How to Play Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is growing in popularity as more and more non-traditional cities have professional teams and plenty of of fan interest. Young ice hockey fans watch the game and want to try out their new favorite sport. If you'd like to play ice hockey, read this guide for the basics of the game.

Things You'll Need

  • Hockey puck
  • Hockey stick
  • Face mask
  • Knee pads
  • A skating rink
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Instructions

  1. Play Ice Hockey

    • 1

      The game of hockey is played on a long oval rink, with 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. There are a myriad of markings on the rink, which tend to divide it into several sections or zones. While this can look overwhelming to begin with, it's actually very simple. The red line down the middle is called the center line and it is flanked with two blue lines running parallel in various sections of the ice. These blue lines divide the rink into neutral zones, defensive zones, and attacking zones. Exactly 17 feet from the end of each side, directly in the center, sits the opposing goals. these goals are 6 ft wide and 4 ft tall. Shooting the puck into these goals scores a point for your team.

    • 2

      A hockey team is made up of six players, meaning the two teams will put 12 players on the ice. Of course, this is not always the case. Due to penalties, a team will often find itself shorthanded for a period of time. The players are divided into three categories: forwards, defensemen, and goalies. Much as in the game of soccer, the goalie tends to stay directly in front of his team's goal, though he does venture out when he can get to the puck and pass it. The other playersare responsible for the bulk of the offense and defense.

    • 3

      Unlike basketball and football, the scoring in hockey is quite simple. Each time a team manages to get the puck past the opposing team's goalie and into the net, it scores a goal. Because of this, and because it is very difficult to accomplish this feat against a competent goalie, hockey games are often low scoring affairs. It is not uncommon to have a game won or lost by a 1-0 score.

    • 4

      A pro hockey game is divided into three equal periods of twenty minutes each. Sometimes the youth leagues will only play two periods, or will shorten the length of time for each period to only 10 or 15 minutes. If an NHL regular-season game is tied at the end of the three periods, it will go into sudden death overtime, with one member of each team sitting out. The sudden death period goes until one team scores, or the five-minute time limit expires. If the latter happens, the game goes into a shootout, with each team taking three penalty shots. If it is still tied after three rounds of the shootout, the process goes on until one team scores and the other does not