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Ever imagined a game without any rules? What would it look like if there were no hockey rules made for the game?  Maybe it would look like a few men are running around with hockey sticks in hand. It would be more like a chaotic fight scene than a hockey match. Rules play a very important role in our life, but when it comes to sports, it is the backbone of it. 

Knowing about the hockey rules of the game is as important to know about how hockey is played. Before we get down to the rules about hockey, let’s get into some hockey basics. Here we tried our best to make the blog beginners hockey friendly. The very first basic is the structure of the rink where you will play. It is one of the basic rules of hockey to know about the rink well. 

Structure of the rink:

Hockey rink is divided into three zones; defensive, offensive and neutral. Defensive is the zone where you and your teammates are standing. The middle section is the neutral one. And the opposite side where the opposition party will stand, is called the offensive zone. The attacking way is from the defensive zone to the offensive zone.

Position of the players:

Ice hockey:

5 players and 1 goalie makes a team. All of them have to stand in their defensive zone. There are different positions for different roles.

• • Goalie: Goalie stands in front of the goal post to prevent the puck from entering into the goal line. 
  • Defense players (left and right) : They try to block the opposition party when the team doesn’t have puck possession. They also block the opposition party from taking over the puck when their team has possession. 

• Forward centre : They try to take possession on the puck during every face off.
• Forward left and right wing : They have some defensive responsibilities. But they look forward to creating the primary situation of making a goal. 

Inline (roller) hockey :

Inline roller hockey has a player less than the ice hockey one. They got 5 players including the goalie. 

Field hockey :

The field hockey rules are quite similar to soccer. The difference is they have to hit the ball with the stick except for their feet. So they got 11 players in a team. The setup is of a  goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards.  Anyone can make the goal including the goalie (rare case) . 

Game time:

Ice hockey:

It is basically a 60 minutes game divided into three 20 minutes periods. Each period got 5 minutes break time, which is 15 minutes in total. 

Inline (roller) hockey:

Because of lacking the cooling effect of an ice surface, this inline hockey game duration came down. It’s a two 20 minutes session in the world championship games.

Field hockey:

This one has the longest time duration in comparison to other hockey games, excluding the hockey rules overtime. It has got 2 sessions of 35 minutes each. There’s a break time of 15 minutes in between. 

Overtime:

The term overtime is used when you can’t reach a conclusion in the given time. Like when it’s a draw and game time is up. Then some extra time is given to sort out the match winner. This is known as overtime. The first action taken after a draw match is giving 15 more minutes. If it’s a draw after this event, then a penalty shootout comes. It is again like soccer. A single player tries to make a goal from a selected spot. Team goalie gets the chance to defend goals. Hockey rules overtime is more or less the same in every type of hockey. But one of the worst parts of NHL hockey rules is, the team that loses in overtime is awarded a single point, and this might seem a bit unfair to you. But it is the rule. 

Starting of the game :

Hockey starts with centre passes. The puck is placed in the centre of the rink. One of the forward centre players of any team pushes the puck. Forward centre player needs to stand in his defensive side while pushing it. Both the players are allowed to try to take possession over the puck. 

Tackling :

After the centre pass is done, any of the players except the goalie is allowed to try to take possession over the puck. This action is called tackling. This is the main action required throughout the game. 

Rules of playing with the stick :

The most basic rule of playing the puck is you can’t touch it with your feet or your hand. You will have to play it with the stick. There’s one of the famous NHL hockey rules, that is, you can’t play with a broken hockey stick. If your stick is broken, you will have to drop that immediately. There are few more specifications about the stick rule in field hockey. Those are –

• You are allowed to hit the ball with the flat side of the stick only. 
• Other than the goalkeeper none is allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body.

Officials :

A game official is the person who has the responsibility of enforcing the rules and doing the maintenance of the game. The number of officials vary with the type of the game. 

Ice hockey:

• Referees (on ice)
• Linesmen (on ice)
• Assistant referees (on ice)
• Goal judge (off ice)
• Video goal judge (off ice)
• Official scorer (off ice)
• Penalty timekeeper (off ice)
• Goal timekeeper (off ice)
• Statistician (off ice)

Inline (roller) hockey:

As there is no offsides, no icing; here they need lesser referees and usually they don’t use any lineman. 

Field hockey:

They got umpires instead of referees. Umpires and referees do the same job almost. 

