Embellishment in hockey is when a player dives or flops toward the ice to draw a penalty. In other words, embellishment is the act of faking an infraction, similar to flopping in soccer on a play. Hockey players tend to flop on a play to give their team an advantage by the refs awarding them […]
In hockey, offsides occur when an offensive player crosses their team’s offensive zone before the puck enters that area. When a team has possession of the puck, all skaters must remain behind the blue line in the neutral zone until the puck crosses the blue line into the offensive zone. Ice hockey has three distinct […]
Dek Hockey, often used interchangeably with street hockey, gym hockey, or ball hockey – is a variation of ice hockey. Although these terms refer to hockey played on foot with a ball, they have a different level of organization, rink dimensions, and surfaces. The game’s concept uses a ball and plastic hockey sticks in an […]
If a hockey game is tied after three periods of regulation time and an overtime period, that game will go to a penalty shot shootout to decide the winner. The shootout is an exciting and sometimes controversial way to end a hockey game. Here is the complete breakdown of hockey shootouts! When Does the Shootout […]
There is always a face-off at the center ice for any high school, college, AHL, Canadian, international, and NHL game. Both teams (home and visiting) send one player to line up at the ice center, waiting for the official to drop the puck to start the action. Here is the complete guide about face-off rules, […]
During the final minute or so of a close hockey game, one team might pull their goalie to add an extra skater on offense. That might appear odd because pulling a goalie leaves an empty net, which means there is a strong chance of scoring for the other team. So why do teams pull the […]
A penalty shot in ice hockey is a free shot on the net given to a player after another player interrupts or interferes with their scoring chance. Usually, penalty shots come after a breakaway scoring chance and are given instead of power-play opportunities. Here is the complete guide about when penalty shots occur during a […]
In ice hockey games, the plus-minus (+/-) statistic evaluates how many goals vs. how many goals are given up by a player when playing on the ice. While there is some controversy on the importance of the statistic, it is still good for fans to understand why teams track this stat line. Here is the […]
Hockey is a game of fast and continuous action while the play clock runs down in the background. Like football’s halftime break drawing a pause to the game’s action, hockey has something similar with their intermission. Here is the complete breakdown of the hockey intermission purpose, how long it lasts, and more! What is the […]
In ice hockey, PIM stands for Penalty Infraction Minutes. This statistic tracks how many penalty minutes each player (or team) accrues throughout a game. PIM doesn’t take into consideration how long a player served their penalty. Instead, it focuses on how many minutes each player was assigned. How is PIM Calculated in Hockey? The PIM […]
