hi!! im new here and to hockey. literally know nothing but i want to learn. can you give me some basics or like just the important things i should know?
welcome!! ok so theres quite a few categories of info to learn about, and i’m going to assume you mean the rules of the game and maybe some general league things so that’s what i’ll get into, but if you want more information on anything that i mention or if you want to learn about something else or you have a new question just lmk! also keep in mind that im not a hockey expert and i definitely don’t know everything, i just happen to have access to quite a few hockey players that i can bug with a million questions.
ok so big ideas of the game:
6 total players on the ice for each team at a time (the goalie, 3 forwards, and 2 defensemen)
every game (for the nhl) teams have to dress a minimum of 20 players—2 goalies and 18 skaters.
goalie’s job is to keep the puck out of the net
forwards are offensive, and these players are usually the ones you’ll expect to score the most. there are three types of forwards, a center, who takes faceoffs and is in between the other two forwards in the lineup, and two wingers (a left and a right), who have basically the same job as centers but they take less faceoffs. these guys are the three closest to the net in the offensive zone.
defensemen are, of course, defensive players. they’re usually the ones on the team who can see the game the best and who you want to have a high hockey iq because they have to anticipate how the opposing team’s players are going to move. they are the two players who usually hang back during a faceoff and stay near the blue line when their team is in the offensive zone.
you have an offensive, defensive, and neutral zone, which are divided by the blue lines on the ice.
there are 4 referees on the ice at all times. 2 linesmen and 2 main refs (i’m pretty sure they don’t have a specific name but i could be wrong). the linesmen stand at the blue lines and make offside calls. the main refs are usually closer to the actual play and the offensive and defense zones because they call penalties and icing. you can tell the difference because of their physical location and also because of the stripes on their sleeves. the main refs have a thick stripe on each sleeve and the linesmen do not. in the nhl these lines are orange and in the pwhl the lines are purple.
there are usually 4 distinct lines of players who will go out on the ice on a shift together. an average shift lasts about 40-45 seconds because of how much energy they’re using, but players can get stuck in their defensive zones without a change and that can result in shift times of over 2 minutes.
the ice is 200 feet long. sometimes when people are talking about a really good player, they’ll say that they can play a 200 foot game, meaning they’re good everywhere.
there are 9 total faceoff dots on the ice, and where you take a faceoff is dependent upon where the last play stopped.
big rules of the game:
offside - players get called offside when their body (or their teammate's body) fully enters the offensive zone before the puck. most of the time, you’ll see play stopped right as it happens and the teams will have to face off again. this rule is also a big target for coaches challenges, because if a play turns into a goal, coaches will look and see if the opposing player entered the zone offside, or if one of their teammates was offside, to see if they can reverse the call.
icing - this one confuses a lot of people, and if you watch a hockey game without knowing about it, you’d probably be very confused about the constant stopping of the game. basically, if a player sends the puck into their offensive zone from anywhere behind the red line and no one on the ice touches it before it reaches the goal line (the red line that lines up with the goal), it’s called icing. as the team who did not ice the puck, you do have to make an effort to retrieve it before it crosses the goal line. if the main refs think that players will be able to get to the puck before it crosses the goal line, they can wave off the icing and play will continue. a cool thing about icing is that when it gets called against you, your team cannot change the players on the ice, so if your line just got on the ice, it’s not as big of a deal as it is if you iced the puck when your line is already exhausted.
penalties - there are so many penalties that it would have to be a separate ask to even get a rundown of the most common ones, but i’ll give you the overall penalty summary right now. penalties are most commonly either 2 or 4 minutes, which is determined by whether or not the person the penalty was committed against is bleeding. you’ll hear a 2 minute penalty referred to as a 2 minute minor, and 4 minutes as a double minor. there is also a 5 minute major, which is reserved for more serious offenses and you won’t see these nearly as often as the other two.
power play and penalty kill - during a penalty, the person who broke the rules goes and sits in the penalty box, where they’ll stay for their time or until the opposing team scores a goal. while this person is in the box, their team is down a player and is on what is called the penalty kill, or pk. the other team, who still has all 5 players, is on the power play. during a power play, your team usually has a higher chance of scoring a goal, but it’s not impossible for the penalty killers to get the puck and score what is called a shorthanded goal. a shorthanded goal doesn’t end the power play the same way a goal by the team on the power play does. now, for a 5 minute major, it doesn’t matter how many goals the power play team gets, the opposing team is on the pk for the whole time.
nhl confrences/divisions/teams:
confrences are the biggest division in the league. there is an eastern and western conference.
divisions are within confrences and there are four total. in the eastern conference, the atlantic and metropolitan divisions. in the western, the pacific and central divisions.
the atlantic division is made up of the boston bruins, montreal canadiens, buffalo sabres, tampa bay lightening, toronto maple leafs, florida panthers, detroit red wings, and ottawa senators. it is consistently one of the most competitive divisions in the league.
the metropolitan division is made up of the carolina hurricanes, pittsburgh penguins, philadelphia flyers, washington capitals, columbus blue jackets, new york islanders, new jersey devils, and new york rangers.
the pacific division is home to the san jose sharks, edmonton oilers, seattle kraken, anaheim ducks, los angeles kings, vancouver canucks, calgary flames, and the vegas golden knights. connor mcdavid famously called this the pillow fight division because most of these teams are currently mediocre.
the central division is another one that was very competitive this year. it is made up of the colorado avalanche, minnesota wild, dallas stars, chicago blackhawks, st. louis blues, utah mammoth, nashville predators, and the winnipeg jets.
okok i know that was a lot, but let me know if you want more on anything! i also highly recommend the empty netters hockey 101 videos, i think there are like three of them, and they’re hockey players so they get the expert title. i think i’ll post a list of questions that i had when i first got into hockey with more random questions that you might have because no stupid questions in this house!!