Crimes :

 

Ice hockey:

• • Off side : When the puck is in possession of your team and your players’ sticks cross the blue line of the attacking zone, before the puck crosses that line is called off side.
  • Icing : If you hit the puck from behind the centre red line and your puck remains untouched, it will be called icing. 
  • Butt ending: Jabbing a player of the opponent team with the top end of the stick.
  • Checking from behind: Hitting a player from behind while he is not aware of the scene and can’t defend himself.

• Cross checking: :Checking the stick with both hands.

• Elbowing: Hitting an opponent with the elbow. 

• Fighting : Getting involved into physical fights inside the rink.

• Hooking: Blocking someone’s progress using the stick. 

• Interference: Blocking someone’s progress while he doesn’t have the puck and creating any kind of disturbance while picking up his stick or gloves from the ground. 

• Kneeing: Hitting an opponent with the knee. 

All kinds of deliberate actions that make an opponent fall or get him injured comes under the crime section. 

Inline (roller) hockey:

No icing , no off side rule here. Plus you can have body contact with the opponent while playing the puck, but there can’t be any deliberate hitting of course. 

Field hockey :

All the things are the same like ice hockey. 

Punishments :

Ice hockey:

• For a minor penalty you have to sit in the penalty box for 2 minutes. In case of double minors a four minute penalty is given. 
• In case of a major penalty you have to sit in the penalty box for 5 minutes. 
• In case of a misconduct penalty you have to sit for 10 minutes in the penalty box. 
• Sometimes a penalty shot is also given. It depends on the situation and the league. 
• While having an offside, your goal won’t be counted and you will have to resume the game with a faceoff. 
• Icing comes under a delayed penalty. 

Here’s a chart of hockey majors and minor penalty time.

PENALTY	CLASSIFICATION	TIME
Boarding	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Charging	Minor	2 minutes
Contact to the Head	Minor	2 minutes
Cross-Checking	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Delay of Game	Minor	2 minutes
Elbowing	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Slashing	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Roughing	Minor	2 minutes
Obstruction	Minor	2 minutes
High-Sticking	Minor	2 minutes
Kneeing	Minor	2 minutes
Holding	Minor	2 minutes
Holding the Stick	Minor	2 minutes
Interference	Minor	2 minutes
Hooking	Minor	2 minutes
Unsportsmanlike Conduct	Minor	2 minutes
Tripping	Minor	2 minutes
Butt-Ending	Major	5 minutes
Checking from Behind	Major	5 minutes
Fighting	Major	5 minutes
Fight Instigator	Major	2 minutes
Holding/Grasping the Facemask	Major	5 minutes
Pushing-off of Opponent with Skate	Major	5 minutes
Misconduct	Major	10 minutes
Spearing	Major	5 minutes

Inline (roller) hockey :

As there is no off side or icing, except those all other rules are the same. 

Field hockey:

There are three kinds of punishments for the crimes. 

• Free hit
• Penalty corner
• Penalty shoot

All the rules are similar to soccer. 

Replacement:

Every team can replace their player any moment they want. But they have to announce their replacement.

So that’s it. Hockey rules explained here as if they are the rules of hockey for the dummies. We hope that you enjoy playing hockey. But it is really important to follow the protocol to be a good player. So follow the rules and we hope if you have a dream of being a world class player, that comes true.

If you are reading this blog,  I guess you are a complete beginner who doesn’t know where to start. People usually start reading blogs about ” how to play hockey ” right after deciding they want to play hockey. Playing hockey is fun, but learning hockey requires a lot of patience. So let’s just consider that there is a line going on in the back of your mind that ” I want to play hockey “. So we are here to help you out with beginner hockey basics and tips for beginner hockey players. 

How was hockey invented : 

If you know the background of a sport, you can easily relate to the rules. So if you are learning to play hockey, it will be better for you if you know how it was invented.  

The name hockey most probably came from the word hoquet. Which means shepherd’s stick. 

Some say the name Hockey came from the stick’s curve which looks like a hook. So hockey from the hook.  No matter what the history is, the basic is to hit something with a stick. It’s a pretty ancient game, so earlier people used to make hockey sticks with bamboo. Rules are equipment evolved constantly and now we have modern hockey in hand.

What to learn first :

Do you know what is most important in the case of learning a sport? It is to figure out what is the first thing that you should learn. So let’s see what are the beginner hockey tips we got for you.

