Winning the
faceoff can be the key to some strategies. A game between
Saginaw and
Plymouth's
Ontario Hockey League teams.
An important defensive tactic is
checking – attempting to take the puck from an opponent or to remove the opponent from play. Forechecking is checking in the other team's zone; backchecking is checking while the other team is advancing down the ice toward one's own goal. These terms usually are applied to checking by forwards. Stick checking, sweep checking, and poke checking are legal uses of the stick to obtain possession of the puck. Body checking is using one's shoulder or hip to strike an opponent who has the puck or who is the last to have touched it (within a short period of time after possession; usually less than three seconds). Often the term checking is used to refer to body checking, with its true definition generally only propagated among fans of the game.
Offensive tactics include improving a team's position on the ice by advancing the puck out of one's zone towards the opponent's zone, progressively by gaining lines, first your own blue line, then the red line and finally the opponent's blue line. NHL rules instated for the 2006 season redefined
icing to make the
two-line pass legal; a player may pass the puck from behind his own blue line, past both that blue line and the centre red line, to a player in front of the opponents' blue line. In fact, an errant pass that would normally result in an icing call is negated if the player for whom the pass was intended gains possession of the puck before it crosses the opponents' goal line; thus a "three-line pass" can be attempted with a fast forward as long as an
offsides is not committed. Offensive tactics are designed ultimately to score a goal by taking a shot. When a player purposely directs the puck towards the opponent's goal, he or she is said to
shoot the puck.
Peter Bondra of the
Atlanta Thrashers shoots the puck and scores behind
Roberto Luongo of the
Florida PanthersA deflection is a shot which redirects a shot or a pass towards the goal from another player, by allowing the puck to strike the stick and carom towards the goal. A one-timer is a shot which is struck directly off a pass, without receiving the pass and shooting in two separate actions. A deke (short for decoy) is a feint with the body and/or stick to fool a defender or the goalie. Headmanning the puck, also known as cherry-picking or breaking out, is the tactic of rapidly passing to the player farthest down the ice.
A team that is losing by one or two goals in the last few minutes of play will often elect to pull the goalie; that is, removing the goaltender and replacing him or her with an
extra attacker on the ice in the hope of gaining enough advantage to score a goal. However, it is an act of desperation, as it sometimes leads to the opposing team extending their lead by scoring a goal in the empty net.
A delayed penalty is a penalty offense committed by the team that does not have possession of the puck. In this circumstance the team with possession of the puck is allowed to complete the play; that is, play continues until a goal is scored, the puck is shot, stopped and controlled by the opposing goalie, a player on the opposing team gains control of the puck, or the team in possession commits an infraction or penalty of their own. Because the team on which the penalty was called cannot control the puck without stopping play, it is impossible for them to score a goal; in these cases the team in possession of the puck can pull the goalie for an extra attacker without fear of being scored on. This situation ends as soon as the team in possession completes the play and the penalty is assessed (if a delayed penalty is signalled and the team in possession scores, the penalty is still assessed to the offending player).
Although it is officially prohibited in the rules, at the professional level in North America
fights are sometimes used to affect morale of the teams, with aggressors hoping to demoralize the opposing players while exciting their own, as well as settling personal scores. Both players in an altercation receive five-minute major penalties for fighting. The player deemed to be the "instigator" of an NHL fight, if one is determined to exist, is penalized an additional two minutes for instigating, plus a ten-minute misconduct penalty. If there is no instigator, both players stay in the penalty box for five minutes, and neither team loses skaters. They point to less extreme on-ice violence during the era before the rule was introduced.
Toronto Maple Leafs owner
Conn Smythe famously observed that "If you can't beat 'em in the alley you can't beat 'em on the ice."
[21]A fight during the game between the
Ottawa Senators and the
Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2006
Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Neutral zone trap:The trap is designed to isolate the puck carrier in the neutral zone preventing him from entering the offensive zone. In youth hockey development of the neutral zone trap often begins with the left wing lock. In this tactic the left wing plays in the normal position of the left defence men while in the offensive zone. The left defenceman then moves to the centre. The centre and right wing chase the puck. When the opposing team gains control of the puck, the defencemen and the left wing pull out and set a two man trap along the boards. The left or right wing available, backs up the trap while the centre and right wing pursuit and try to get in front of the play further blocking the offensive attack.
Periods and overtime
A game consists of three periods of twenty minutes each, the clock running only when the puck is in play. The teams change ends for the second period, again for the third period, and again at the start of each overtime played. Recreational leagues and children's leagues often play shorter games, generally with three shorter periods of play.
Various procedures are used if a game is tied. In tournament play, as well as in the NHL playoffs, North Americans favour sudden death
overtime, in which the teams continue to play 20 minute periods until a goal is scored. Up until the 1999-2000 season regular season NHL games were settled with a single 5 minute sudden death period with 5 players (plus a goalie) per side, with the winner awarded 2 points in the standings and the loser 0 points. In the event of a tie (if the OT was scoreless), each team was awarded 1 point. From 1999-2000 until 2003-04 the
National Hockey League decided ties by playing a single five-minute sudden death overtime period with each team having 4 players (plus a goalie) per side to "open-up" the game. In the event of a tie, each team would still receive 1 point in the standings but in the event of a victory the winning team would be awarded 2 points in the standings and the losing team 1 point. The only exception to this rule is if a team opts to pull their goalie in exchange for an extra skater during overtime and is subsequently scored upon (an 'Empty Net' goal), in which case the losing team receives no points for the overtime loss. International play and several North American professional leagues, including the NHL (in the regular season), now use an overtime period followed by a
penalty shootout. If the score remains tied after an extra overtime period, the subsequent shootout consists of three players from each team taking
penalty shots. After these six total shots, the team with the most goals is awarded the victory. If the score is still tied, the shootout then proceeds to a sudden death (actually sudden victory) format. Regardless of the number of goals scored during the shootout by either team, the final score recorded will award the winning team one more goal than the score at the end of regulation time. In the NHL if a game is decided by a shootout the winning team is awarded 2 points in the standings and the losing team is awarded 1. Ties no longer occur in the
NHL.
