Are you new to the game and are wondering what is going on out there on the ice? You love what you see but can’t make any sense of it? Well the Ice Dogs have you covered with our Rookies Guide to Ice Hockey which aims to explain and simplify what is going on out there so you can enjoy the game even more (and also tell the ref what he is doing wrong!). Basically an FAQ for you!
1. An ice hockey game is split into 3 periods. In the Australian Ice Hockey League these periods are 15 minutes in length and stop time, which means that whenever the ref blows the whistle to make a call the clock stops.
2. Each team has 5 skaters and 1 goaltender on the ice to start the game.
3. Out of these 5 skaters, the 3 up front are the forwards and the 2 at the back play defence. These 5 players make up a “line” of the team and coaches generally keep line combinations together.
4. A team is usually made up of 15-20 players and 2 goalies which are 3-4 lines.
5. When the player’s line up before the puck is dropped by the referee, this is called a Face off. You will see these take place at the various red dots located around the ice which we will cover shortly.
6. Players can be interchanged while the play is still going on and this is termed “changing on the fly”. The coach generally “changes” lines after the whistle has been blown and the play has stopped, however if the players have been out for to long the coach will look to change on the fly or the player will do so themselves when the timing is right.
7. The duration the player is out on the ice is called a shift. For instance, a player has started the game and interchanged at the bench after a minute. He/she just played a “shift”.
8. So what are the lines and dots for? Well the Blue lines are known as the offside lines. The red line in the middle is the centre line and the two thinner red lines at either end are the goal lines. Again we will get to the dots shortly.
9. An offside occurs when the attacking player crosses the blue line of the offensive zone before the puck does (the offensive zone is the end where the other teams goalie is that they are trying to score on). If an offside is called then the ref blows the whistle and a face off will take place at the dot just outside the blue line on which ever side it occurred.
10. The other dots that are surrounded by circles are a goalies dream. When the goalie saves the puck and holds onto it for more than 3 seconds (which is termed freezing the puck) the ref blows the whistle and a face off will occur at the dot inside the circle on whatever side the goalie saved the puck.
11. An Icing is when the player shoots the puck on their side of the centre line and it crosses the other team’s goal line without the opposition touching or playing at the puck. The ref will blow the whistle and a face off will take place back at the teams end who iced the puck.
12. Of course, who can forget the penalties…which we have saved for last! Generally most penalties are 2 minutes long and are for minor infractions such as tripping or elbowing. Players also get penalised for diving – none that of that sissy stuff here!
13. When a player receives a penalty they have to sit in the penalty box in which it will leave that players team a man down for the duration of the penalty.
14. For the team who is a man down this is referred to as being on the “penalty kill” as the objective is usually to kill off the time of the penalty until the player returns back onto the ice. For the team on the penalty kill the icing rule does not apply for the duration of the penalty so they will usually shoot the puck down the other end when they get the chance (which is called dumping).
15. The team with the man-advantage are on what is called a “powerplay” and they will do their best to score with the advantage.
16. This is just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended) to the game of Ice Hockey but hopefully it has answered a lot of your questions and given you a better understanding of the game.
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June 13th, 2009 at 6:35 am
I really like your post. Is it copyright protected?
June 16th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for commenting on our blog. The Rookies Guide to Ice Hockey is not copyright protected so feel free to use it to promote Ice Hockey. We would appreciate a link back to the Ice Dogs site though.
Cheers
June 17th, 2009 at 6:42 am
What are all the different types of shots? i hear ’slapshot’, ‘wrist shot’ and god knows all the other ones. what do they mean? tnx
June 17th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Good Question George,
I will try to explain as best I can. A slapshot is when the player winds up, lifting the stick up past their hips to take the shot. This shot is less accurate than other shots but can be more powerful and is usually used at long range.
A wrist shot is a quick release shot used when in close around the net. There is no wind up. A snapshot is halfway between the two.
Hope this helps out a bit.
July 11th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
another kind of shot:
backhand – it is when you shoot the puck while holding the stick on the “unnatural” side of your body and it makes contact with the blade. i.e. when you hold a hockey stick, you either have right handed shot or a left handed shot. for example, I hold my stick on the left side of my body (I shoot left) and a backhand shot for me would be if I took a shot off my right.
typically these are used as short targetted shots into the net, and are often unplanned for (you just know you need to take a backhanded shot when the time is right).
now i have a question… I am considering moving to sydney. where are there non-contact developmental leagues for adults?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hi Mark,
Thanks for helping out…totally forgot to mention the backhand. In regards to non-contact hockey leagues that are developmental, Senior C (or senior 3) would be perfect for this. If you go to http://www.nswicehockey.com.au and click on competition for Winter and click on Senior 3 you will see there are a couple of teams you may be able to contact for more info. The summer has a few leagues that may also be similar. That site would be a good starting point for info on leagues and rinks in the sydney area.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Hey,
Just a few quick questions and I also need some clarification on a few things.