My personal opinion always is to learn to stand first. For hockey, the term should learn to skate first unless you are playing field hockey. In the case of field hockey it will be, learn to run well. So let’s get into how to start playing hockey.

How to skate :

Okay, so we have three different types of hockey. Ice hockey, roller hockey and field hockey.

Ice hockey:

The first rule is to have patience. You won’t learn it in a day or maybe in a month also. At times you will feel like this is not possible at all. But it’s actually something achievable. So when you begin, definitely wear lighter clothes, so that you can move easily wearing them. I know it can be a bit chilly, but once you start moving you won’t feel the cold anymore. Still, to prevent cold you can wear fitted tops and leggings.

Then comes the most important thing, skates. You need to wear skates which are very comfortable and fit really well. To keep your feet warm use socks. But you can’t use the cotton socks due to less moisture-wicking ability. You better use microfiber socks. Then put on a helmet on your head for safety. 

Mastering the basics :

• Now, this may sound funny, but first, you need to learn falling and trust me you will obviously fall while learning hockey. The question is why you need to learn how to fall. The answer is, when you fall with a prepared position, you can reduce the seriousness of your injury. The less injury you face, the more you can focus on learning. So here are some techniques of falling in the right position.
  • Whenever you start feeling like you are falling, bend your knees and shift your body into the dip position (squatting).
  • It’s better to place your hands on the lap while falling forward and roll over your hands and knees.
  • To get up, gently push your body with your hand and stand up.
• Learn to stop. If you know to ski then it is the same technique. Pull your legs apart and bend it sideways. This will reduce your speed and help you stop within a second. But as a beginner you may fall down while practicing it. So have patience.
• To be comfortable in the skates keep gliding and keep stroking.
• Practice swizzling (pulling your feet apart and then dragging the toes together, making an hourglass shape. It will help you improve your skills.)

Roller hockey :

In the case of roller hockey, all the safety measures are the same as ice hockey. All the glides, slides are also the same. The only difference is in the stopping method. 

• One of the basic methods is to kneel down with one knee and stop.
• Use the back part to stop (which is specially designed for brake)
• Use the front block of the skate to stop.

Field hockey :

You don’t need to skate in case of field hockey. We need to run here. Again the safety measures are the same here. All you need to learn is to increase your running speed, practice pivoting (moving your body with one foot only) and keeping the balance while striking

Hockey basics:

While you must be hell level confused with all the other basics and searching everywhere about how to play hockey for beginners, we got Hockey: 101 for you.

Before you learn how to start playing hockey, I want to tell you that hockey is a team game. You need to be a team person first. It won’t matter how good you are in the game if you are not a good teammate. So when you start learning to play hockey, keep working on your mindset as well. Now let’s just jump to the technical things.

Holding and using the stick:

To hold the stick, take your right hand on the middle of the stick, hold the stick with your forefingers and wrap the thumb around. Then put your left hand on the top then again do the same thing with the fingers. That’s how you will get a good grip. Then push the puck and twist the stick. That will do the energy transformation and the puck will move further. Keep practicing this stroke again and again.

Warm-up and make your body comfortable in the outfit:

To ensure safety, you need to wear a lot of bulky things while playing. So do some warm up and obviously proper warm  ups wearing those bulky things. So that you get adjusted with the entire set up and while playing you don’t get injured while playing. Remember the highest probability of getting injured is during the practice time. So never skip the warm up session before practicing.

Practice quick start :

Hockey is a very fast paced game. Your reflexes need to be extremely good. You need to practice starting very quickly. Every single body part needs to be highly reflexive. You need to practice quick striding as well. For the quick start you will have to bend your knees a bit, pull one of your legs apart and kick with that. This will make the energy transfer smooth and you will have a real quick movement.

Practice multitasking and keeping balance:

Hockey is very much of a multitasking game. You will have to keep skating, look for the puck and hit it towards the goal and will have to snatch it from the oponentes as well. So it’s very common in new players that they end up falling hard on the ice or the ground during doing all these together. So it is really important to keep the balance while multitasking. Cause one bad fall can kick you out of the tournament.

Hockey rink and your position:

Okay, so now you know what to start with. Now let’s get into how to start playing hockey. We will now talk about the rink and your position in it.

Structure of the rink :

 

The rink is divided into three zones; defensive, offensive and neutral. Defensive is the zone where you and your teammates are standing. The middle section is the neutral one. And the opposite side where the opposition party will stand, is called the offensive zone. The attacking way is from the defensive zone to the offensive zone. 

