Hockey 101 for Heated Rivalry/Game Changers Writers
Yeah yeah okay, I'm doing it. My qualification is that I've been a hockey fan for over a decade and am very spoiled and have been to countless NHL games, including one where my boys won the Stanley Cup. I have watched the show, I have not read the books.
I'm presuming the NHL and MLH have the same rules. I'm going to try and keep this as basic as possible, so here's a PDF for anyone that is committed. Wikipedia is also a decent resource. Some shit gets complicated, so I will tell y'all to just look at the rules if you really want to dig into something.
These are the current rules and some stuff has changed, but I don’t think it would make an insane difference unless you're going into insane detail. Also tbh if you’re the kind of writer who cares about ensuring that the gameplay rules are accurate for your fic set in 2014, you may as well just go whole hog and get into hockey.
This is not meant to help you understand hockey as a viewer. This is so you can add little details to your fic without them sounding absolutely fucking bananas. I’m also not trying to put anyone specific on blast, but I’ve seen some details where it is Very Obvious that whoever wrote it did not bother to look anything up. And that’s fine if you don’t want to tbh, but I do think research can really improve the feel of a fic.
I did try to make this sort of coherent, but it did also get... long. If anyone thinks anything is missing, feel free to add to it.
GAME BASICS
A game is made up of three 20-minute periods, with two 18-minute intermissions between. During intermission the teams will return to their locker room and do not remain on the ice or the bench.
The clock only runs while the puck is in play. This means that there are frequent stoppages in play due to all sorts of shit (see above PDF for details) and the average hockey game at an NHL level lasts about 2.5 - 3 hours.
A team is made up of 20 players total: 18 skaters and 2 goalies. This means that each team has 4 lines. There can only be up to 6 players on the ice at a time per team. Traditionally it is 1 goalie, 2 defense, and 3 forwards (center, left wing, right wing). Ilya, Shane and Scott are all centers.
A "line" is the group of 5 players (minus the goalie) that play together on the ice at any given time. When a line is on the ice it is known as a "shift" and shifts generally last anywhere from 45-90 seconds.
Hockey is very very fast, those players are hopping on and off the bench constantly. Lines can also change, it is not unusual for a coach to switch up who is on ice with who at any given time.
Teams are allowed to pull the goalie and add an additional skater onto the ice, leaving an empty net. This typically happens late in the game (by late I mean 3 or so minutes left to play) if the team is down 1-2 points OR on a delayed penalty.
If a team is doing badly sometimes the goalie will be pulled and replaced with the backup goalie. This is a fun “oooh game not going well” detail. The goalie is generally pulled during an intermission, if the goalie is pulled in the middle of a period that means shit is going Very Badly.
Hockey games are generally low scoring, meaning that if any team gets more than idk 4 goals in one game it is considered a little unusual.
Games cannot end in a tie. If the score is still tied after three periods it will go to sudden death over time. Read up on this more if you want to utilize it.
An assist is when someone passes the puck to another player before they score (first) or to another player who then passes it to the scoring player (secondary). First and secondary assists are both counted towards a player’s total points but not towards their total goals. Read up more on this if you want to utilize it.
A hockey team will have one captain and two alternate captains, the C and the A’s. Some teams won’t have a captain at all. Due to their position a goalie cannot be a captain.
There are two kinds of on ice officials: referees and linespeople, commonly referred to as linesmen. Read up more on the difference if you want to utilize them. I presume there was some sort of conservative uproar when the NHL changed linesmen to linespeople a couple years ago. In a fic set within the HR/GC universe, using the term linesmen is more accurate.
Actually here’s a list of shit you should just read the fucking rules or wikipedia articles or something for, because they’re useful details to sprinkle in, and if I put them in here I’d just be paraphrasing the rule book: icing, offside, face off, delay of game, shootout.
The season itself is very long and runs from early October to mid April. There are 82 regular season games, 41 away and 41 home. The pre-season starts at the end of September and includes usually around 6-8 games. Playoffs go from mid April to early June and can include up to 28 games. These boys are BUSY.
PENALTIES
I'm going to be so bare bones on penalties because they get complicated. See the above PDF for excruciating detail.
If a team gets a penalty, one player will go sit in the penalty box as punishment for a period of time. A minor penalty is 2 minutes, a double minor is 4 minutes, and a major penalty is 5 minutes.
If a team has a player in the box they are on the penalty kill or are a man down, i.e playing with 4 skaters while the other team has 5 skaters. If a team does not have a player in the box they are on the power play or have the man advantage.
