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I confess that the removal of the offside rules in ice hockey AND soccer would make me very happy. Imagine the fast breaks that would happen (and the chaos)!
@@gougemaster1074 I was focused more on allowing an attacker to arrive across the blue line before the puck arrived. Practically that would require the removal of the rule you mentioned, so yes.
@@brent4723 Removal of the offside rules tends to bog down games and eliminate fast breaks. Teams would need to play with a more defensive mindset to counter what you suggest. If a team doesn't have to worry about the other team waiting in their defensive zone, they can focus more on their own speed and attack. In a sense, having an offside rule is like the NBA outlawing zone defense.
This. I would also add the trapezoid, delay of game, and too many men on ice. Then a touch of power plays and overtime/shootout. Everything else penalty wise is pretty obvious.
Understanding offsides and icing is the most important part, but I think it would also be a good idea to find a video that explains the NHL as a league. How the schedule/divisions work, how the standings work (it's a point system similar to soccer), how the playoffs work, etc. Honestly I'd love to see you find videos like this for any/all of the sports you plan to dive deeper into.
@@DNReactsI'm an American who got really into European football (I'm a Tottenham fan) a few years ago, and it's what I found really helpful and fascinating as well. Learning about the season structure, promotion&relegation, the champions league, etc. It really helped me get into the sport and to follow it. The structure of the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL are all so very different from each other too. Apologies for the rambling, love your videos and the discussions you guys have!
@@Lambdakastel it’s about an American college football coach that knows 0 about soccer going over and coaching a premier league team. It’s absolutely hilarious! I recommend
This video has a lot of the very very basics when it comes to hockey and is definitely lays a good starting framework to understand hockey, but it doesn't actually cover the gameplay aspects or rules of hockey which are also very important, obviously. The channel that made this video has another in their "hockey 101" series that goes over offsides and icing rules which will explain that question you had about the neutral zone, and basically explains the rules regarding all the lines and markings on the ice.
As a Canadian who has played for years but also played Football (soccer). One thing I can tell you for sure, if either of you have the opportunity to get on the ice and play in a game, either by way of pond hockey or pickup beer league , you would find the game EXTREMELY fun to play. I have friends who were British and moved here in Canada. They told me their kids wanted to join in minor hockey, Well we took them out, got them all the kit they needed and sign them up to join minor hockey...... Their kids absolutely loved it. Tough part for you guys would probably be learning to skate proficiently... once your skating is up, its a riot of a game to play!
Love this Paul, and I think you’re right. I’m (Damo) actually a pretty decent skater. Not sure if I’d be strong enough whilst playing hockey too though 😅
@@DNReacts Damo if your a decent skater, you will be absolutely fine! Search it out in your area and join in a pick up game, you will love it. I guarantee it!!! ...by the way the NHL playoffs start on Monday, you may be able to get it at late hours on your TV, but worth recording and watching, I highly recommend you watch The Edmonton Oilers with the best player in the world (Conner McDavid). This will show you what Hockey is all about.....speed, skill and passion 👍
Greetings again from Canada, eh!! Well, the phrase that was missing was "changing on the fly"...players on the ice can change with players on the bench while the play is still on going, which coined the phrase "changing on the fly". One of the most important duties of a coach is to have the players on the bench ready to come on the ice. A coach will go up and down the bench, tapping players saying "you're up, and you're up" so those guys will stand up and jump on the ice when the player they are replacing jumps off the ice. There is a certain rotation, so you know if player x is coming off, you're coming on. Most shifts last 45 seconds to about a minute, however, sometimes a team is bogged down in their defensive zone and can't leave to change up and could play for over 2 minutes, which is exhausting. Usually bad things happen then, you get scored on or you take a penalty because of fatigue.
This was actually a great explanation video, as simple as it was at times. You should look at a rule video next. At first hockey can seem complicated with all the lines on the ice and the penalties, but after a while you'll realize it's as easy to understand as other sports.
Been studying hockey for 50 years…. Still learn something new everyday… what looks like disorganized chaos is actuslly a very structured set of maneuvers plays and set ups…. It’s really incredible once you start getting it…. You’ll be amazed at what these true athletes can do and how it can be like a ballet or symphony…. I would suggest reading the book “keep your eyes off the puck”….
Just discovered you guys. Greetings from Chicago. Hockey is fast , but once you understand it, it is well worth the time it takes to learn. Like most people stated. Offsides and icing are essential to understanding the game. If not, you will get frustrated as to to why they keep blowing the whistle, stopping play and having face offs.
Relevance of the Neutral Zone: 1. It's called "Neutral" because neither team can claim possession of it. 2. This is where a good amount of play actually begins -- as this is where players leaving their own zone (defensive zone) begin to generate speed as they move up the ice (to the offensive zone), or use the space to set up on defense.