Selecting your position:

You will get 5 players and 1 goalie in your team (depends on the game type). All of them have to stand in the defensive zone. There are different positions for different roles. 

• Goalie: The goalie stands in front of the goal post to prevent the puck from entering into the goal line. If your reflexes are really good and you can remain very alert all the time then you can consider being a goalie.
• Defense players (left and right): They try to block the opposition party when your team doesn’t have the puck possession. They also block the opposition party from taking over the puck when your team has the possession. If you are not that aggressive player and you have a good blocking skill, then you may try playing from these positions.
• Forward center: They try to take possession of the puck during every face off. If you are a very aggressive player, then you should try for this position.
• Forward left and right wing : They have some defensive responsibilities. But they look forward to creating the primary situation of making a goal.

If you are just thinking of, who makes the goal, I want to be the hero of the match! Then the answer is anyone can make the goal including the goalie (rare case). 

So that’s it, that’s how you start playing hockey. But always remember whenever you violate a rule, there will be a negative impact on your team. So always play safe and follow the rules. If you want to know about the hockey rules, click here.

We know what goes inside the mind of a beginner player. They have passion and love for a particular game and want to play it as well. Here the difficulty starts. They remain confused about how and where to start from.  If you are into hockey, and looking for blogs about hockey for beginners, we are here to help you out. The most famous type of hockey around the world is ice hockey. We got a complete guide of ice hockey for beginners.

Why start playing ice hockey :

It may seem like ice hockey for beginners is too tough. But trust me every single thing looks like it’s too tough in the beginning. Hockey is a very fast paced game. It will keep you fit and the adrenalin rush will keep your mental health better as well. You will achieve some lifelong qualities as well. Such as socializing, confidence, teamwork and quick decision making etc. 

When to start :

The lowest age to start ice hockey is the age 5. The early ages are the best to learn how to play ice hockey. But wait, if you are not in your early age, it’s not late. You can learn hockey in your teenage years or even after it. Professionals usually play hockey until their mid thirties. So you can start learning anytime before that.

Skills required for playing ice hockey :

When you are looking for how to play ice hockey for beginners, you need a few sets of skills first. 

• Ice skating , 97 percent of the game is ice skating. 
• Multi tasking
• Quick deciding skill
• Good reflexes
• Good core balance
• Ability to work together in a team

How to skate :

The first rule is to have patience. You won’t learn it in a day or maybe in a month also. At times you will feel like this is not possible at all. But it’s actually something achievable. So when you begin, definitely wear lighter clothes, so that you can move easily wearing them. I know it can be a bit chilly, but once you start moving you won’t feel the cold anymore. Still to prevent cold you can wear fitted tops and leggings.

Then comes the most important thing, skates. You need to wear skates which are very comfortable and fits really well. To keep your feet warm use socks. But you can’t use the cotton socks due to less moisture wicking ability. You better use microfiber socks. Then put on a helmet on your head for safety. 

Mastering the basics :

1. Now this may sound funny, but first you need to learn falling and trust me you will obviously fall while learning hockey and this is one of the best ice hockey tips. Question is why you need to learn how to fall. The answer is, when you fall with a prepared position, you can reduce the seriousness of your injury. The less injury you face, the more you can focus on learning. So here are some techniques of falling in the right position.

• Whenever you start feeling like you are falling, bend your knees and shift your body into the dip position (squatting).
• It’s better to place your hands on the lap while falling forward and roll over your hands and knees.
• To get up, gently push your body with your hand and stand up.

1. Learn to stop. If you know to ski then it is the same technique. Pull your legs apart and bend it sideways. This will reduce your speed and help you stop within a second. But as a beginner you may fall down while practicing it. So have patience.
2. To be comfortable in the skates keep gliding and keep stroking. 
3. Practice swizzling (pulling your feet apart and then dragging the toes together, making an hourglass shape. It will help you improve your skills.)

Basic structure and objective :

Ice hockey rules are pretty simple and the gameflow is also pretty easy. You skate, pass , shoot and score. When you make a goal, you get a point. That’s it. 

Rink structure and position:

You will get 5 players and 1 goalie in your team. All of them have to stand in the defensive zone. There are different positions for different roles. 