Teams on a penalty kill are allowed to ice the puck. (Seriously, go read the wiki article on what that is.)
If the game clock is stopped, the penalty countdown also stops.
A minor penalty can become a double minor if someone is injured and becomes bloody. Bloodied players may not return to the ice until the bleeding has stopped.
Fighting is ALWAYS a 5-minute major penalty.
It is possible for more than one player to be penalized at the same time.
Special Teams refers to players who specifically play either on the Penalty Kill or on the Power Play. Sometimes players will be on both, sometimes neither. Read more on this if you want to utilize it.
Players can be ejected from a game entirely, meaning that they’re not just in the penalty box, they cannot return to the ice at all. This is referred to as a Game Misconduct. Read more on this if you want to utilize it.
EDIT: it is possible for a goalie to receive a penalty. If this happens a skater will serve the penalty on the goalie's behalf, the goalie will not go to the box and remains in goal.
FIGHTING
Fighting is not as common in the NHL as it used to be, but it does still obviously happen. Common reasons for a fight: looked at my goalie wrong, hit my captain, the game is going badly and I’m mad about it, etc.
Just shoving at someone and talking shit does not qualify as a fight. A fight needs to include actual punches thrown, gloves coming off, helmet coming off, etc.
Players are not allowed to remove their own helmets before a fight, but they are allowed to take off their gloves. Glove removal signals an intention to fight, a player would not “drop the gloves” if they did not intend to start throwing punches.
Most hockey fights look like two players grabbing each other by the jersey and spinning around a bit while throwing punches and mostly missing, before getting a good hit or two in. It does not look like a boxing match. Check out hockeyfights if you want to see what that looks like.
The linespeople will let players go at it for a little while before pulling them apart, and it is unusual for the on ice officials to allow more than one fight to go on at a time.
If a player is not involved in a fight they are supposed to go hang out by their bench. This is why the official was yelling at Ilya to go to the bench when Shane was injured.
There are occasionally brawls that clear benches, but those are also unusual. The inciting incident for that would have to be major.
Star players like Shane and Ilya would (generally speaking) not get into a ton of fights, and it would be considered unusual for a talented player that puts up a lot of points to go around punching people.
“Goons” or players that are known for getting into fights and nothing else basically don’t exists in the NHL anymore. However, it is not unusual for a player to be known as an “enforcer” or the guy that intimidates other players, gets into fights, etc. Ryan Reaves is a good example of that kind of player.
INJURIES
Playing injured is not unusual, especially during the playoffs. The in show detail of Ilya playing with fucked up ribs is not weird. Frankly what’s weird is Shane going “I can’t believe you played with those bruised ribs” because playing while injured is the norm. Shane himself has absolutely also done it. Every year, as teams get pushed out of the playoffs, you will find out about people playing with broken fingers, busted ankles, broken ribs, etc.
Teams can be very secretive about their injured players, especially close to/during the playoffs. For example, at the beginning of a season someone may have a knee injury, but closer to the playoffs the same injury will instead get described as a “lower body injury” with no additional information.
It is also not unusual for hockey players to undergo major surgery while extremely young. This is a very dangerous high contact/high impact sport, and there is a lot of wear and tear in addition to the risk of injury. I'm literally talking like a 25-year-old needing double hip replacement surgery and shit.
Potential for some fun angst re: chronic pain for these characters. They are constantly achy and covered in weird bruises and scrapes. Bring up concussions and CTE if you wanna get real into it.
Players will frequently get injured on ice, go to the locker room to get stitched up or something, and then come back on ice to continue playing.
Statistically speaking they are all missing teeth. At minimum they’ve had at least one or two of their front teeth replaced. Those suckers get knocked out all the time, hockey teams have emergency dentists on standby.
PHYSICALITY
A player’s body will change drastically over the course of a season. During the summer/off season it is not unusual for a player to bulk up on a lot of muscle, and then as the season progresses slowly lose it and become skinnier as they have less time to keep up that bulk.
Bring up bag skates if you want a “that was a rough practice” detail.
They’re also eating a lot during the season. They’re eating until they’re sick of it, 5 meals a day type stuff. Shoving as much pasta and potatoes into their face as possible. Yes, Shane has his weird diet, but with the amount of physical work players do, they need a lot of re-fueling.
PLAYOFFS
The Cup Final is always played between an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference team. It is NOT POSSIBLE for Montreal and Boston to play against each other in the Cup Final as they are in the same conference. This also applies to Montreal and Ottawa.
