Play Hockey

If you want to feel alive, play hockey. This fast paced physical sport is played on a rectangular ice rink (200ft x 85ft) that is divided in half by a red centerline with opposing team goals on either end. Blue lines mark offensive zones on either end. The rink is a little over twice as long as an NBA basketball court and about 1.5 times wider. Each team has three forwards (right wing, center, left wing), two defensemen (right D and left D) and a goalie. The game is played over three twenty minute periods. Due to the fast pace of the game each team usually has multiple players playing each position and rotating in shifts of one to two minutes.

The game requires balance, agility and coordination. Each player must maneuver around the rink on ice skates with a hockey stick in hand. The objective of the game is to score goals against the opposing team. Goals are achieved by getting the puck past the goal line of the opposing team’s net. At the end of the game the team with the most goals wins.

Opposing players try to disrupt the opposing team’s play by:

• Intercepting passes,

• Using their sticks to remove the puck from their opponent (poke checking),

• Delivering body contact in the form of legal checks to displace the player from the puck.

A referee and two linesmen police the game. Their job is to enforce the rules of the game, including sportsmanship among the players. They punish players for violating the rules of the game by ejecting them from play for a set number of minutes. Ejected players must sit out their penalty minutes until they are allowed to rejoin the game.

If this fast-paced physical sport sounds like fun to you, grab your mouth guard and hit the ice, you may hurt a little after the game but you won’t be disappointed, eh.