•  Goalie: The goalie stands in front of the goal post to prevent the puck from entering into the goal line. If your reflexes are really good and you can remain very alert all the time then you can consider being a goalie. 
• Defense players (left and right) : They try to block the opposition party when your team doesn’t have the puck possession. They also block the opposition party from taking over the puck when your team has the possession. If you are not that aggressive player and you have a good blocking skill, then you may try playing from these positions. 
• Forward centre : They try to take possession on the puck during every face off. If you are a very aggressive player, then you should try for this position.
• Forward left and right wing : They have some defensive responsibilities. But they look forward to creating the primary situation of making a goal. 

Game time:

It is basically a 60 minutes game divided into three 20 minutes periods. Each period got 5 minutes break time, which is 15 minutes in total. 

Officials :

A game official is the person who has the responsibility of enforcing the rules and doing the maintenance of the game. The number of officials vary with the type of the game. They are :

• Referees (on ice)
• Linesmen (on ice)
• Assistant referees (on ice)
• Goal judge (off ice)
• Video goal judge (off ice)
• Official scorer (off ice)
• Penalty timekeeper (off ice)
• Goal timekeeper (off ice)
• Statistician (off ice)

Crimes :

As you are reading about ice hockey for beginners, it is really important to know about the crimes in ice hockey rules. 

• Off side : When the puck is in the possession of your team and your players’ sticks cross the blue line of the attacking zone, before the puck crosses that line is called off side.
• Icing : If you hit the puck from behind the centre red line and your puck remains untouched, it will be called icing. 
• Butt ending: Jabbing a player of the opponent team with the top end of the stick.
• Checking from behind: Hitting a player from behind while he is not aware of the scene and can’t defend himself.
• Cross checking: : Checking the stick with both hands.
• Elbowing: Hitting an opponent with the elbow. 
• Fighting : Getting involved into physical fights inside the rink.
• Hooking: Blocking someone’s progress using the stick. 
• Interference: Blocking someone’s progress while he doesn’t have the puck and creating any kind of disturbance while picking up his stick or gloves from the ground. 
• Kneeing: Hitting an opponent with the knee. 

All kinds of deliberate actions that make an opponent fall or get him injured comes under the crime section. 

Punishments : 

• For a minor penalty you have to sit in the penalty box for 2 minutes. In case of double minors a four minute penalty is given. 
• In case of a major penalty you have to sit in the penalty box for 5 minutes. 
• In case of a misconduct penalty you have to sit for 10 minutes in the penalty box. 
• Sometimes a penalty shot is also given. It depends on the situation and the league. 
• While having an offside, your goal won’t be counted and you will have to resume the game with a faceoff. 
• Icing comes under a delayed penalty. 

Here’s a chart of hockey majors and minor penalty time.

PENALTY	CLASSIFICATION	TIME
Boarding	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Charging	Minor	2 minutes
Contact to the Head	Minor	2 minutes
Cross-Checking	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Delay of Game	Minor	2 minutes
Elbowing	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Slashing	Minor	2 or 5 minutes
Roughing	Minor	2 minutes
Obstruction	Minor	2 minutes
High-Sticking	Minor	2 minutes
Kneeing	Minor	2 minutes
Holding	Minor	2 minutes
Holding the Stick	Minor	2 minutes
Interference	Minor	2 minutes
Hooking	Minor	2 minutes
Unsportsmanlike Conduct	Minor	2 minutes
Tripping	Minor	2 minutes
Butt-Ending	Major	5 minutes
Checking from Behind	Major	5 minutes
Fighting	Major	5 minutes
Fight Instigator	Major	2 minutes
Holding/Grasping the Facemask	Major	5 minutes
Pushing-off of Opponent with Skate	Major	5 minutes
Misconduct	Major	10 minutes
Spearing	Major	5 minutes

Equipments required for ice hockey:

While playing ice hockey you need a proper set of equipment. Here’s the list of it . 

GOALIE:

• Stick
• Mask
• Chest protector
• Neck guard
• Arm protector
• Goalie jock
• Knee pads
• Leg pads
• Blocker
• Catching glove
• Skates 
• Helmet

PLAYER:

• Stick
• Gum shield
• Neck guard
• Shoulder pads
• Elbow pads
• Shin pads
• Gloves
• Jock
• Skates 
• Helmet

Hope you got all your ice hockey tips here. If you want to know about other hockey rules and playing methods, you can check our other blogs as well.