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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
In ice hockey,
there are a couple of rules (icing and offsides) which confuse people. Pretend
that your goalie is on the left side of this diagram. The area marked
"D" (to the left of the left-most blue line) is your defensive zone.
Between the two blue lines (C) is center ice. And, to the right of the right
blue line (A) is your attacking zone.
For one thing, very long offensive passes are illegal. Why is this? Well, if you could pass all the way up ice, you might keep one player just standing in front of the opposing goalie, waiting for a pass. The other team would have to send a player down there, to guard him. And they might need a fourth official, to watch them, so they wouldn't hurt each other. It is a more interesting game, if they prevent this. And, it is prevented with the offsides rule.
Offsides: This rule says that you can't enter your own attacking zone ahead of the puck. If your skate is over the blue line, when the puck enters that zone, you are offside, and the linesman blows his whistle. And the puck is faced off, just outside that blue line. If there is no offsides, the linesman spreads his arms wide, horizontally, to signal this.
If you are caught offside, when the opposing team passes the puck into your offensive zone, it is delayed offsides (the linesman raises his hand). If you can get back out of your offensive zone, without playing the puck, the offsides is "waved off."
Two line pass: There is another illegal long pass, the "two line pass." You cannot pass from behind your defensive blue line to a player on the other side of the center red line. This faceoff goes back in your defensive zone.
Icing: Icing is when you shoot the puck the length of the ice (from behind the center red line), just so the other team has to go get it, wasting time. A team would want to do this when Gretzky is on the ice, or when ahead in the score, or when their own goalie is having a dizzy spell. Well, normally, icing is illegal, unless your team (or the opposing goalie) gets to the puck first. When the opposing player touches the puck, after it has crossed his goal line, the whistle blows and the puck is faced off in your own defensive zone. You can legally ice the puck when you are short-handed because of a penalty. There is no icing, if an opponent could have gotten to the puck before it crossed his goal line.