Officials

Sometimes you love them and other times you want to poor your beer all over him and curse him into oblivion. But the following are the guys we love to hate and hate to love.

Referee:
He supervises the game, calls the penalties, determines goals and handles faceoffs at center ice to start each period.

Linesmen:
Two are used. They call offside, offside pass, icing and handle all faceoffs not occurring at center ice. They do not call penalties, but can recommend to the referee that a penalty be called.

Goal Judges:
One sits off-ice behind each goal and indicates when a goal has been scored by turning on a red light just above his station. The referee can ask his advice on disputed goals, but the referee has final authority and can overrule the goal judge.

Official Scorer:
He determines which player scores and credits assists if there are any. He may consult the referee, but the scorer is the final authority in crediting points.

Penalties

A team plays shorthanded when one or more of its players is charged with a penalty. However, no team is forced to play more than two players below full strength (six) at any time. When a third penalty is assessed to the same team, it is suspended until the first penalty expires. When a penalty is called on a goalie, a teammate serves his time in the penalty box.

Minor penalty:
(Two minutes) Called for tripping, hooking, spearing, slashing, charging, roughing, holding, elbowing or boarding.

Major penalty:
(Five minutes) Called for fighting or when minor penalties are committed with deliberate attempt to injure. Major penalties for slashing, spearing, high-sticking, elbowing, butt-ending and cross-checking carry automatic game misconducts.

Misconduct:
(10 minutes) Called for various forms of unsportsmanlike behavior or when a player incurs a second major penalty in a game. This is a penalty against an individual and not a team, so a substitute is permitted.

Penalty shot:
A free shot, unopposed except for the goalie, given to a player who is illegally impeded from behind when he has possession of the puck with no opponent between him and the goal except the goalie. The team which commits the offense is not penalized beyond the penalty shot, whether it succeeds or not.

Delayed penalty:
Whistle is delayed until the penalized team regains possession of the puck.

General Requirements

To play hockey you must have 12 players in the game at any given time (six per team).

• The positions are three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie.

• Three forwards comprise one line consisting of a center (C), right wing (RW) and left wing (LW).

The Puck

• The puck is made of black, vulcanized rubber

• A standard puck measures one inch thick and three inches in diameter, and weighs between 5.5 and 6 ounces.
  

• The puck can be moved with the hockey stick or the feet, but picking it up with the hands is illegal.

The Hockey Stick

• A stick 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.
  

The Hockey Mask

• Is a mask worn by the goaltender to protect the head from injury

• From a helmet/cage combination that evolved into a full fibreglass mask is the much more popular option because it is safer.

• The mask has fundamentally changed the way a goaltender plays, since they can go down to their knees to stop a shot without the risk of a stick, skate, or a puck hitting and lacerating their face or concussing them. Ever since the mask became popular, it has been often decorated, and goaltenders are very well-identified by their design

The Net

• A cage measuring four feet tall and six feet wide, strung with nylon mesh in the back.
  

• There are two nets at opposite ends of the ice, guarded by the goaltenders.

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Hockey teams move a puck along the ice using stick handling, passing, and shooting in an effort to score goals. A goal counts as one point and is scored when the puck completely crosses the opposing goal line between the posts and under the crossbar. The team scoring the greater number of goals in the allotted time wins the game.

The game is 60 minutes long with 3 periods lasting 20 minutes each. There are two 20 minute intermission sessions that start after the 1^st and 2^nd periods. There are 5 players on the ice for each team (not including the goalie) that consists of 2 defensemen and 3 forwards.

During the regular season, if the game is tied at the end of the 3^rd period, over time starts that decreases the amount of players on the ice for each team from 5 to 4 (not including the goalie). Over time is sudden death, which means the first team that scores, wins.

If the score remains tied after the 5 minute long OT, a shootout is started. A shootout is when one player from each team takes a turn trying to shoot the puck past the goalie. Three players for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during the three-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the three shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden death.

Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout is awarded only one. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately.

Shootouts do not occur during the playoffs. In the playoffs, sudden-death 20-minute five-on-five periods are played until one team scores. While a game could technically continue forever, only four games have reached five overtime periods, two have reached six, and none have gone beyond six.