A team must win 16 games in a best of 7 tournament in order to win The Cup. Again the playoffs will literally last from like mid April to early June.
Best of 7 tournament means that a team must win 4 games against an opposing team in order to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
If a team wins 4 games in a row that is called a sweep and it's a fun "oooh so good at hockey" detail.
Having a playoff series go to Game 7 is good tension, because it means both teams are fighting to avoid being eliminated from the playoffs.
Playoff games can be very long. The teams will keep playing 20-minute sudden death periods until someone scores. Read up on playoff over time if you want to utilize this, as it is different from regular season over time.
MISC.
Hat Trick: when a single player scores 3 goals in the same game. Also known as a “hattie” it is tradition for the crowd to throw their hats onto the ice when a player gets a Hat Trick.
Gordie Howe Hat Trick: when a single player scores a goal, gets an assist, and gets into a fight in the same game.
Dick Trick: when a single player scores 4 goals in the same game. Dick Trick is NOT an official term, announcers will not mention it but they will mention a Hat Trick or a Gordie Howe Hat trick. The reason it’s called a Dick Trick is because Tomáš Hertl once scored 4 goals in one game, and afterwards Joe Thornton said to a reporter: “I'd have my cock out if I scored four goals. I'd have my cock out, stroking it.”
Short Handed Goal: when a player on the penalty kill scores a goal.
The general theory is that Shane is based off of Sidney Crosby and that Ilya is based off of Alexander Ovechkin. Watch some of their play to get an idea of the kind of players they are on the ice.
Ovechkin recently broke Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record of Most Career Goals, so you could have a fun thing where later in his career Ilya does something equivalent. And by “later” in his career I mean like a season before he retires.
The Crosby comparison also makes Ilya’s “weak backhand” comment especially funny, because Crosby is generally known as having one of the best backhands in the league. Also his ass is huge. Speaking of!
Hockey Ass: hockey players have big butts. It’s a known phenomenon.
It is considered bad luck for a player to touch The Cup if they have not won it.
Okay I’ve been staring at this for like three hours and I know it's missing stuff but I want a nap.
Shane being like for the next two weeks I’m begging you to just tell me what you’re thinking this is my two weeks off a year I am not spending it trying to read social cues I am exhausted
I bet young Ilya Rozanov never thought he’d get slapped in the face with that tism rizz and he would be so fucking cooked.
This man has eight of the same shirt and five of the same hoodie. This man memorizes hockey stats for fun. This man will have a cold ginger ale. This man will look awkwardly at the camera with a smile like he wants to incinerate himself in every wet t-shirt contest sports drink ad his mom books for him. This man will take everything you say absolutely literally. That’s French, Ilya. You just said a French word and we’re talking about Russian, are you unfamiliar with your own language. This man takes three days to recognize a social cue. And ten years to name an emotion. You’ll tell him you like him in the most roundabout way and you’ll think you NAILED it, and he’ll promptly have a panic attack on your dick. When he names that emotion finally? He’ll be absolutely relentless and will not stand down; he’s had an emotion and he knows you have one, too. By that point, there’s no escape. He’s imprinted on you and is starting to ovulate in your vicinity. He will bludgeon you with adorable nerd and insatiable ass. And his oral fixation is so mighty he’ll suck your remaining brain cells out through your dick.
This man drives a Range Rover because it’s good in the snow. This man does a loon call. This man will make you eight cheeseburgers. Buddy it’s over for you.
Rose Landry highest self esteem of all time. she has mediocre sex a couple times with a guy who seems not all that into it and goes "hm. Well, I'M definitely not the problem. the only possible answer is that he is Gay."
