How to Play Hockey

Ice hockey is a high-velocity, high-contact, high-intensity sport. It may seem like simply skating around an ice hockey rink and trying to get a puck into a net but there is more depth to the game than that. To play ice hockey well you need to be familiar with the player positions, playing area and rules.

Instructions

    • 1

      Acquire the necessary equipment. Apart from a hockey rink and a puck, you will need sticks, pads, helmets and hockey skates for all players. Goaltenders have special pads, helmets, gloves and sticks.

    • 2

      Choose a position to play. There are six players on the ice at once in hockey; three forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender. Defensemen try to defend their defensive zone and goaltenders try to keep the puck out of the goal. The forwards, who are mostly offensive, are split up into a right wing, a left wing and a center. The center leads the offense and participates in face-offs.

    • 3

      Familiarize yourself with the rink. There are two goals, one on each end, five face-off circles, two on each end and one in the center of the ice, two blue lines that splits the rink into zones and center red line. The blue line closest to your goal is the start of your defensive zone, the blue line closest to the other team's goal is your offensive zone and the area in between the two blue lines is the neutral zone.

    • 4

      Start the game with a face-off. The centers from each team will meet at the face-off circle at center ice, with the wings just outside the circle on either side, the defensemen spread out near their defensive zones and the goaltenders in their area outside the goal. A referee will drop the puck for the centers to compete for and pass to one of their teammates to begin play.

    • 5

      Score by shooting the puck into the opposing team's goal. A goal does not count if it is kicked into the goal, thrown in by hand or hit with a high stick. The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins. A typical game is comprised of three periods lasting 20 minutes each.

    • 6

      Beware of not being offside during play. You are offside when you are completely across the blue line into your team's offensive zone before the puck crosses that blue line. A player is permitted to enter the offensive zone but must return to the neutral zone before the puck enters the offensive zone. A face-off is conducted in the neutral zone for an offside violation

    • 7

      Refrain from committing penalties. There are many different kinds of penalties such as tripping, spearing, slashing, holding, elbowing and other kinds of illegal contact. Penalties are punished by removing a player from the game for a period of time ranging from two minutes for a minor penalty to an entire game for major game misconduct.