How Ice Hockey is played
The Pitch
An Ice Hockey pitch is of course made out of ice and the game has regular breaks so the ice can be resurfaced to keep it smooth throughout the match. Unlike most goal based sports in ice the players are allowed in a small area behind the goal line, known as the end zone, and the corners are rounded to prevent the puck getting caught up. Including the center line and goal line at either end there a total of 5 lines. The extra two are used for marking the offensive and defensive zones. The two lines are painted in blue as opposed the others which are red. The area between the two blue lines is called the neutral zone. There are also two circles at each end on either side of the pitch used for face offs.
Teams
Each team is allowed a total of 6 players on the pitch at any one time, unless of course a fight occurs. The largest ever fight in ice hockey involved all the players and the managers and staff of each team. A team will typically have 20 players which usually consist of 12 attackers, 6 defenders and 2 goalkeepers although keeps can vary this. Unlike many European sports Ice Hockey does not limit the number of substitutions used in a game. This can be made at any time although they are not allowed if the defending team is icing.
Icing
Icing is when the defending team hits the puck behind the other team’s goal line from their own half. If the opposing team then touches the puck, before the defending team, a face off is given in the offending teams half. If the team that hits the pucks reaches it first then the call becomes invalid and play continues. This rules varies when international games are played and the face off is given as soon as the puck crosses the goal line regardless of who reaches it first. Although to Europeans this rule may seem a little over complicated it prevents teams playing a “hit and run “strategy and adds to overall enjoyment of the game.
Pitching
When a team is pitching it there objective to prevent the opposing team from making runs. They do this in a variety of ways. Firstly the pitcher will throw the ball in such a way that makes it harder for the batter to hit or get a clean shot. When the pitcher throws the ball it is important that he is not misleading to the batter, for example he can’t feint the pitch. He must also pitch the ball in a certain area close to the batter. He can curve the ball and pitches can be incredibly fast, the fastest ever being recorded at 106 MPH. If the batter fails to hit a shot within 3 attempts or strikes he declared out. A batter can also be declared out if the ball is caught straight off his bat. Another thing the team pitching can do it attempt to get players out between bases. They do this by getting the ball to the base before the player reaches it or hitting the player with the ball. Because only one player can be on a base at one time players will often be forced to run to a base when there is a good chance there will be out. Also player on bases will attempt to sneak forward before the ball pitched and so it is also the pitchers job to be aware of this quickly throw the ball to his team mate on base when the player he left it. If this is successful the player will be declared out.
Periods
An Ice Hockey game lasts a total of 60 minutes and is spit into 3 periods of 20 minutes. After each period the pitch re-iced, or flooded, to maintain a smooth playing surface. If at the end of normal time the game is still a draw the games goes into overtime which a sudden death first to score wins scenario. This is however limited to a maximum of 5 minutes with each team only allowed 4 players. At the end of 5 minutes there is a shootout. This is not the same for the NHL playoffs where there is a 20 minute fixed period of 20 minutes with 5 players in each team. In the playoff there is no shootout and if at the end of 20 minutes there is still no winner it goes to sudden death until a team scores and declared the winners.
Shootouts
In a shootout each team get 3 chances to shoot at goal. Unlike European football these are not static. The shooter starts from the center and skates towards the goal. They can then shoot from wherever they want, although typically it is very close to the goalkeeper. If at the end of the shootout the scores are still level the shootout goes to sudden death until a winner is decided.
Penalties
Penalties in Ice Hockey are complicated for most Europeans to fully understand. When a player receives a penalty he is sin binned for a period of time, 2 minutes for a minor offense such as tripping or blocking, 4 minutes for a minor offence which result in the offended player drawing blood, 5 minutes for a major offence such as a hit from behind or to the and head and a 10 minute period for players committing more dangerous major offences. With minor offences if the opposing team scores the offending player may return to the pitch however with a major offence they serve the full time regardless of goals scored. There are also game misconduct penalties which result in the player being sent off for the remainder of the game and the player may even be punished further after the game.
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