Ice Hockey For Dummies
Reckon you can get behind your team without knowing your ‘face-off circle’ from your ‘crease’? Think again.
Varsity Ice Hockey is one of the biggest events of the year. With a sell-out crowd at the Capital FM Arena, extensive coverage and a variety of inspired chants from both Notts and Trent, it’s going to be even better this year.
But there’s one problem. The vast majority of students in Nottingham haven’t got a clue about how Ice Hockey works.
Fortunately, our team of experts have produced a handy guide for you…
The Rules
Obviously, the team who scores the most goals win. But there’s a lot more to it than that.
- The game is played in three 20 minute sections and the clock is paused during all stoppages
- Each team consists of six players (one goalkeeper and five ‘skaters’)
- All ‘skaters’ can go wherever they want on the ice but the goalkeeper must stay within his own half
- Teams can make substitutions whenever they want and don’t need to inform the official
Things you can’t do
If you concede a ‘minor’ penalty, you are sent off the ice for two minutes or until the opposition score. Things which count as ‘minor’ penalties are…
- Slashing
- Spearing
- Elbowing
- Kneeing
- Clocking your opponent round the head with your stick
- ‘Roughing’ – usually a good ol’ fashioned manly wrestle
If you concede the dreaded ‘major’ penalty, you are sent off the ice for a whole five minutes. Things which count as ‘major’ penalties are…
- If the referee (who will obviously be hugely biased) reckons there was a deliberate attempt to injure an opponent
- Punch-ups
- If the referee deems a ‘minor’ penalty to be so brutally nasty that it’s worthy of a ‘major’
Things you can do
- Body charge an opponent below the head, if he has the puck and isn’t facing the boards from closer than five metres
- Kick the puck
It’s going to be fast, it’s probably going to be furious and it’s definitely going to be great. If you weren’t lucky enough to get a ticket you can follow The Tab’s LiveBlog over in the Sport Section. Keep an eye out, we’re going to be surrounded by a team of actual experts in the best seats in the house.