#i promise I’m so normal abt this man I don’t have a screenshot of every single frame of him I promise

[xx-clementine-xx]

yes.

[disengaged]

alright this might be a bit of a weird ask but. seeing all ur posts on hockey teams n whatnot makes me Interested in hockey but i have absolutely no idea about the majority of it like all the positions n shit so. where do i start

not weird at all omg !!! it's probably one of the only sports i enjoy, cuz it's super easy to understand and very active :'-) 💘💘💘

i've written out a basic guide to rules, penalties, and positions below the cut:

(ITS SO LONG IM SORRY SJDNDKNDNDJDN I GOT EXCITED)

ok first off: the object of the game is to score the most goals :-) yayyy! nice n easy. it gets a little more complicated when you start looking at things like points, stats, player rankings, etc in the NHL, but you don't have to worry about that right way.

each team normally has 5 players on the ice at a time (3 forwards, 2 defence, plus a goalie).

there are also referees around! the NHL has 2 refs and 2 linesmen for every game, but community leagues/kid's teams would prob just like.... hire a teenager and pay em $50... yknow...

sometimes we have what's called a powerplay, which means one team is serving a penalty, so one team has more players than the other. (e.g: "a 5 on 4 powerplay", which means there are 5 guys playing against 4 guys. easy stuff.)

(ok now let's talk abt rules, penalties, and positions...)

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ICE HOCKEY RULES

short version, i promise!! first, you kinda gotta know what the rink looks like (this diagram looks complicated but i swear it's not skdjskndj):

to kick off the game, (& every time the game stops and starts again), a faceoff has to happen. this means two players get in one of the 5 faceoff circles, the ref drops the puck (aptly called the puck drop lmfao), and they do that little swipe with their sticks. you gotta love it !!

from there on, it's really pretty simple:

the only person who can grab the puck (closing hand on puck) is the goalie

you can't shoot the puck out of the rink or move the goal ("the net") on purpose

you can't raise your stick above shoulder height to smack the puck out of the air (called "high sticking"). if you score a goal that way, it doesn't count

when your skates crosses the blue line (#4 on the diagram) before the puck does, you're offside. (if only one skate is over the line, you're "onside")

icing happens when you're on your side of the center line, but you shoot the puck all the way across the ice and it crosses the goal line (#7 in the diagram) on either side of the net. when that happens, the game stops and another faceoff has to happen in the offending team's zone (#6 on the diagram). HOWEVER, icing won't be called if the goalie is outside of the crease (#10), if the other team just lets it happen on purpose (lmao), or maybe if the ref says it was an attempted pass.

if you were about to score, but another player tripped/yanked/whatevered you (or knocked the net outta the way), you get a penalty shot! this means the other players clear outta the way & you get to take a shot on the other team's goalie >:-)

GOAL HOLES lmaoooooo why r they called that + a fun infographic

stick side low

glove side low

glove side high

stick side high

five hole! (hardest place to score)

WHAT IF THE GAME IS TIED AT THE END?

the game goes into sudden-death overtime! this means the timer is set for 5 minutes, and whoever scores first wins

if no one scores in overtime, the game goes into a shootout! this means the teams take turns taking penalty shots (3 each)

if that STILL doesn't end the game, the shootout continues until one team scores and the other team doesn't match it... ta-da !!!

FIGHT RULES (per the NHL):

the ref blows a whistle, everyone else has to stop what they're doing and go to their bench

the players have to drop their gloves

they can't remove their helmets before the fight starts. (if it falls off while they're getting whacked that's fine, but taking it off beforehand is a minor penalty)

the fight is allowed to keep going until one player hits the ice, or the refs decide to stop it

both players automatically get major penalties, plus any other penalties that apply. (this site explains it really well!!)

(in community leagues and kids' leagues, fighting is either not allowed at all, or it's a lot less regulated... it could really go either way lmao. in 2021 we know that concussions = bad, but back in the day... hoo boy!!)

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PENALTY BASICS

3 types: minor, major, and misconduct

penalties are basically decided on severity/degree of injury, etc

a standard minor penalty is 2 minutes and it's served in the penalty box. if the other team scores during this time (the powerplay), the penalty ends and the player can hop back on the ice.

examples of minor penalties could be high-sticking, tripping, elbowing, hooking, slashing, roughing, boarding etc ... like. if a player is acting shitty but didn't do any real damage, that kind of thing

there's also a thing called matching penalties (aka coincidental penalties), which means both teams have a player in the box at the same time. in that case, they usually just keep playing 4-on-4, and the penalty keeps going even if a goal is scored. (except if the game was already 5-on-4 before the matching penalty was called, in which case both teams would be allowed to make substitutions to keep shit moving lol)

there are also double minors or triple minors, which just means 2-3 minor penalties all at once lmao ... so a player could be stuck sitting in the Shame Cube for 4-6 minutes, and if the other team scored, it would only cancel out one penalty at a time

a standard major penalty is 5 minutes in the box, and the player can't get out early if a goal is scored. (if there are matching major penalties, both teams sub players in)

fighting is always a major penalty!!! other examples could be spearing, boarding, butt-ending, charging, clipping, or cross-checking

misconduct:

there are 3 "subtypes": misconduct, game misconduct, & match penalty

a misconduct penalty means 10 minutes off the ice, & the team can sub a guy in. if the player returns and then get another, they can get ejected from the game lmao

misconduct calls also usually come with a minor penalty (called a 10-and-2), which is served at the same time. so like ... the player with the misconduct has to leave for 10 minutes, the substitute joins the game, and then a separate player is picked to serve a 2-minute minor penalty in the box

if you get a game misconduct penalty the player is ejected from the game. their team replaces them, plus there's usually a major (5min) penalty served by a different guy. (you also still get charged with 10 or 20 penalty minutes, which go "on your record")

you can get a game misconduct penalty by getting 2 misconduct penalties, butting into a fight/joining a fight (called "third man in"), leaving the penalty box early, or if you board someone & they get a head/face injury

a match penalty is serious shit but they're less common, i'm just gonna drop screenshots if you wanna read:

(also here's a handy chart off wikipedia lmao:)

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POSITIONS

ok this is gonna the MOST basic guide lol. here they are on the ice:

2 types:

FORWARD = center, right wing, or left wing. job is to score. they're usually smaller and faster than the defense players.

DEFENsE = right D or left D. usually physically larger, their goal is to protect their zone.

GOALIE: ok everyone knows what the goalie does lmao

they all have different jobs and skills specific to their positions, which you can find on this site in really great detail!!

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ok, we're done !!

i think this should cover all the basic areas of ice hockey... there's definitely a lot more to it if you feel like doing more research (like how the NHL draft works, the different players and teams, the different divisions etc), but i hope this will be enough to get you started ..... it's also fun to watch even if you don't understand all the rules imo, i could probably sum all of this ^^ up by saying "ten players, two goalies, put on skates, chase puck, put puck in net" LMAO.

i genuinely love ice hockey so much, it's such a huge part of my personal sense of culture & community :'-) if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask em and i'll do my best to answer !!!