Ice Hockey Rules

Rules make hockey fun and safe. Without rules and regulations hockey games would be chaotic. To help enforce the rules in a hockey game there is one referee, two linespersons, a goal judge and the official scorer. The head of all officials is the referee.

Actions Resulting in Penalties

Some rules forbid players from doing certain actions and those who break these rules go to the penalty box. When a team gets a penalty, they are shorthanded, the opposite team gets more players on the ice. This is called a power-play.

There are two kinds of penalties; major penalties which you stay and minor penalties. Minor penalties put you on the penalty bench for two minutes and a major, for 5 minutes. If a penalty takes place, play will stop with the referee’s whistle, and will resume only after everything is in order.

The following actions are forbidden by the rules and will result in penalties:

Spearing	Spearing occurs when a player uses his/her stick to jab an opponent's body.
Boarding	Boarding occurs when a player pushes another player a short distance. This is a minor penalty.
Illegal Checking	Checking from behind occurs when a player pushes another a long distance. This is a major penalty.
High Sticking	High-sticking or hitting from behind occurs when a player uses their stick to hit another player above the shoulders. If the penalty is a major penalty or minor penalty is the referees judgement.
Hooking	Hooking occurs when a player uses their stick to hold another player's body.
Tripping	Tripping occurs when a player trips a player. This will result in a minor penalty. If a player is tripped on an breakaway, that will result in a penalty shot where the player who got tripped will take a shot at the net without any obstructions except the goalie.
Slashing	Slashing is a very dangerous action which occurs when a player swings their stick at another players body. This will result to an major penalty

Other Play Stopping Rules

There are also rules that stop play without resulting in penalties. The most common types are described below:

Offside prevents players from waiting by the opposing net for an easy goal. Offside occurs when a player skates into the offensive zone (past the opposing team's blue line) before the puck and the puck carrier. An offside pass also occurs when a player passes the puck to a teammate across the blue line and the center line.

Icing occurs when a player shoots the puck from their defensive zone past the goal line.