Nhl Hockey: The Game

By Author: Kim Patti
Total Articles: 4
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The NHL or National Hockey League is a not-for-profit league that's considered the premier ice hockey leauge. Each NHL regulation game is played between two teams of six players (this was previously seven players before the NHL's processor the NHA removed one of the positions - the rover - in 1911). The games are televised live (it is also now also possible to watch NHL live online) which affects some of the rules. Games last 60 minutes (an hour) and are composed of three 20 minute periods with an intermission of 15.5 or 17 minutes (17 minutes if the game is being televised) between each period. This is notably different from system used in sports such as soccer that take just one break to create two 'halves' of the game. Television timeouts in NHL hockey are then taken at 6, 10 and 14 minutes of time except in instances of a power play. Another exception is when the first stoppage is due to a goal in which case a timeout occurs at the stoppage after the next stoppage after the goal. A similar system is used in cases of a penalty.

In 2007 a new rule was introduced which ruled that if the first stoppage was an icing (similar ...
... to the 'offside' rule where gameplay is stopped by a linesman after a goal is scored from across at least two red lines without being touched or intercepted followed by a faceoff in the defending zone of the team that caused the infraction - a rule that leads to debate in many a hockey forum), then the TV timeout would not occur in order to prevent the players from getting a break without being able to change.

The objective of any ice hockey game is to use hockey sticks in order to hit a 'puck' into a goal. The puck may only be touched by the hockey stick except by the goalie and is flat in nature to allow it to slide across the ice. Striking the puck hard is used in order shoot at the goal and to pass from one player to another. The other team may get possession by either intercepting a pass or by tackling another player, which in hockey is known for being a particularly rough affair where players use the relative instability of the ice in order to barge the opposition over while leading for the puck with their stick.

The winner is the team with the most goals at the end of the sixty minutes. As of 2005, if the game is still tied after this time, then the game will enter a shootout. Here three players from each team will take it in turns to take penalty shots at the goal. The team with the most goals during the three round shootout will then win the game. If after three shootout rounds the game is still tied then sudden death will ensue whereby the first team to get ahead on points will win.

Shootouts however will not occur during playoffs which work differently. Here sudden death-death five-on-five matches lasting 20 minutes are played until the first team scores. This game could theoretically drag for an indefinite period of time, only four games have ever gone to five overtime periods. The best way to get a grasp of the rules of hockey is to watch NHL live online or on TV, or to read a good blog about hockey rules.

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