Ice Hockey
Ice Hockey is a team sport played on skates in which two teams of six players compete by using hockey sticks to shoot a puck into the opponent’s goal to score points. Games occur within the confines of an ice rink and the sport is known for its fast-paced play and physical high-contact style.
Teams consist of a goalie (goaltender), two defensemen, a right and left wing, and a center. An ice hockey game is made up of three periods of twenty minutes. Ice hockey is a popular sport in countries known for winter sports with the National Hockey League (NHL) in North America being the strongest league in the world.
The icing rule in hockey is an infraction that occurs when a player shoots the puck untouched from behind the center red line across the opposing team’s goal line. This rule was created to stop players from simply flipping the puck to the end of the ice as a strategy to slow down the flow of the game. After icing, play is resumed with a faceoff within the defending zone of the team that caused the penalty.
An average NHL hockey game is roughly two hours with games extending to two and a half hours in the situation of an overtime and a shootout scenario. Hockey games consist of three 20 minute periods with two 17 minute breaks between.
Offsides is a penalty called in hockey when an offensive player moves into the attacking zone before the puck has crossed over the blue line of the zone. The player in control of the puck cannot be called for offsides.
