Hockey goal celebrations

Updated October 17, 2026

A celly is what you do in the few seconds after the puck goes in. The famous ones have great stories behind them, and the best ones share one thing: they're about your team, not the other one. Here are the classics with the real details, clean celebration ideas for your next goal, what the rulebooks say about taunting, and why the best celly ends at your bench.

What a celly is

"Celly" is hockey slang for a goal celebration. It can be as small as a fist pump or as big as a slide on your knees. Most last a few seconds. The scorer throws their arms up, the linemates join in, and then everyone skates past the bench for fist bumps before the next faceoff.

A good celly shows what the goal means to you and your team. A bad one is aimed at somebody: the goalie who let it in, the other team's bench or their fans. Keep that difference in mind and you'll never have a problem.

First you need the goal, of course. Start with how to shoot and how to deke, and if you're feeling brave, the Michigan.

Famous celebrations and the stories behind them

These are some of the best-known cellys in hockey, with the year, the team and what was going on.

• Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins, 1970. On May 10, 1970, Orr scored about 40 seconds into overtime of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues at Boston Garden. As he scored, the Blues' Noel Picard tried to take him down, and Orr flew through the air with his arms up. Photographer Ray Lussier caught him in midair. The goal won Boston its first Cup since 1941.
• Paul Henderson, Team Canada, 1972. On September 28, 1972, in Game 8 of the Summit Series against the Soviet Union in Moscow, Henderson scored with 34 seconds left. Canada won the game 6-5 and the series. Henderson has said that he then jumped into teammate Yvan Cournoyer's arms.
• Tiger Williams, Vancouver Canucks, 1980. Toronto traded Dave "Tiger" Williams to Vancouver in February 1980. On December 10, 1980, in his first game back at Maple Leaf Gardens, he scored against his old team and rode his stick down the ice like a horse. Vancouver won 8-5. People remember the stick ride as his trademark, but Williams has said that night was the only time he did it in the NHL.
• Theo Fleury, Calgary Flames, 1991. On April 14, 1991, Calgary was one loss from being knocked out of the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers. In overtime of Game 6 in Edmonton, Fleury intercepted a pass from Mark Messier, scored to win 2-1, and slid down the ice on his knees. Edmonton won Game 7 in overtime two nights later, but the slide still shows up in highlight reels.
• Teemu Selanne, Winnipeg Jets, 1993. On March 2, 1993, the Jets rookie scored three times against the Quebec Nordiques in Winnipeg. The third goal, his 54th of the season, broke Mike Bossy's NHL rookie record of 53. Selanne threw his glove in the air and pretended to shoot it down with his stick. Quebec actually won the game 7-4. Selanne finished the season with 76 goals, still the rookie record.
• Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 2009. On March 19, 2009, in Tampa, Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season, laid his stick on the ice and warmed his hands over it, as if it were too hot to hold. It was planned ahead of time. Critics, including TV commentator Don Cherry, said it went too far. Mike McKenna, the Tampa Bay goalie he scored on, later said he was mad about it, and that Ovechkin apologized to him about a week later.
• Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks, 2010. On June 9, 2010, 4:06 into overtime of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in Philadelphia, Kane's shot slid under goalie Michael Leighton's pads and into the net. The goal light didn't come on, and almost nobody knew the puck was in. Kane did. He threw off his gloves and stick and skated to his goalie, Antti Niemi, while everyone else caught up. Video review confirmed it: Chicago's first Stanley Cup in 49 years.
• Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 2025. On April 6, 2025, against the New York Islanders, Ovechkin scored his 895th goal to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. The Capitals came off the bench to mob him, the Islanders stood by their bench tapping their sticks, and Gretzky shook his hand during a ceremony on the ice. That's a celebration done right: a whole team's joy and the other team's respect.

Notice the hot stick. The goalie Ovechkin scored on said he was mad about it, because he felt embarrassed enough already. That's the line in one sentence: celebrate the goal, not the person you scored on.

Celly ideas for your next goal

Before you try anything new, ask your coach what's OK on your team. Then keep it short. Five seconds is plenty, and the game has to go on.