shane folds his clothes when he takes them off and sticks to a strict macrobiotic diet and has multiple beautiful homes because he understands that things that he values must be cared for and maintained. he goes to the aquarium with hayden and his kids even though he isn't shown to be entirely comfortable with them and goes to the club with rose even though he's tired and doesn't particularly like clubbing for the same reason. what matters to him deserves his attention and his care, both big and small, because consistent effort is the only thing he knows how to offer
ilya is desperate to take care of the people that matter to him. he wishes his relationship with his brother was better, that he knew his niece, that he'd been able to look after his father, that he'd somehow been able to save his mother from herself. he tells his team he loves them and he means it. there is so much in him that is not only desperate to be loved, but to love. svetlana takes care of him and also allows him to take care of her. he can just love her as he wants to love her and she never turns her nose up at it, but she's the only person he has
shane and ilya go to so much effort not to care about the other too much. to not show their hand and ruin everything. except shane is watching and worrying over ilya from the beginning, from his smoking through to his concern over his father before he knows anything to not letting him carry his bag with bruised ribs. ilya has been hoarding information on shane, knowing as a way of caring when with his father and mother knowing was all he could offer them. he notices his clothes and when they change, he knows what he likes to drink and the temperature he prefers it, he's gentle when he teases him about not halving the recipe and so soft when he reassures him when he's overwhelmed. he's so clearly reveling in being able to take care and comfort the man he's spent years yearning to take care of and comfort
and i love how that sincere, matter of fact effort that shane extends to all the things that matter to him will be fully awarded to ilya now that he doesn't have any reason to hide it or second guess it. shane encouraging ilya to talk to him even when he doesn't understand, carrying his bag, bringing him a blanket and coffee in the morning, deffering to what he wants to eat even though he's usually so strict with his diet (like how he ate the tuna melt even though there's no way it fit because ilya made it for him and that made it worth it, how desperate he was to accept ilya's care even while it terrified him). just those small considerations awarded to ilya every day, always thinking of how to make sure he's happy and he knows that shane loves him, because like his hockey performance and his real estate fetish and his best friends, ilya matters to him and shane isn't someone who loses things that are important to him through a lack of effort (trying multiple times to sleep with rose not only because he wanted it to work with a girl in general, but because he really likes her in particular and doesn't think he can keep her as a friend if he fails her as a lover. talking to his mother and telling her that he really tried to be perfect, to be straight, because he wants to be perfect but also because he wants to be her perfect son, his mom who he's so similar too and understands and loves and is loved by and who he never, ever wants to disappoint)
just. shane quietly warmed by ilya's care and loving and cherishing ilya the only way he knows how, which is also the way ilya's been deprived of and craves almost as much as he craves shane
Round 2 of my costume breakdown for Heated Rivalry.
1 & 2 - I really wanted to make olympic gear that actually felt wearable and cozy. The idea of approachability and comfort was really important for me here. As well as showcasing Canadian identity - which to me feels like quiet confidence. Tough, self-aware, and a little understated. But, ultimately COZY. I love how much everyone seems to like this piece. It was an earlier choice I made, it's really amazing to see so many people resonate with it!
3 - a lot of people have asked about this tank top. Ilya has a huge tank top game. It's an article of clothing we really focused on him. I imagined him to run hot, he's Russian after all! But also, sensual, in his body, and unselfconscious. This one is Diesel.
4 - the Hawaiian shirt feels like the archetypal HAWAIIAN shirt. It's such a bright coloured piece and really shows off Ilya's willingness to play with expectation. This is a vintage shirt. Tala, our buyer (@talatintin) found a bunch of options, but everyone agreed this was the most quintessential.
5 - Ilya's sexy airport tank is @adidasy3. Classic Ilya.
6 - this one isn't about the pieces but I liked this moment so much. Yuna showing her son how much she loves him and him accepting that what he viewed as a hurdle isn't a hurdle at all, at least with his family. I put both Shane and Yuna in linen. I love the idea of Yuna buying Shane the clothes he wears. That she still takes care of him and that the linen shirts he wears are his way of showing her that he loves her and is thinking about how to impress her
ilya is such a fucking funny ass character cause like his behavior be wildin out harder than contestants on family feud hosted by steve harvey like the fuck you mean ilya caught sight of some big brown eyes and freckles on the ice and was like "damn gotta get me some of that" calling up his agent to set up a foreplay commercial just to see shane in some makeup with the fenty gloss bomb on and then rolls up in the showers checking out shane's A++ tiddies and dick like this is the start of a queer as folk episode and not Canadian government co-funded yaoi then just starts straight CRANKING it right there in front of buddha, jesus, and the spirit of queen elizabeth herself THE SHAMELESSNESS
meanwhile shane can feel the spirits of his ancestors going "not this white boy, don't you dare" but then ilya struts up tyra banks top model style with his slut bones out and is like "how you doin?" the embodiment of the eggplant emoji irl and shane's big subby brown eyes are hungry like a wolf cause iyla's apparent 9 inch dick that he was literally stroking out is right there in front of shane's face and shane's ate nothing but baked chicken and white rice for the last two years he is STARVING and his ancestors are like "fuck, we lost him"
2087
discoholicmusic
titsay
pixelskylines
gracieabrams
jimmyeatworldofficial
