I have been tasked with a very intriguing predicament. I guess I never thought about it, but how does one explain the game of hockey to someone who has very little knowledge of the game? How do you explain it? Here, I will try to explain hockey as best as I can, from the basics to the more intermediate level. I can't go too deep because I'm afraid I don't even know all that much. Again, this is a post about the the game of hockey, in general. If you don't want to read this, you don't have to, I won't take offense. (ed. It's also going to end up being really long)
First, the really basic stuff. A hockey game consists of three, 20 minute periods. They are not quarters or halves, obviously, but still because other sports use quarters and halves, people sometimes don't think and call it quarters. There are five skaters on the ice per side, and one goalie per side. The skaters consist of three forwards (who try to score) and two defensemen (D-men, blue-liners) (who can also score, but are more focused on not letting the other team score, as the name defensemen would indicate.) If you commit a penalty, and there are a variety penalties to commit, you get sent to the penalty box for either two minutes, four minutes or five minutes, depending on the type and/or severity and/or discretion of the referee. When a player gets sent to the penalty box (the box) the team on which he plays for must play with only four skaters until the penalty time runs out. This is called a Power Play (PP) for the team with the man advantage, and a Penalty Kill (PK) for the team with the man in the box. A goal is scored when the puck passes completely across the goal line into the net. The net is a 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide and some other measurement deep. The start of play (both the start of a game or period, or also after any stoppage of play) is done with what's called a faceoff, where the referee drops the puck between two opposing players, who fight with their sticks to gain possession for their team. yada yada yada. The team with the most goals after 60 minutes of play wins. In the NHL, if there is a tie after three periods (regulation) there is a 5 minute overtime period, where each team plays with only 4 skaters (4 on 4) and the first team to score wins the game (sudden death overtime). If after the 5 minute overtime, there is no goal scored, it goes to a "shootout" where each team takes a turn having one skater attempt to beat the goalie one-on-one. In general, hockey purists hate the shootout, even though it's pretty exciting to watch as a fan. They say that a hockey game should not be ultimately decided by a glorified skills competition. Anyway, I digress...
This is going to be long, isn't it?
Offsides. There are three zones to a hockey surface. The attacking zone, the neutral zone and the defensive zone. Your teams goalie is in the defensive zone, and you wanna score on the attacking zone. When the team in possession of the puck skates down to attempt to score (on offense), the puck must cross the blue line into the attacking zone before any player of the attacking team does. So basically, you can't have a guy go down and stand next to the other teams goalie and wait for a huge, end to end pass and score. This is one of the more confusing rules, I've found, to new hockey fans. Also, icing.
Icing is when the puck gets shot (cleared) by a player in his own defensive zone all the way down the beyond the red, extended goal line on what would be his attacking zone. Does that make sense? Also, a player on what was on the attack has to go back and touch it for it to be icing. If a player who was on the defensive goes down and touches it first it negates the icing. The more I talk about icing, the more confusing it makes it sound. Basically, you can't fling the puck down to the other end of the ice when you're on defense. If you do, the faceoff comes back to your defensive zone and you can't execute a line change (change players on the ice). Any questions on this just ask me. That's really hard to explain.
Speaking of line changes, an entire hockey team usually consists of about 20 skaters and one starting goalie and one backup goalie. Typically, one goalie plays an entire game (unless he gets hurt or pulled (replaced) because he sucks). Players change on the fly, meaning there doesn't have to be a stoppage in play to change personnel on the ice. Teams usually consist of "lines" or groups of three forwards that are accustomed to being on the ice together (sort of a mini team). Also separate from the forward lines, there are usually pairs of defensemen that are on the ice together, but don't necessarily change when the forwards change. Linemates can get mixed up, it's okay, but a good strategy is to have the three guys on one line out there together, as they are used to playing together, and would have better chemistry, but it's not against any rule to just have any player out there along with any other player. Your first line would typically be your best players, but not always. The skill level of the players on each line decreases as you go from line one being your best and the fourth line being usually the guys who are lower skilled (plugs, grinders, muckers), but are needed to give the good players a break. When a line is out on the ice, it's called a shift. Shifts are usually short, and line changes happen frequently, so there is always fresh players on the ice (as often as possible.) The fourth line is where they stick the guys who fight, as well.
Fighting is accepted, in the way that if two guys engage in a fight, the refs won't break it up until one guy falls or if it's clear the fight is over. There an automatic five minute penalty (major penalty) for fighting, but since both teams get penalized, they just continue playing the game at five aside with they fighters in the box. This season there has been debate in whether fighting still has it's place in the game, since three different active players who are considered fighters died this past offseason. Anyway, everyone generally likes a good hockey fight. There is a great site dedicated to fighting called Hockeyfights.com.
Um...other tidbits: Between periods, the ice is "cleaned" by a machine called the Zamboni. Ice gets pretty chopped up by all the skating during the period, so the Zamboni comes out and lays down a fresh layer of hot water, which freezes, making a nice, new smooth surface. Um, the "original 6" teams are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup championships (the league championship trophy) which is far and away the most. Hockey is traditionally a Canadian sport, people in Canada go crazy for it, where as it's not the most popular sport in America. Let's see, what else...? That's really the basics. If you want to know more about strategy, you can look up different strategies like the Neutral Zone Trap, which most fans hate because it's kind of boring to watch, even though a lot teams have been very successful using it. I think after reading this, you would have a pretty clear understanding of the basics, but I really don't even know for sure. I've never had it explained to me, I guess, so I don't know how to explain it to someone ele. I hope this is helpful! I also hope this isn't something you could have just gotten from Wikipedia...