It’s called the neutral zone for two reasons: 1. It’s not in the attacking/offensive zone, nor is it in the defending/defensive zone, therefore it’s “neutral”. 2. It’s not so easy to score from there for either team and both teams have an equal chance at a goal.
When a player is on the ice, that's called a shift. A shift can be anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. Skating is so exhausting that players have to shift constantly. Usually good coaches know how to work their shift rotation to match up their checking lines against the opponent's scoring lines. Players can change during play as long as the player coming off the ice doesn't touch the puck, so the next line can jump onto the ice before the previous line has made it to the bench.
As someone who worked behind the scenes for college hockey, the two scorekeepers assistants are likely double-checking goals to give statistic credit, or my favorite job, tracking who was on the ice when a goal was scored. I was shocked by the lack of neutral zone discussion, but it seems the other commenters have that one covered. Cheers lads 😂
4:50 The neutral zone is significant within the conext of the offside rule. No attacking player may cross the blue line from the neutral zone to their attacking zone before the puck does. If the puck re-enters the neutral zone, the attacking team must completely evacuate from their attacking zone before the puck can be returned to the attacking zone. One of the goals of the defending team is to dispossess the other team of the puck and return it to the neutral zone since it forces the attacking team to leave and reset their attack.
The neutral zone exists because of a couple of rules. The first relates to offside and passes. At one point in time you could not pass the puck across two lines. This was intended to make moving the puck up ice more difficult and discourage cherry picking (one player standing at the offensive blue line waiting for a break away pass). This was rule was dropped, but you still needed the neutral zone to allow offensive players to organize while onside without automatically putting the opposing players onside (onside being that the puck must enter the offensive zone before any offensive player does). The second reason is because the team in the defensive zone is allowed to hand pass the puck to a team mate. Not having a neutral zone would make hand passes legal on half the ice surface and allow a player to easily hand pass directly from the defensive to offensive zone. The third reason is not really rule related, but more about game dynamics. In the offensive zone the defensemen position themselves near the offensive blue line to position themselves to keep the puck on side. This puts them relatively close to the wingers on the defending team and this is by design. If the defensemen on the team in the offensive zone had the full 100' of ice to the red line to play with the defending wingers would have too much area to be able to effectively defend and very little chance of getting the puck out of the zone. I don't know how well I explained this for people who didn't grow up with the game, but I hope it helps a little.
The neutral zone is about offside rules. The puck has to enter the offensive zone before any attacker. If the puck leaves the zone, all the offensive players must leave the zone before the puck can re-enter the offensive zone. Unlike soccer, there are unlimited substitutions during a game, and players can be subbed out while game play is going on. There need not be a stoppage of play. The concept of the "Power Play" and penalties were barely scratched. When a foul is committed, a player will be taken off the ice, and his team has to play short-handed for the duration on the penalty or until the other team scores (there are exceptions). So, at times during the game, teams will be playing 5 on 4 (plus goaltenders), and this is known as "The Power Play."
Hockey was always fairly popular in the USA, particularly in the northern states. It's biggest problem in the earlier days was tracking the puck on older televisions. At one time, Fox Sports used a production effect to add a glow to the puck so that it was more visible, and if the puck was passed or shot at high speed, it left a red trail. Reviews were mixed about whether or not it improved the older televised games, but such gimmicks became obsolete when screen sizes got much larger on their way to the modern, high definition flat screens that most people now own. Some adjustments to the rules like removing the two line pass offside violation and obstructing other players by locking up with them or physically blocking them really opened the game up to showcase the skating skills of world class athletes. Switches between offense and defense can seem chaotic but it's that speed of those transitions and the teamwork required to convert those instances into scoring chances that makes hockey so exciting.
