Mastodawn

There's so much! I'll give it a try.

First, the OFFSIDES rule: An attacking player cannot enter the other team's defensive zone (cross the blue line) before the puck enters the zone.

This includes times when a defending player shoots the puck outside their zone; all attacking players must leave the defensive zone before one of them touches the puck again.

In OFFSIDES, an official will blow the whistle and bring both teams into the neutral zone & drop the puck to restart play.

OFFSIDES doesn't result in a penalty just a stoppage of play.

Then there's ICING.

The ice is divided in half by the red line.

ICING happens when a player shoots the puck from their defensive side of the red line all the way to the red goal line on the other end of the ice.

Then an official will blow the whistle and call ICING.

The official will then bring the puck back to the area from which the offending player shot the puck.

Again, not a penalty, just a stoppage in play to set things right.

There are some situations that will cause the official to waive ICING, but I'm not going to try to explain them all.

The one I notice most is if the official thinks the player COULD HAVE gotten the puck before it crossed the red goal line. That's pretty subjective, but that's how it is.

The goalie has special
protection.

You'll notice an area of blue ice around the front of the net. That's called the CREASE. Don't ask me why, I just know that's what it's called.

If an attacking player gets into the crease, that's bad but it's not called. A defending player may push the attacker out of the crease. If the attacker is in the crease and shoots the puck into the net, it does not count as a goal because the attacker was where they shouldn't be.

Now, Jae, I am explaining this as an old coach of a young girls' travel team.

I played hockey myself for six years and coached for a different six years. I was a lousy player but a pretty good coach.

I was never an official, so I don't know the rule book but these are the three things I found most confusing when I started watching hockey.

I hope this is the kind of info you were looking for... I know you mentioned NHL, but to me NHL just means hockey!

If you're interested in skates and their edges, let me know and I'll explain the construction of a skate blade.

I personally find skate blades and the use of edges absolutely fascinating.

Well, shit, Jae.

I responded but later saw a previous toot that said you weren't looking for hockey rules but team stuff.

I'm sorry. Now I feel stupid.

But I'll leave my toots there in case anybody else finds them useful.

Jae Nov 26, 2023

@PricklyPam don't worry about it, those were really useful and succinct descriptions of the rules - thank you for your time and effort! :)

Prickly Pam (D-PA)Nov 27, 2023

Thank you. It was fun to exercise my old brain and put those rules into words.

I remember when I first started watching hockey; those things just bewildered me.

Mastodon is going to tell you I edited a bunch of toots but no worries. I just corrected one typo and added a #Hockey hashtag.

Where on the other side of the Atlantic are you?

Jae Nov 27, 2023

@PricklyPam north of England, in the arse end of nowhere - we needed a new fixation and hockey fit that just nicely!