It’s that time of year again. The weather is changing, everything is pumpkin-flavored, “O Canada” is on repeat and my screen time is about to skyrocket thanks to the ESPN mobile app. At long last, hockey is back.
Your Colorado College Tigers have begun their season and the next few months will be chock-full of weekend games. This article will ensure you don’t make a fool of yourself at Ed Robson Arena. And before you protest that you watched every episode of “Heated Rivalry” twice, just know that, while the sex was good, the hockey was not.
To start with the very basics, a regulation game has three 20-minute periods, although a tie after 60 minutes of play can lead to overtime and even a shootout. Each team has six players on the ice at one time: three forwards, two defensemen and one goalie. Switching out incorrectly can lead to a “too many men on the ice” penalty if the six-player limit is exceeded, but more on that later. Given the fast-paced and cardio-intensive nature of the sport, players typically skate for a minute or less at a time.
Play normally starts with a faceoff, which requires one forward from each team to battle for the puck. For faceoffs occurring in the neutral zone, the area between the blue lines where the home team’s logo is, the visiting team gets to put their stick down first. For those taking place in the offensive zone, the area of the ice where a team is trying to score a goal, the defending team puts their stick down first.
Faceoffs happen at center ice at the start of a game or after a goal is scored. You’ll see neutral zone faceoffs after standard offside calls, pucks going out of play in the neutral zone or other specific infractions. The four dots in the end zones are used after icing calls, when a goalie freezes the puck or after penalties.
Penalties in hockey are, as with every sport, the topic of much contention and referee-directed profanity. While more severe five to 10-minute penalties exist, the most common type is a minor penalty, in which the offending player must sit in the penalty box for two minutes to think about the consequences of his actions while his team plays with one less skater. When a penalty takes place, the team against whom the violation occurred gets a power play, meaning they get the man advantage for the duration of the penalty. The team that committed the violation is on the penalty kill, where they try to break up the other team’s momentum until their teammate is released from the penalty box. When CC successfully kills off a penalty, you will hear the crowd yell that we are at “full strength.”
A penalty can end early if a goal is scored; if the team on the power play scores, it is called a powerplay goal and if the other team scores on their penalty kill, we call it a shorthanded goal. Unlike in the National Hockey League (NHL), college hockey rules dictate that even if a team scores during a delayed penalty call, the penalty is still served and they get the man advantage. And unlike in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), there is no “jailbreak” rule that terminates a penalty after a shorthanded goal.
So what constitutes a penalty? Some, like tripping, hooking, holding, roughing and too many men on the ice calls are pretty self-explanatory. Others are more nuanced. Interference can be called when impeding a player who does not have possession of the puck. Slashing describes the illegal act of swinging or chopping the stick at an opponent, even if no contact is made. High-sticking is any stick contact above shoulder height, and if blood is drawn, it counts as a double minor penalty (four minutes). Cross-checking is a stick check delivered with both hands on the stick and no part of it on the ice, while boarding is the checking of a player violently into the baseboards. Much to my grandfather’s chagrin, the NCAA does not allow any kind of fighting on the ice, while referees in the NHL often let it slide. Even if each player from each team draws a penalty on the same play, both skaters will go to the penalty box and it will be 4-on-4 until the penalty is served.
Disallowed goals can happen for a variety of reasons, some of which also count as penalties. A goal is ruled invalid if: a player intentionally uses their glove or skate to get the puck in the net; a play is ruled offsides; the stick, puck or goal breaks or dislodges during the play; the scorer’s stick is above the height of the crossbar; or if an attacker inhibits the goalie’s ability to do his job by running into him, for instance. When CC does score, we get to our feet and yell “Sieve!” at the opposing team’s goalie for letting the puck in.
Offsides is one of the most common and most contentious calls that stops play. A player is offside if both skates cross the edge of the blue line into their offensive zone before the puck does. Importantly, a player can reach their stick over the line to catch a pass, as long as one skate remains on or behind the blue line and in the neutral zone. This rule forces teams to move as a unit because it prevents one player from standing near the opponent’s goal and waiting for a long pass across the ice. This kind of pass, which dumps the puck across the center red line to the other end of the rink, is called icing and it leads to a faceoff in the guilty party’s defensive zone. The only time that icing is allowed is during a penalty kill, when the team who is down a player can use it to clear the zone and waste time.
While all of this may seem like a lot to take in, I assure you that even the most prolific hockey-watchers don’t always know what is happening on the ice. This chaos is part of the sport’s charm — it is raw and messy and emotional and unpredictable. The top team can lose to the Canucks, and even the best players can go scoreless in 60 minutes of play. At the professional level, it is structured to favor the underdogs, as the teams with the worst regular-season records are entered into a lottery for the top incoming draft picks.
For more of a deep dive into the rules of the game, as well as a breakdown of conferences and team lore, I would recommend checking out the Empty Netters Podcast and their “Hockey 101” series. Welcome to the best sport in the world. Now you can say that you know puck!