Basic Rules

The Heart of Hockey

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• Team Setup

  Each team has six players on the ice—five skaters (forwards and defensemen) and one goalie. The goal is simple: put the puck in the other team’s net more than they put it in yours.

• Periods

  The game is divided into three periods of 20 minutes each. If the game is tied at the end of those periods, it goes into overtime (5 minutes of sudden death). If still tied, the game moves to a shootout, where players take turns trying to score 1-on-1 against the goalie.

• Icing

  A team can’t just fire the puck down the length of the ice for no reason. If a player shoots the puck from their own side of the ice past the other team’s goal line (without anyone touching it), it’s called icing, and the play stops. The puck is brought back to the offending team's zone for a faceoff.

• Offside

  You’ll hear this a lot. A player can’t enter the attacking zone (cross the blue line) before the puck does. If they do, the play is stopped, and a faceoff happens in the neutral zone.

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