Want to play ice hockey?

Ice hockey is the fastest team game in the world, the basic rules are fairly easy to understand. Like any sport, the official rulebook runs to many pages. This is a short breakdown to give you all you’ll need to enjoy the game.

The primary objective in ice hockey is to score more goals than the opposing team. Each team consists of skaters and a netminder, and they compete to propel a puck into the opponents goal using a hockey stick.

A goal counts as one point on the scoreboard. A goal can be scored by anyone on the ice, including the netminder. However if an attacking player deliberately kicks or strikes the puck with any part of the body (other than the stick) into the net, the goal is disallowed. A goal is also disallowed if the puck comes off an official first.

The puck is made of black, vulcanized rubber. A standard puck measures one inch thick and three inches in diameter, and weighs roughly 165 grams. The puck can be moved with the hockey stick or the feet but picking it up with the hands is illegal.

The stick is held by each player and used to retrieve, control, carry, pass and shoot the puck. Goals are scored by using the stick to shoot the puck into the opponent’s net. A shot that inadvertently deflects into the net off another player’s body is allowed to stand as a goal. Hockey sticks are usually made from wood, generally northern white ash or rock elm. Carbon fibre, fibreglass and Kevlar are some of the other materials used. Some are one piece others have removable blades, but all are very light.

The Net is a cage measuring four feet tall and six feet wide, strung with nylon mesh in the back. For most of the game, these are guarded by the netminders.

The ice (or pad) has boards around the entire ice surface, and the boards themselves are topped with a Plexiglass or a similar plastic composite surface, referred to throughout the hockey world as "the glass". The boards and the glass together form a barrier 2.5m high through the straight portions of the rink oval, the glass is usually taller behind the goals at each end.

In many rinks, there is a further netting constructed above the glass to keep errant pucks from being sent into the spectator seating. Notwithstanding the presence of the glass and netting, most hockey rinks have signs erected warning spectators of the dangers inherent in the flying pucks.

The ice is marked with a series of blue and red lines. The centre, red line divides the ice into two halves, while the blue lines separate the ice into three equal ‘zones’ – defending, neutral and attacking zones.

Defending Zone - The area where the goal net is located for the team defending that net.

Neutral Zone - The middle of the rink, between two blue lines.

Attacking / Offensive Zone - The area where the opposing net is located.

The semi-circle around each goal is the crease, attacking players cannot score if they are in the crease deliberately.

During play, each team has six players on the ice, usually five "skaters" and one netminder. The five "skaters" have assigned positions: three forwards and two defenders.

Netminder - Their job is to prevent the ice hockey puck from entering their net.

Defenders - They are tasked with stopping the opposing forwards when their team does not have possession of the puck and providing offensive support when the team does have possession.

Forwards - The centre is responsible for taking face-offs to regain possession and covering the centre of the ice at both ends of the rink. The wingers are responsible for play along the sides of the rink. They have some defensive responsibilities but are primarily relied upon as goal scorers.

Players that are not currently on the ice sit on the team’s bench which is located directly next to the rink.

Player substitutions are unlimited and can be made at any time. A substitution does not require an official’s permission, or a stoppage in play. A player can join the game “on the fly” – during the flow of play – as long as the departing player is within five feet of the bench and not involved in the play or with an opponent. Players will join the ice by hopping over the board (or using the door) and will usually stay in play for just under a minute. This is known as a shift. Players are sent out on shifts because ice hockey is a tiring sport and all players should be playing at their best all the time.

The selected team for a game would usually consist of one or two netminder(s) and 15 skaters. The skaters are divided into three lines, each containing two defenders and three forwards.

The game is played in three 20-minute periods. There is a gap between periods, the length of time will vary in rec hockey depending on whether the Zamboni comes on to resurface the ice.

Depending on the competition type, overtime could be played if there is no team in the lead. Overtime periods typically last five minutes and teams are limited to four skaters (instead of five) in an attempt to speed up the game and weaken each team’s defence.

The clock is stopped during all stoppages in play, for example, if a penalty is called or a netminder makes a save.

Most common stoppages are for icing and offsides, these are likely the most confusing for new fans. Icing is when you hit the puck from your half of the ice, and over the far goalline without anyone being able to stop it. This will result in the game restarting in your defensive zone. Offside is when one of your players crosses from the Neutral Zone into the Attacking Zone before the puck does.

A face-off is used to resume play following any stoppage in the game. There are nine designated face-off spots painted on the ice.

Face-offs are used to start periods of play and to restart play (for example after a goal or after an offside ruling).

During a face-off, two opposing players stand opposite each other roughly one stick’s blade apart and the official then drops the puck between them.

The blue centre spot is used to ‘face-off’ at the beginning of each period, or following a goal.

The red face-off spots are used in a variety of other circumstances. For example, after a typical offside, the face-off takes place on the nearest face-off spot in the central, neutral zone.

In the event of the puck leaving the ice, two imaginary lines are drawn along the length of the ice between the face-off spots. A face-off then takes place at a point closest to where the puck left the ice.

Physical contact is allowed between players contesting for the puck. Body checking in ice hockey is a defensive technique aimed at disrupting an opponent with possession of the puck or separating the puck from the player entirely. Most types are not subject to penalty, and count as a legal check. A player can use a shoulder, hip or torso to hit or impede an opponent, but only when the opponent is in possession of the puck. If a player does not have possession of the puck, it is interference, and the player will receive a penalty. A body check that targets the head is illegal. A body check to an opponent’s back is illegal if the opponent is facing the boards.

A penalty is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play.

A referee will be present on the ice, and in most cases, two linesmen who observe play between the two bluelines and the centre line. The referee(s) can be identified by their orange armbands. The linesmen will provide support to the referee. Penalties are called and enforced by on-ice officials. The difference between a legal play and a penalty is open to interpretation by on-ice officials.

A powerplay is when a team has an advantage of having more players on the ice because the opposition team has taken a penalty and must remove a player from the game for a specified duration of time. A powerplay lasts for the duration of the penalty. In the case of minor penalties, the power play will end early if the team with the man advantage scores a goal.

A penalty-kill is when the opposing team has a disadvantage of having less players on the ice. Player(s) must be removed to spend penalty minutes in the penalty box. If the team on the penalty-kill scores a goal, this is referred to as a shorthanded goal.