The neutral zone doesn't really have any official role except serving as a buffer between both attacking zones. In hockey, the puck has to enter the offensive zone before any attacking players and stay there for the duration of the attack. If the puck goes out of the zone, every attacking players has to exit the zone before the puck can come back in. In short, the neutral zone is: - where the game starts every period, or re-start after a goal - where teams organize their transition from offense to defense - and vice versa - when the puck possession changes, and - where the attacking team can regroup after the puck exits the offensive zone
That is indeed lacking a lot. - An "offside" occurs when a player crosses the offensive blue line before the puck does, if the team that commits the offside has possession, play is stopped and the faceoff to resume play will be at the blue line on the side where the offside play occured. An offside situation is cancelled by every player of that team falling back south of the offensive blue line. - "Icing" is when a player plays the puck from the defensive side of the red line to where it goes behind the opposing team's goal line (to their end). If the other team's skater (so not the goalie) is there or is getting there first, play is stopped and the faceoff will be at the other end (at the team's end that played the puck to the other end for the icing). - If the puck is played over the glass, into the netting at either end of the rink, into a bench, through the glass, onto a team's net (and isn't knocked back into play basically immediately), or if a player on the bench touches the puck, play is whistled dead and the faceoff will be wherever is appropriate. If a defending team plays the puck DIRECTLY over the glass or into the netting above the glass from their end, that's a 2min penalty for 'delay of game'. - Penalties are/can be called for: tripping, hooking, slashing, high-sticking, charging, elbowing, boarding, checking from behind, cross-checking, interference, goalie interference, roughing, hit to the head, delay of game, unsportsmanlike conduct, too many men, fighting, embellishment, illegal equipment, and I do believe 'spearing' and 'stomping' or something along those lines sometimes happen. Most fouls are 2 min penalties (minors), hits to the head are basically always 5 min (majors) +20 (misconduct, where the player is ejected from the game), grievous/dangerous fouls (most often hard hits from behind into the boards on an unaware player) are 5 or 5+20. High-sticking (sticking an opposing player in the face) is 2+2 (consecutive minors) if it draws blood. If the same player takes two minor penalties at once, that is likewise 2+2 (play resumes until the team that fouled gains possession, during which time another foul can happen). If one team has more (most often 1, but sometimes more) players serving a penalty, they're 'shorthanded' and the other team is on the 'power play'. If the team on the power play scores a goal, the earliest active 2 minute minor penalty ends. 5 min penalties keep going no matter what until they're served. If this happens during the first 2 of a 2+2, that 2 is gone and the other 2 remains (2:49 left of a 2+2 -> 2:00 left after a goal). A team can be down to 3 on-ice skaters minimum, if they take another penalty with 2 active non-fighting penalties underway, it only extends the penalty time. - If a player on a breakaway (literally with possession, behind all opposing skaters) gets fouled, this is usually a penalty shot (puck to center ice, fouled player 1on1 with the opposing goalie, backwards movement/stopping disallowed and the attacking player can't touch the puck after the goalie touches it... similar to a shootout attempt) - You can take an airborne puck down with your hand, but you can't close your hand on it, hold onto it or throw it and only defensive players can 'bat' it with a hand. If such an infraction occurs and that team has possession following it, it's a 'hand pass', play is stopped and the faceoff is in the appropriate place. If a defending player closes their hand on a puck in their goalie's crease (the small box right in front of the net/goal line), that's a penalty shot for the the other team. - Besides goals, the 2nd-last and 3rd-last players of the attacking team to touch the puck before a goal get 'assists'. If the defending team has possession in between, that cancels out assists, but mere touches don't. - All hockey games (with few exceptions) are three 20-minute periods, followed by overtime (OT) and/or a shootout (SO, ("SO" is also shorthand for 'shutout', when a team wins allowing 0 goals against)). NHL regular season games (and most regular season games) follow regulation with a 5 min 3on3 overtime (3 skaters on the ice per team), where the first allowed goal scored wins the game, followed by a best of 3 + sudden death "shootout", so the aforementioned 'penalty shot' scenario, if a goal isn't scored in OT. With NHL rules, the same player can't take a second attempt until every skater on the team has had an attempt (never happened as far as I know). NHL playoff games (and most playoff games, afaik), keep doing 20-minute overtime "periods" until a goal is scored, which wins the game. Some games have gone to the 4th OT period ('7th period') or even beyond, but it's very rare. - A team can take their goalie off the ice ("empty net") and replace him with a skater. This is usually done at the end of the game, when down by a goal or two, as a last gambit to try to tie the game. This is also done every time a penalty is called, but the team taking the penalty has yet to gain possession (play is stopped as soon as a team committing a foul gains possession). Likewise, if a player is injured (and can't get off the ice), play is stopped when that team gains possession. - In the NHL, both teams have one 30 sec timeout they can call during any neutral stoppage (a team committing an icing can't call a timeout on the resulting stoppage). - NHL games (at least) tend to have three 2-minute 'TV timeouts' (basically commercial breaks) per period when play is next stopped after the 6, 10 and 14 minute marks of the period, but not during a power play or other special cases. - NHL regular seasons are 82 games (41 home, 41 away), win = 2 points, OT/SO loss = 1 point and regulation loss = 0 points. There are currently (and for the foreseeable future), 32 teams, divided into a western and eastern conference, divided into 4 divisions (Pacific, Central, Metropolitan, Atlantic) of 8 teams each. The top 3 teams of each division, plus the 2 other teams with the most points in both conferences, qualify for the playoffs. Playoff series are best of 7 games and consist of the 1st round, 2nd round, conference finals and Stanley Cup Final. ...That is pretty much the gist of it. Nowhere near everything, but pretty much everything one is likely to quickly come across. :D
Hockey is the most intense watching experience, especially playoffs. It’s pretty simple to get. It’s soccer, but faster and violent. Once you understand offsides and icing, you get it. The penalties will make sense to you as they come.