Solo cellys

1. The classic. Both arms up, stick in the air. Keep the blade up and away from your teammates' faces.
2. The fist pump. One big one, or a few on the way to the bench.
3. The point. Point at the teammate who passed you the puck. More on why below.
4. The airplane. Glide with your arms out wide like wings.
5. The stick guitar. Three seconds of air guitar on your stick, played to your own fans.
6. The knee slide. A short one, in open ice, after you've slowed down. Never toward the boards, the net or another player.
7. The stick ride. The Tiger Williams horse: straddle the stick for a short glide, then get back on your skates before you fall.
8. The wave. Find your family in the stands and wave.
9. The bow and arrow. Pull back an imaginary bow and fire it at the ceiling, never at an opponent.
10. The calm one. Act like you've done it before: a small nod, then fist bumps with your linemates. It's as classy as a celly gets.

Team cellys

1. The bench line. Skate along your bench with your glove out and bump every teammate's glove. It's the standard hockey celebration, and it never gets old.
2. The group hug. Linemates meet the scorer in the corner. No tackles, and nobody gets buried in a pile.
3. Row the boat. Kneel in a line, one behind the other, and row twice.
4. The team photo. One player pretends to snap a picture while the others pose.
5. The secret handshake. Make one up with your linemate at practice. Keep it simple enough to do in hockey gloves.
6. The goalie salute. After a win, everyone skates to the goalie first.
7. The stick salute. After a big win, the team lines up and raises their sticks to the fans.

Plan team cellys at practice, keep them short, and save the big ones for big goals, like an overtime winner. A team celly goes well with a team name: here are hockey team name ideas if you still need one.

Where the line is

Celebrating a goal isn't a penalty. Hockey Canada's rulebook even says its unsportsmanlike conduct rule isn't meant to stop a player's enthusiasm after scoring. What gets called is taunting: aiming the celebration at the other team. Here's how the rulebooks treat it.

• NHL: Rule 75, unsportsmanlike conduct, gives a minor penalty for obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures directed at anyone. A player who keeps trying to bait an opponent into a penalty can get a misconduct, and an obscene gesture can mean a game misconduct. The league can also fine a player after the game. In 2011 it fined a Boston defenseman for a rude gesture he made right after scoring a playoff goal.
• USA Hockey: Rule 601(a) gives a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct to any player who taunts or incites an opponent. Keep it up and it becomes a misconduct, then a game misconduct. USA Hockey has ruled that spraying snow on a goalie after they cover the puck counts as taunting.
• Hockey Canada: its unsportsmanlike conduct rule lists things such as any behavior meant to provoke an opponent into a penalty, and deliberately spraying snow in a goalie's face. It's a minor penalty, and a player who keeps it up gets a misconduct or a game misconduct. Taunts or gestures that make a mockery of the game can bring a gross misconduct. Throwing a stick or any other object anywhere on the ice is a minor, so leave Selanne's glove toss to the highlight reels.

Leagues and tournaments can add rules of their own, so ask your coach about yours. For how penalties work in general, see hockey rules explained. These cross the line almost anywhere:

• Celebrating in front of the other team's bench, or in the goalie's face.
• Spraying snow on the goalie.
• Rude gestures at anyone: players, fans or referees.
• Copying an opponent's celebration to mock it, or shushing their fans.
• Throwing your gloves, your stick or anything else.
• A big show when your team is already winning by a lot. Score, tap gloves, line up.
• Anything long enough to hold up the game.

If you're on the other end of a taunt, don't answer it. That's exactly what it's for: to bait you into a penalty. Skate away and let the referee handle it. The best reply is your next goal, and a handshake at the end of the game.

The best celly goes to the bench

Most goals start with somebody else: a pass, a screen in front of the goalie, a won faceoff, a blocked shot at the other end. In the NHL, up to two players can be credited with an assist on each goal, and an assist counts as a point, the same as the goal. Your passer did half the work.

So thank them. Point at the passer, skate to them first, then go down the bench line. The players on the bench count too. They killed the last penalty and took the hits that got you the puck.

The biggest goals work the same way. When Ovechkin broke Gretzky's record, Tom Wilson had carried the puck into the zone and slid it to him, after a first pass from Dylan Strome. When Sidney Crosby scored in overtime to beat the United States 3-2 for Olympic gold in Vancouver on February 28, 2010, he had yelled for the puck, and Jarome Iginla got it to him. Big goals have passers too.

Share the credit and your teammates will keep looking for you. And if you want a Cup to celebrate before your own season ends, Brudvig Hockey 2027 is a free 3-on-3 arcade hockey game in your browser, where winning the Challenge Cup means signing the Cup in the record book.