Firstly, icing. I know the Australian League uses different icing rules vs. the NHL. What rules are we using? International?
Also, are the 15min 3rds also an International standard, or is it just our league that does it?
Fighting, just need a little clarification on this one as I dont understand the way the refs give out the penalties. For example, last nights game againts Melb Ice. Both fights the dogs were given longer penalties, is this based on who initiates the fight? How does it work?
One last one mate, I know you’re busy, do you have a link to a list of the penalties and the ref signals?
Hope it makes sense,
Cheers Jared
July 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hey Jared,
Thanks for your questions and also coming to our game. Your support means heaps to us. Our icing is the international ruling as opposed to the NHL touch up rule as you pointed out.
The 15 minute thirds or periods as they are known around hockey is only done in the Australian Ice Hockey league. Internationally at a professional level they are 3 x 20 minute periods stop time. The reason for 3 x 15 minute periods stop time in the Australian Ice Hockey League is due to the cost and availability of Ice time.
With our penalties we instigated the fights on both accounts so we got an instigator penalty which is what really hurt us. The first fight both players should have been kicked out of the game as although our player clearly instigated the Melbourne Ice player participated in the fight and it went for a while.
Lastly you can find the ref signals in our game programs which are 2 bucks at the game, but I quickly looked up ref signals on google and found this link you can check out: http://www.firstbasesports.com/hockey_signals.html
Thanks again for coming to our games and contributing on the blog. Hopefully meet you at an upcoming game
Cheers
Scott
July 25th, 2009 at 12:01 am
The best information i have found exactly here. Keep going Thank you
July 27th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Thanks Scott, answered it perfectly. See you at the next home game!
July 30th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
No worries,
My pleasure. Hope to meet you at the next home game
August 6th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Great stuff!
September 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Good job on your blog.
September 16th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Thanks guys,
And an even bigger thanks to Shaz our web guy for getting this going and convincing us a blog is the way to go.
September 17th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Thanks alot for the great read.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Thank you for a great blog, I will be sure to bookmark your site and check back later
September 30th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Really nice posts. I will be checking back here regularly.
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Seems like you really took your time on this. Keep up the good work!
October 8th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
hey,
3. Out of these 5 skaters, the 3 up front are the forwards and the 2 at the back play defence. These 5 players make up a “line” of the team and coaches generally keep line combinations together.
that might explaine why the whole team (except the keeper) gets changed as a complete team.
where canwe get a complete set of the rules of the AIHL.
Thanks
DanSON14
October 10th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Hey Dan,
I never thought about giving out a complete set of AIHL rules. Really good idea. As there are a few differences in AIHL rules compared to say the NHL and Ice Hockey in Australia. For instance, with fighting in the AIHL, if you fight after the 7:30 mark in the 3rd period(the last half of the last period of the game) you are suspended for the next game. Other than that if you fight before that time you only are kicked out for the rest of the game. This is to prevent things getting out of hand at the end of the games and make players think twice.
Just a little something for now while I try to think of a few more and maybe add a second addition of Rookies guide to Ice Hockey.
Scottie 19
December 16th, 2009 at 4:48 am
You have placed a lot of effort into your article and there should be more of these on the net these days. I really got a kick out of your post. I don’t really have much to say in response, I only wanted to comment to say keep up the good workk
December 25th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Aw, this was a really high quality acticle. In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and a real effort to make a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and never seem to get anything done. speaking of which… i should be….
February 21st, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I am a Canadian working in Taiwan I visited Australia a few times so I would like to know do you have a stream where we can watch the game from here in Taiwan and best of luck with hockey in Aussie I know you guys worked hard to do it then I tip my hat to you all CONGRATS
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Thanks Pat,
We are working on video highlights for the games this year which is what Ice Dogs TV is all about. Haven’t got live streaming yet but thats where we hope to be heading. You can also sign up to the RSS Feed for updates on new articles on the website and also follow ‘icedogscomau’ on twitter.
Great to see we got support in Taiwan. Hopefully you visit Sydney during our season and can get to a game…
Scottie 19