ice Hockey is played on a very thin sheet of ice. This ice is usually no thicker than a 1/4 inch. The rink is surrounded by wooden boards and sheets of Plexiglas with "stanchions" separating each piece of glass. There are also safety nets that keep pucks from flying dangerously fast into the stands on each end of the rink.

Too basic? Oh well...someone probably had a question about it.

The hockey rink itself is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. There are also 3 zones separated by 3 lines on the rink for each team. There is the defensive zone, the neutral zone, and the offensive zone. The thin red lines at each end of the rink is called the goal line. There are also 9 dots on the ice where a face-off occurs.

Here's an example of what a standard hockey rink looks like:


The game is started by dropping the puck at the center ice circle for either team to gain control of it. This is called a face-off.

Still too basic? Ok..let's dig a little deeper.

Once your team wins a face-off, you can penetrate the offensive zone by playing the puck past the offensive blue line before any player crosses it. However, if one of your players goes past the blue line before the puck, the play is deemed off-sides, and there will be a face-off back in the neutral zone.

For example: A player skates with the puck, and allows the puck to go past the blue line before he crosses it. That's ok..it's not off-sides. If he goes past the blue line before the puck does...that's off-sides, and the play is dead.

Now this is where off-sides can get confusing. If all 5 players are inside of the blue line, but the puck goes back out to the neutral zone...all 5 players have to go back and stay at the blue line, and wait for the puck to cross it again...otherwise, it's off-sides.

Not too difficult to understand right?

If your team shoots the puck past the goal line before approaching the red line at center ice, and the opposite team touches it first, this is called icing. When icing occurs, the face-off is taken at either one of the circles in your team's defensive zone.

Icing can be canceled if one of your players touches the puck first, the goalie leaves the crease, or if the puck is playable by a player.

Off-sides and icing are two of the harder things to understand in hockey.

So we've got the basics covered...now on to the good stuff.

Goals - A goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line and goes into the net. A goal will not be counted if the puck sits on the goal line. A goal can be scored off of a shooter's stick or off of a deflection.

A deflection is when the puck is shot, and it hits something on the way to the net, changing it's course. Usually, the goalie does not have time to react to the new direction and the puck goes in the net.

A goal can also be counted off of an unintentional re-direction. For instance, if a player shoots the puck, but it bounces off his teammate's skate and goes across the line...it is a goal.

However, the puck cannot be intentionally kicked, thrown, or a player cannot bat the puck in with his stick if it is raised higher than the crossbar. For instance, a player shoots the puck, and another teammate kicks it into the net..it is NOT a goal.

A little confused? The rule is that there cannot be any distinct kicking or throwing motion to bat the puck into the net.

Other than that, there's really no other way you can score a goal. There are penalties that award goals...but we'll get to that another time.


Cam Ward - Goaltender - Carolina Hurricanes, photo courtesy BBC.

Another thing people may find confusing is shots and saves. A shot is an attempt to get the puck on goal past the goalie. A save is a shot that a goalie stops. For instance, the goalie made 20 saves on 21 shots. It means he allowed 1 goal and stopped the puck from entering the net 20 times.

Common sense? Yes...but here's the issue.

You may hear the term "Shot blocked" OR "Off the post!" These are not shots that are attempted on goal because the goalie does not touch them. A shot is only counted when the goalie makes contact with the puck, or if it goes into the net.

For example: A team may have 47 shot attempts, but only 21 shots. That means 26 other attempts to get the puck on goal failed. Those attempted shots are either blocked, knocked out of play, or miss the goalie and net completely when released.

Ok...so we've got a lot of the basics covered here...but just a few more things.

Checking - If you ask me...checking is the most important thing in hockey. If you have played chess, it's pretty much the same thing.

Checking is when you have your man or zone covered.

There is fore-checking, back-checking, and just regular checking.

However, they would be a little too complicated to explain now. Let's just break it in one thing at a time. We'll get to strategies at some point.

Well I think that's all for now. Since hockey season will be wrapping up soon, I am going to post these types of articles over the summer.

Hopefully by fall, you'll understand it to where you can enjoy every moment and not be curious as to what just happened.

If you have any questions or want something specific answered, feel free to email me at psychogoalie34@gmail.com

Next article: Penalties and Stats.

Until then, keep your stick on the ice.