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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 5: How the Game is Played
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STARTING
PLAY: FACE-OFFS
At
the beginning of each period,
and to start play after it has been stopped during the
game, a face-off
(also known as the draw or the drop) is used. (See Figure
9) A face-off
is a fair way to ensure that both teams have an equal
chance of gaining access to the puck, although some
players are better than others at winning face-offs.
In a face-off an official drops the puck on the
ice between the sticks of two opposing players standing
one stick-length apart, each facing his opponent's end
of the ice. The blades of their sticks must be touching
the ice, and no other player may be within 15 feet of
them. These two opposing players compete to touch the
puck first and direct it to one of their teammates.
If either of these players is not in the proper position
when the official is ready to drop the puck, the official
may order a teammate of that player to take the face-off
instead. This is why you may see a player who is set
up for a face-off skate off unexpectedly to be replaced
by a teammate in the face-off
circle. A new NHL procedure introduced in 2002
to speed up games dictates that the puck be dropped
within 20 seconds of a stoppage (except during the final
2 minutes of a game or in overtime), whether or not
both players have established their positions at the
face-off spot or circle.
The
face-off spots and
circles are located at various places around the
rink. Generally, unless the rules specify otherwise,
a face-off is held near the place where the infraction
occurred or where play was stopped. One exception is
if the stoppage has been caused by an attacking player
in his attacking zone, then the resulting face-off is
taken back in the neutral zone.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserve
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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 6: Team and Player Positions
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 Each
hockey team may have a maximum of 6 players on the ice
at one time. The first 6 players to begin the game for
a team are called the starting lineup. Each player has
a certain job to do, and plays a certain position. The
6 positions generally played are goalkeeper
(or goalie),
left defenseman,
right defenseman, center,
left wing
and right wing. The goalie stays near his team's goal;
of the 5 players that skate around the rink
(called skaters), the left and right defensemen
comprise the team's defensive
line, and the center, left and right wing together
make up the forward
line.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 9: Penalties
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 Offsides
The purpose of the offside rule is to prevent
an attacking player from waiting in front of the opponent's
goal for a long pass
from a teammate, giving him an easier chance to score.
To prevent this, the rule requires that the attacking
players must all follow the puck
into the attacking
zone; they may not go in ahead of the puck.
(Exception: a player in control of the puck who enters
the zone ahead of it.) An attacking player is considered
offside if both his skates go over the blue
line into the attacking zone before the puck
does. (See Figure 12) If only one skate is over the
blue line, with the player straddling the line, he is
onside and there is no infraction. That is why you may
sometimes see players skating strangely near the blue
line. A face-off
is held outside the attacking zone near the spot where
the offside violation occurred.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 9: Penalties
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 Two-line Pass
The two-line pass (also known as an offside
pass) is another type of offside
violation. It occurs when a player passes the puck from
his defending zone to a teammate across the red center
line. (See Figure 13) However, like regular
offsides it is no penalty if the puck precedes the player
across the center line. A face-off
is held at the point from which the illegal pass was
made.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 9: Penalties
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 Icing
The icing infraction occurs when the team
in possession of the puck
shoots toward the goal from behind the red center
line, the puck goes into the end of the rink
across the red goal
line (but not into the goal) and then a member
of the opposing team other than the goalie
touches the puck first. (See Figure 14) A face-off
is then held in the penalized team's defending
zone. It is not icing if the puck happens to
go into the goal or if a member of the attacking team
is the first to touch it. Icing is never called against
a team that is playing shorthanded
or if the puck is touched by the goalie or any other defender
before it crosses the goal line. Additionally, an official
who determines that a defender could have easily touched
the puck before it crossed the goal line will not call
icing.
Icing
sometimes may be a good strategy for a team's players.
It may provide them with a break in the action, allowing
for rest and substitutes,
or may give them a chance to plan or change tactics,
especially when the opponents are in a good position
to score.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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Excerpt
From "Ice Hockey Made Simple":
Chapter 10: Things To Look For During Play / Strategy
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ATTACK
STRATEGIES
Dumping the Puck Into the Zone
 Because of the offside
rule, attacking players must be careful to stay
out of the attacking
zone until the puck
has crossed the blue
line. When one or more players from the
attacking team are about to commit an offside by
crossing the blue line ahead of the puck, their
teammate with the puck will often dump or shoot
the puck into the attacking zone where they chase
after it and hope to regain control. In an example
shown in Figure 18, player A dumps the puck so teammates
B and C can enter the attacking zone without being
offside.
Copyright
© 2002 First Base Sports, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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GOALIE
STRATEGY: CUTTING DOWN THE ANGLE
 When an attacker skates towards
the goal with the puck,
the goalie
will often come out of the goal several feet to
cut down the angle of the attacker's shot, leaving
him with less net
area to shoot at by making himself closer and larger
to the shooter. (See Figure 20) However, this is
risky because if an attacker maneuvers the puck
past the forward-playing goalie, he has an open
shot at the net. |
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