Hockey rules explained simply
Hockey looks chaotic the first time you watch it. Players change on the fly, the whistle blows for reasons nobody explains, and someone is suddenly sitting in a box. The rules are simpler than they look. This guide covers the main ones in plain English, then explains how arcade hockey games like Brudvig Hockey change them.
A note before we start: rules differ between leagues, levels and countries, and they change over time. This is the common core, not a rulebook. If you play in a league, its rulebook wins.
The object of the game
Two teams try to put a puck into the other team's net using their sticks. The team with more goals at the end wins. Everything else is about how you're allowed to do that.
Players on the ice
Each team normally has six players on the ice: five skaters and a goalie. The skaters are usually three forwards (a center and two wingers) and two defensemen. Our guide to hockey positions explains what each one does.
Teams carry more players than that and swap them constantly. Shifts are short because skating flat out is exhausting, often well under a minute. Players can change "on the fly" while play continues, as long as the player coming off is close to the bench before the new one joins in. Too many players on the ice at once is a penalty.
Game length
At the top professional level, a game is three periods of 20 minutes of stopped-clock time, with intermissions between them. The clock stops whenever play stops, so a game takes much longer than an hour in real time. Youth and recreational games often use shorter periods.
The rink
The rink is divided by lines that matter for the rules:
- The center red line splits the rink in half.
- Two blue lines divide it into three zones: your defensive zone, the neutral zone in the middle, and your attacking (offensive) zone.
- The goal lines run across the rink at each net.
- Faceoff circles and dots mark where play restarts.
- The crease is the painted area in front of each goal, the goalie's space.
Faceoffs
Play starts and restarts with a faceoff. The referee drops the puck between two players, usually centers, who try to win it back to a teammate. There's a faceoff at center ice to start each period and after each goal, and at one of the faceoff dots after other stoppages, depending on what caused them.
Offside
Offside is the rule that confuses people most, and it's simpler than it sounds: attackers can't enter the offensive zone before the puck does. If an attacking player crosses the blue line into the offensive zone ahead of the puck, play is stopped and there's a faceoff outside the zone.
The point of the rule is to stop players from waiting near the other team's net for a long pass. It forces teams to bring the puck into the zone together. In many leagues, if an attacker is offside but the defending team has the puck, the linesman lets play continue (a "delayed offside") until the attackers leave the zone or the defense clears it.
Icing
Icing happens when a team shoots the puck from its own half of the ice all the way past the other team's goal line, and it isn't touched. Play stops, and the faceoff comes back to the offending team's defensive zone.
Icing exists to stop teams from just firing the puck down the ice whenever they're under pressure. In many pro leagues, a team that ices the puck also can't change players before the faceoff, so tired players stay on. There are exceptions: a team that's shorthanded because of a penalty is usually allowed to ice the puck. Leagues also handle the details differently, with versions called touch icing, no-touch icing and hybrid icing that decide when exactly the whistle blows.
Penalties
Hockey allows body contact, but not every kind. Infractions send a player to the penalty box, and their team plays shorthanded.
Common penalties
- Tripping: using the stick or body to trip an opponent.
- Hooking and holding: using the stick or hands to slow someone down.
- Slashing: swinging the stick at an opponent.
- High-sticking: hitting an opponent with a stick held too high.
- Interference: hitting or impeding a player who doesn't have the puck.
- Boarding and charging: dangerous hits, into the boards or with a run-up.
- Roughing: shoving or punching after the whistle.
- Delay of game: for example, shooting the puck out of the rink from your own zone in many leagues.
How long
The most common penalty is a minor: two minutes in the box. More serious fouls draw a double minor (four minutes) or a major (five minutes). Misconducts and game misconducts remove a player for longer, though some don't leave their team shorthanded. The exact list and lengths vary by league.
Power plays and penalty kills
While a player serves a penalty, the other team has more skaters on the ice. That's a power play for them and a penalty kill for the team that's short. If the power-play team scores during a minor penalty, the penalty usually ends early. A goal scored by the shorthanded team is a shorthanded goal, and it's one of the best feelings in the sport.
Delayed penalties
When the team that didn't commit a foul has the puck, the referee raises an arm and lets play continue until the offending team touches the puck. Meanwhile, the team with the puck often pulls its goalie for an extra skater, since it can't lose much: the whistle will blow as soon as the other team touches it.
Goals
A goal counts when the whole puck crosses the goal line between the posts and under the crossbar. Some ways of putting it in don't count, though the details depend on the league:
- Kicking it in with a distinct kicking motion.
- Throwing or batting it in with a hand.
- Deflecting it in with a stick above the crossbar.
- Interfering with the goalie in the crease.
Goals deflected in off a player's body without a deliberate kick, or off a teammate's skate, usually count.
Overtime and shootouts
When a game is tied after regulation, leagues use different approaches. Many use sudden-death overtime: the next goal wins. Some play overtime with fewer skaters, 3-on-3 being a popular choice because the open ice produces goals quickly. If nobody scores, some leagues go to a shootout, a series of one-on-one attempts against the goalie, while playoff games often keep playing full periods until someone scores.
Other rules worth knowing
- Hand pass: you can knock the puck down with your hand, but in most situations you can't pass it to a teammate with your hand, except in your own defensive zone.
- High stick on the puck: touching the puck with a stick above shoulder height (or crossbar height, depending on the league) stops play.
- Pulling the goalie: a team can replace its goalie with an extra skater at any time. Teams that are behind late in a game often do it to chase a tying goal, risking an empty-net goal against.
- Fighting: rules differ a lot. Some leagues penalize it heavily, and many youth and amateur leagues ban it entirely.
The officials
Most games have referees, who call penalties and goals, and linesmen, who handle offside, icing and most faceoffs. Signals are part of the game: a raised arm for a delayed penalty, a sweeping arm motion for a washed-out offside or icing, and specific signals for each penalty.
Why the rules make sense
Most hockey rules exist for one of two reasons: to keep the game flowing and fair (offside, icing, faceoffs), or to keep players safe (most penalties). Once you see a rule through that lens, it's easier to remember. Offside stops cherry-picking. Icing stops teams from killing the clock. Penalties for dangerous hits protect players at speed.
How arcade hockey changes the rules
Arcade hockey games keep the goal and drop much of the rest, so the play keeps moving. In Brudvig Hockey:
- 3-on-3: three skaters and a goalie a side, and you control one skater at a time.
- No offside and no icing: the play only stops for goals and the end of a period.
- No penalties: you can hit anybody, any time, with or without the puck.
- Short periods: three two-minute periods, about seven minutes in all.
- Sudden-death overtime: tied after three, the next goal wins.
Some things carry straight over from the real sport: faceoffs after goals, the shape of the rink and its lines, goalies who move to make saves, and the value of moving the puck before you shoot. Our arcade vs sim guide covers how much difference the rules make.
Learn by playing
The fastest way to make hockey make sense is to play some. Play Brudvig Hockey free in your browser, read how to play Brudvig Hockey, and keep our hockey glossary handy for the terms.