Article

Although there is still debate over how the game of hockey first started, it seems to have its roots in the ancient games of our First Nations peoples.

Many countries lay claim to the sport and its exact origins are impossible to verify, but a version of the sport we now call hockey appears to have been first played in Canada almost 200 years ago. At the time, the game involved a ball, an ice surface and just a few pairs of skates—but it soon evolved to be more like the game we know today.

When the first formal hockey rules were published in Montreal in 1877, the rule-makers decided to replace the ball with a puck made of wood. Hockey has continued to evolve, and even though today's game is very different than it once was, it has kept its roots as a game played on ice.

The playing surface

An ice hockey rink is divided into three parts: the middle section, called the neutral zone, and the two ends. Each team protects the net in their end—their defensive zone—and tries to score a goal by putting the puck in the other team's net at the other end of the ice—the attacking zone.

The equipment

As hockey is played on ice, every player needs a pair of skates along with their stick. Hockey is a fast game, using a hard rubber puck, so the more protection worn the better! If playing in an organized league, you'll be required to wear equipment that protects from head to toe, including a helmet with face guard, neck protector, shoulder pads, a chest protector, elbow pads, gloves, hockey pants and shin pads.

The players

In the beginning, hockey rules called for nine players on the ice for each team. These days, a team has six players on the ice—one goalie, two defense and three forwards—who concentrate on specific areas of the ice.

The players on defense cover one half of the defensive zone each, either the right side or the left side. The three forwards, meanwhile, play either on the right side (right wing), the left side (left wing) or in the middle (centre).

Additional players wait on the bench for their turn to play. These players join and leave the play of the game in shifts according to direction from their coaches. It's part of the coaching staff's job to ensure the right players are on the ice at the right time.

The periods

Today's professional hockey game is 60 minutes long, as it was back in the 1870s, and is broken up into three parts called periods that are each 20 minutes in length. In some leagues, if a game is tied after 60 minutes, an additional period, called overtime, is added. This period is often played under sudden-death rules, meaning that the first team to score in overtime wins the game.

The penalties

To make sure the players and coaches follow the rules, referees and linesmen are on the ice overseeing the play of the game. If a rule is broken, the referee or linesman may just stop game play, or give a team member a penalty or a game misconduct—depending on the severity of the infraction. A penalty will remove a player from play for a set amount of time, ranging from two to five minutes. A game misconduct will remove the offending player for the rest of the game.

If a team player receives a penalty, his or her team must then play short-handed for a certain period of time, while the other team plays with a man advantage—also called a power play. If the infraction is minor, the penalty lasts two minutes unless the other team scores while on the power play, in which case the penalty ends immediately. If the infraction is major, the penalty lasts five minutes and does not end if the team on the power play scores a goal.

The flow of the game

The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team. The game starts with a face-off at centre ice when the puck is dropped between two opposing players. At this point, it's up to the players to advance the puck into the other team's defensive zone, using their sticks to carry the puck and/or passing it back and forth.

When passing the puck, an attacking player cannot cross the blue line before the puck or the play will be called offside once they touch it, play will stop and another face-off will take place, this time in the neutral zone or where the pass was made. A play will also be under a delayed offside if an attacking player is in the opposing team's defensive zone before the puck enters the zone and will be stopped once that player touches the puck or it is determined by the referee that they will not be leaving the attacking zone.

Play will also stop when one team ices the puck; this happens when the puck crosses from the team's side of the red line (or centre line), ends up past the other team's icing line. At this point, the play is stopped and another face-off takes place, once again in the offending team's zone near the goalie.

The goals

Play also stops when one team scores a goal, which is accomplished when the puck completely crosses the goal line and into the net. Sometimes, it's not always clear if a goal has been scored, particularly if the goalie and/or other players are blocking the view of any part of the goal line.

This where goal judges come into play—it's their task to determine if a goal has been scored, which is sometimes not easy to tell from their off-ice seat behind the net. At the professional level, there are video goal judges who review disputed goals on video taken from different camera angles.

When a goal has been scored, play restarts with a face-off at centre ice. As in countless other sports, the team scoring the most goals wins the game.