The Bear’s Beginners Guide to Ice Hockey will take you from being a Rookie to Pro spectator in minutes.Ice Hockey is one of the most popular games in the world. It has speed, crushing hits, skilled shooters & acrobatic goaltending.

1. The basic principle of Ice Hockey is to put the puck in the oppositions net more times than that put it in yours. When the puck goes into the net this is called a “Goal”. 

2. Ice hockey in Australia is played on an Olympic size rink measuring 100 feet wide by 200 feet long.   

3. An Ice hockey game played in Australia lasts for 45 minutes. It is split into 3 slots each called a “Period” lasting 15 minutes each.  When the referee blows his whistle the clock stops, this is also known as a “stop time” game.  

4. Every Ice Hockey game has a minimum of 3 referees controlling it. A head referee who wears a red band around his arm 2 linesman.   

5. On average an Ice Hockey team has 22 players. Broken down into 12 forwards (attacking players) and 8 defenseman (defending players) plus 2 goal tenders (players who stand in the net).    

7. Each team is only allowed to have 6 players on the ice at any time of the game.  Most of the game there is 3 forwards, 2 defenseman and 1 goalie.

8. Every team has a series of “Player Lines”. Player lines are put together by the coach to best maximum the skills of the players on that line, most ice hockey teams have between 3-4 lines.

9. Players on the Ice can interchanged with players on the bench while the puck is still in play this is known as “changing on the fly”.  On stoppage of play or when the whistle is blown by the referee the coach can change his player lines too.  The goalie stays on the ice for the whole game only the 5 player’s change with players on the bench. 

10. Ice Hockey player’s stay on the ice for around 30-45 seconds before they either change on the fly or change after the whistle is blown. Each 30-35 second block taken by a player is known as a “Shift”.  

11. The referee starts the game by dropping the puck between 2 attacking players. This is known as a “face off”.  A face off is held over red dots (face off dots) in various locations on the rink. Faces off circles are used to resume the stoppage of play. 

12. The game of Ice Hockey is broken down in 3 zones.

1. Offensive zone - the end with the opposition’s net.
2. Defensive zone – the end where you’re net is located.
3. Neutral zone – the middle of the ice between the offensive and defensive zone.

13. The “Blue Lines” are the dividers between each zone. There other 3 lines on the ice. The “Red Line” located in the middle of the ice rink and the 2 thinner red lines located at either end known as the “Goal Lines”.  The linesmen call penalties such as “Icing” and “Off side”.
Icing occurs when a player shoots the puck over the red line and it crosses the goal lines without anyone touching the puck. 

14. Offside occurs when an attacking player crosses the defending teams blue line before the puck.

15. Goalies have a semi-circle in front of their net; this is known as “The Crease”. Attacking players are not allowed to stand in the crease or the referee will blow the whistle and resume play outside the attacking zone.

14. Goalies are allowed to the cover the puck with any part of their equipment usually their catching glove this is known as “freezing the puck”. The puck needs to be under their control for more than 3 seconds before the referee can blow the whistle.

15. The game of Ice Hockey has over 150 penalties; generally most penalties are 2 minutes long for a minor infraction such as slashing and tripping.
 
16. The penalised player is required to serve his 2 minute penalty in the penalty box or known as “the box”.  His team will now be a man down for the duration of the penalty.

17. The team that received the penalty and now is a man down is on “penalty kill”. The objective when on the penalty kill time off the penalty till the penalised player can return to the ice, making the penalised team back to “even strength“

18. The team with the extra player on the ice is now on the “powerplay”.  The powerplay is ideal time to score a goal. Specific plays are run on the powerplay to increase the change of scoring. 

19. Each team nominates 1 Captain and 2 Assistant Captains. The Captain wears a “C” and the Assistant Captains wears “A” on their jersey.  

20. Finally, the best way to learn about Ice Hockey is to simply come along and watch one of our games. Check out our schedule to find out our next game.