Louisiana Ice Hockey

In hockey, there are the type of penalties where a stoppage occurs, but standard play continues and then more serious no-no’s where the guilty party is forced to sit out a minimum of two minutes or, in extreme cases, the entire game. Once a serious penalty occurs, the referee will escorted a player to the penalty box, where he will remain until the necessary time ticks off the clock and he is eligible to get back into the game. These are some of the most commonly called infractions resulting in penalty minutes (the accumulated total of time spent in the penalty box), and why a player would be found in violation.Elbowing Hockey can be a physical game, but in fighting for position, a player must be careful in how he uses his body. A stray elbow that connects with an opposing player can result in a whistle if an official decides it was anything more than incidental contact.Cross-Checking Players often crash into other players on the ice, in an effort to jar the puck loose; however, if you check another player and lead with your stick, you are likely headed to the box. In order to qualify as a cross-check, both hands must be on the stick with all parts of the stick off the ice.Interference It may seem as if players are checking anyone and everyone all across the ice. However, interference can be whistled when a player comes into contact an opponent who does not have possession of the puck, and is deemed to impede his progress.Roughing Roughing can indicate any unnecessary use of physically, such as shoving an opponent.Spearing/Slashing/Hooking/High-sticking These penalties all regulate what you can and can’t do with your stick. Spearing signifies stabbing or jabbing your opponent with the blade of your stick; slashing is when a stick is swung at an opponent; hooking is just as the name describes, using your stick to hold a player back as he attempts to move across the ice; high-sticking makes it illegal to touch another player with your stick above waist height, protecting the unpadded areas on a player’s face and neck.While not a cumulative list of everything that could send you to the box, avoid these penalties as they are the most often frequent whistles that add to the average hockey player’s penalty minutes.

With 6 players on each side all chasing one puck, a few guidelines as to what you can do with said puck must be put in place in order to prevent sheer chaos on the ice. As far as game play is concerned, hockey is governed by three principle rules that can often trip up newbie skaters. These rules center around markings on the ice. The “blue line,” as you may have figured out, is a blue stripe across the ice, separating each team’s offensive end from center ice. The goal lines are red and run parallel to the blue lines, extending across each side’s curved end and connecting both goal posts before continuing outwards to the wall. A puck must pass over the portion of the goal line between the posts in order for the goal to be official. For close plays, a line judge makes the call, serving as an official whose sole job is to watch the goal line and determine if a puck fully breaks the plane. The center line is a straight red line that simply divides the rink into two halves. Now that you are all caught up on what those colored lines on the ice actually mean, here are the more complicated rules they regulate. more…

Defense is all well and good, but the main objective in hockey is to score more than the other side, a feat that is hard to accomplish without offensively focused players. Not to say that these positions don’t contribute on the defensive end, just as defensemen often wind up for slapshots from just across the blue line, but the number 1 goal for most offensive players is to light the lamp by putting the puck in the net. Think of the greatest hockey players in the history of the game Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordy Howe, Maurice “Rocket” Richard what do all of these players have in common? They are all elite goal scorers. While hockey is considered a tough guy sport, it’s still the glamour guys who enjoy the majority of the credit for a winning season. more…

While many Louisianans have probably caught an IceGators game on TV or maybe even in person, hockey is still a relatively foreign sport in the Bayou. In order to boost interest and participation in hockey leagues, from professional to adult amateur to youth, it’s necessary for each and every interested spectator and potential player to have a firm grasp of the rules. For starters, like any major sport, hockey teams are clearly broken up into positions. Here is a look at each player’s role and how it impacts the game, starting with the defensively inclined postions. more…