First, the really basic stuff. A hockey game consists of three, 20 minute periods. They are not quarters or halves, obviously, but still because other sports use quarters and halves, people sometimes don't think and call it quarters. There are five skaters on the ice per side, and one goalie per side. The skaters consist of three forwards (who try to score) and two defensemen (D-men, blue-liners) (who can also score, but are more focused on not letting the other team score, as the name defensemen would indicate.) If you commit a penalty, and there are a variety penalties to commit, you get sent to the penalty box for either two minutes, four minutes or five minutes, depending on the type and/or severity and/or discretion of the referee. When a player gets sent to the penalty box (the box) the team on which he plays for must play with only four skaters until the penalty time runs out. This is called a Power Play (PP) for the team with the man advantage, and a Penalty Kill (PK) for the team with the man in the box. A goal is scored when the puck passes completely across the goal line into the net. The net is a 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide and some other measurement deep. The start of play (both the start of a game or period, or also after any stoppage of play) is done with what's called a faceoff, where the referee drops the puck between two opposing players, who fight with their sticks to gain possession for their team. yada yada yada. The team with the most goals after 60 minutes of play wins. In the NHL, if there is a tie after three periods (regulation) there is a 5 minute overtime period, where each team plays with only 4 skaters (4 on 4) and the first team to score wins the game (sudden death overtime). If after the 5 minute overtime, there is no goal scored, it goes to a "shootout" where each team takes a turn having one skater attempt to beat the goalie one-on-one. In general, hockey purists hate the shootout, even though it's pretty exciting to watch as a fan. They say that a hockey game should not be ultimately decided by a glorified skills competition. Anyway, I digress...
This is going to be long, isn't it?
Offsides. There are three zones to a hockey surface. The attacking zone, the neutral zone and the defensive zone. Your teams goalie is in the defensive zone, and you wanna score on the attacking zone. When the team in possession of the puck skates down to attempt to score (on offense), the puck must cross the blue line into the attacking zone before any player of the attacking team does. So basically, you can't have a guy go down and stand next to the other teams goalie and wait for a huge, end to end pass and score. This is one of the more confusing rules, I've found, to new hockey fans. Also, icing.
Icing is when the puck gets shot (cleared) by a player in his own defensive zone all the way down the beyond the red, extended goal line on what would be his attacking zone. Does that make sense? Also, a player on what was on the attack has to go back and touch it for it to be icing. If a player who was on the defensive goes down and touches it first it negates the icing. The more I talk about icing, the more confusing it makes it sound. Basically, you can't fling the puck down to the other end of the ice when you're on defense. If you do, the faceoff comes back to your defensive zone and you can't execute a line change (change players on the ice). Any questions on this just ask me. That's really hard to explain.
Speaking of line changes, an entire hockey team usually consists of about 20 skaters and one starting goalie and one backup goalie. Typically, one goalie plays an entire game (unless he gets hurt or pulled (replaced) because he sucks). Players change on the fly, meaning there doesn't have to be a stoppage in play to change personnel on the ice. Teams usually consist of "lines" or groups of three forwards that are accustomed to being on the ice together (sort of a mini team). Also separate from the forward lines, there are usually pairs of defensemen that are on the ice together, but don't necessarily change when the forwards change. Linemates can get mixed up, it's okay, but a good strategy is to have the three guys on one line out there together, as they are used to playing together, and would have better chemistry, but it's not against any rule to just have any player out there along with any other player. Your first line would typically be your best players, but not always. The skill level of the players on each line decreases as you go from line one being your best and the fourth line being usually the guys who are lower skilled (plugs, grinders, muckers), but are needed to give the good players a break. When a line is out on the ice, it's called a shift. Shifts are usually short, and line changes happen frequently, so there is always fresh players on the ice (as often as possible.) The fourth line is where they stick the guys who fight, as well.
Fighting is accepted, in the way that if two guys engage in a fight, the refs won't break it up until one guy falls or if it's clear the fight is over. There an automatic five minute penalty (major penalty) for fighting, but since both teams get penalized, they just continue playing the game at five aside with they fighters in the box. This season there has been debate in whether fighting still has it's place in the game, since three different active players who are considered fighters died this past offseason. Anyway, everyone generally likes a good hockey fight. There is a great site dedicated to fighting called Hockeyfights.com.
Um...other tidbits: Between periods, the ice is "cleaned" by a machine called the Zamboni. Ice gets pretty chopped up by all the skating during the period, so the Zamboni comes out and lays down a fresh layer of hot water, which freezes, making a nice, new smooth surface. Um, the "original 6" teams are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup championships (the league championship trophy) which is far and away the most. Hockey is traditionally a Canadian sport, people in Canada go crazy for it, where as it's not the most popular sport in America. Let's see, what else...? That's really the basics. If you want to know more about strategy, you can look up different strategies like the Neutral Zone Trap, which most fans hate because it's kind of boring to watch, even though a lot teams have been very successful using it. I think after reading this, you would have a pretty clear understanding of the basics, but I really don't even know for sure. I've never had it explained to me, I guess, so I don't know how to explain it to someone ele. I hope this is helpful! I also hope this isn't something you could have just gotten from Wikipedia...
