Ice Hockey
Ice hockey is the main sport of Canada. It is basically a winter sport , which is played by citizens of Canada. Ice hockey is basically played on the ice rinks, where the size of the rink is 196.85 feet long and 82.021 feet wide. In this game the rink is divided into two parts and has two goal posts in the rink. From each team 6 players are allowed to play, in which one person is goalkeeper. Although this sport is played on the skates with hockey and puck. NHL(National hockey league) is the main event of ice hockey in Canada. This sports is explained briefly as follows:-
Required equipment for players
First of all, skates are mandatory to play this game along with a hockey stick. Players must require a helmet to play in the rink. Gloves, shin pads, hockey socks, hockey pants, elbow pads, shoulder pads, hockey jerseys these are the list of remaining equipment to wear on. Hence after wearing these gears, players are ready to play.
Rules and regulation of Ice hockey
Rules
- Basically 5 players and a goalie are allowed to play in the rink. Though player and goalie is allowed to play in his own team.
- Game plays are played in 3 periods, each period consists of 20 minutes. There is a 15 minute break between the second and third period.
- Each team is allowed to take one timeout between the whole game, which is 60 seconds.
- No overtime will be given during the regular game play.
- Slapshots must not be taken above the waist.
- No swearing and intentional body contact with aggression is not permitted.
- A goal is scored when a player throws or makes a puck pass from the goal line.
- Penalties:-
- Minor penalties are of 90 seconds which includes tripping, holding, interference and too many slapshots above waist.
- Major penalties consist of 5 minutes, these are the cause of penality:- body checking, spearing, flagrant fouls, butt ending.
- Misconduct penalties is the largest time duration penalty, which is of 10 minutes, for e.g. abusive language, disrespect of the officials, actions that incite or bait opponents.
Regulations
- If you do not have a legal team of 5 skaters and a goalie at game time, your team must be disqualified.
- 11 players are allowed to dress per game, only one manager/coach will be on the bench per team.
- Only skates are allowed inside the rink, no casual shoes are allowed.
- No players or coaches are allowed in the rink once the Zamboni doors are open and until they are closed after an ice make.
- Overtime:-
- Accordingly after the compilation of the match, if the match is drawn then the match is extended up to 5 minutes.
- If both the teams can’t even score in that 5 minutes which are extended then golden goals will be announced.
- Even if the golden goal time passes, no score increases on the board then the penalties will be the final step to make a one sided decision of the match.
Injuries in Ice hockey
This is a full contact sport, in which injuries are the most common thing. The players move in speed up to 35-48 km/h and sometime’s the skates and speed is uncontrollable by the players, so the collapsation occurs at that point. Even though hockey’s and a puck is moving on the ice they also become the reason of injury. Compared to other sports like Athletics, Badminton and many other sports have less risk of injury than this game.
Ice hockey fights
Although fighting in this game is not allowed, sometimes things go very wrong according to the situation which leads to some serious fights. Even though referees and coaches are also involved in these kinds of fights.
Leagues according to the country of origin
There are many hockey leagues played across the world, in which some are shown below:-
Number of registered players of Ice hockey in each country
List of Ice hockey players who are registered officially are as follows:-
| Country | Players |
 Canada | 607,951 |
 United States | 561,700 |
 Czech Republic | 129,595 |
 Russia | 100,701 |
 Sweden | 73,293 |
 Finland | 71,063 |
 Switzerland | 30,655 |
 France | 21,582 |
 Germany | 21,336 |
 Japan | 18,641 |
 United Kingdom | 11,148 |
 Slovakia | 10,970 |
 Norway | 10,270 |
 China | 9,506 |
 Hungary | 7,802 |
 Kazakhstan | 7,684 |
 Austria | 7,670 |
 Latvia | 7,460 |
 Belarus | 5,525 |
 Ukraine | 5,340 |
 Denmark | 5,147 |
 Australia | 5,137 |
 Italy | 4,926 |
 Poland | 3,770 |
 Netherlands | 3,528 |
 South Korea | 3,114 |
 Mexico | 2,690 |
 Lithuania | 2,550 |
 North Korea | 2,400 |
 Romania | 2,131 |
 New Zealand | 1,791 |
 Belgium | 1,760 |
 Kyrgyzstan | 1,530 |
 India | 1,502 |
 Turkey | 1,500 |
 Slovenia | 1,254 |
 Estonia | 1,105 |
FAQ’S
1. How long is ice hockey game?
The game length of ice hockey is about 60 minutes. There are 3 periods in the game which are of 20 minutes each.
2. Is ice hockey different than hockey?
Yes, it’s very much different than field hockey. The main difference is that ice hockey is played on the ice and field hockey is played on the AstroTurf field. The hockey’s of both the games are also different.
3. Where is ice hockey most popular?
Ice hockey is the main sport of Canada. It is played by the Canadian citizens.
4. What are 4 goals in hockey called?
In ice hockey hat trick word is not used. If one player scores 4 goals in one game that is called as ‘Texas hat trick’, this word is less popular than hat trick.
5. Is ice hockey the fastest sport in the world?
Yes, Ice hockey is considered are a fastest game in the world. It’s highest calculated speed on the skates is 48 km/h.
6. What is an illegal goal in hockey?
The goal which is scored without the last touch of hockey stick, is considered as illegal goal in hockey for example, puck thrown in the goal by hand, foot or by any body contact.