Scorekeeper assistants do a lots of things. They are basically a back-up to all other spots. They keep track of scores, penalties and other things on the background while others actually manage those things.
Neutral zone exists for offsides. Short version: all offensive players have to be outside of the attacking zone (i.e., at least part of one of their skates must be in the neutral zone) before the puck can be touched by an offensive player in the offensive zone. Additionally, if the offense is in the attacking zone and the puck fully crosses the blue line into the neutral zone, all the offensive players must leave the zone before the puck can be brought back in, or it's offsides. The blue line is weird in that the line itself can be either in the neutral zone or in the offensive zone, depending on circumstances. When entering the offensive zone, a player can have a skate just on the blue line and be onside, so in that sense it's part of the neutral zone then. But the puck coming out of the offensive zone has to cross fully over the blue line before it's considered in the neutral zone, so at that point the blue line itself is in the offensive zone. The neutral zone was also used a couple of decades ago to limit "two-line passes", which meant that a pass could not cross over both the blue line and the center line. A player had to touch it in each part of the zone. But that rule stifled break outs and made the game boring so they got rid of it. Now, you'll often see break away after the end of a penalty kill, because the player coming out of the penalty box is often open and the team that was killing off the penalty just needs to get a long pass to him for a breakaway against the opposing goalie.
This was pretty helpful for a start. It does remind me of soccer a bit. The only name I recognized from those players was Gordie Howe, and when I think of hockey, I remember watching the “Miracle on Ice” from the Olympics as a kid. Now I feel really old.
There also used to be a "2-line pass" stoppage like an icing, which meant you weren't allowed to pass from your defensive zone into the neutral zone of the opposing team (over the blue and red line). But they got rid of that.
9:00 technically it is 6 players per team, but when talking about the game…you just hear it as 5 on 5, 5 on 4, 5 on 3, etc…because the goalie being on the ice is just a given (except in limited circumstances). So thinking about players on the ice as “5” instead of “6” is how you’ll hear players/coaches/announcers talk about it.
The neutral zone is not something you need to think about while watching the game. It is basically there to separate the two teams’ zones. A player does not need to worry about committing an offside infraction while in his own defensive zone or in the neutral zone. He may receive a pass in those zones from anywhere and still be onside. BUT, all attacking players must be in their defending zone or the neutral zone before the puck crosses the OPPONENT’S blue line, or the play is offside. IOW, the puck must cross the defending team’s blue line first, before any attacking player enters the defender’s zone.
This is the PERFECT time to get into hockey. Post season hockey starts Monday. The first round is usually amazing. The teams are fresh and ready to go. By the second or third round players start getting fatigued or injured. The Stanley Cup playoffs are a war of attrition. MUST WATCH!
BTW the zones, meaning the Offensive, Defensive and Neutral extend to the far edge of the blue line. A puck needs to completely cross in order to change zones.
Kind of surprised he didn't explain offsides or icing, as anytime someone watches hockey with me those are always the first two questions. Also, I've been watching hockey for like 30 years and I've never once heard the term "Down Goal", lol
I've been playing hockey since I was 9 years old. I'm 40 now and I still play. Best sport in the world. The easiest way I explain Icing to people new to the game is this. We're all familiar with Basketball. Imagine if Basketball did not have out of bounds and every time the opponent got the ball in their zone, the player constantly kept chucking the ball down the entire court. He keeps doing this over and over. Now you have to run all the way down court to get the ball because the clock is still running. That is why hockey has Icing. There is no out of bounds and it limits the opposing team from draining out the clock. For offsides, all you need to realize is that either the puck itself or the player carrying the puck has to be the first to cross the blue line. It is very similar to offsides Soccer/European Football
6:11 I would presume that the score keepers assistants are there to help aid in determining who assisted the player who scored as the game is fast and goals and assists are based off of the last people to touch the puck (which can be challenging if there are deflections)
Hockey substitutions are done at play stoppages or on the fly. If a team mixes it up though they can be penalized if they have too many players on the ice. It's a fast game and it happens from time to time.
generally a line is only on the ice for short fast paced bursts. . . typically 1 to 1.5 minutes. . . but for that stretch they go all out. . then swap out. . main goal being keeping fresh legs moving on the ice
Exactly - hockey players get on the ice, go full out for a minute, and then get off the ice to catch their breath. While on the ice, they're skating, hitting, defending, and trying to score - all of which is farkin' exhausting. Then they go back to the bench to try to catch their breath, just so they can go out and do it again. It's like HIIT on skates, with other guys trying to keep you from completing your reps.
Love the video! Welcome to the Hockey fandom, we're so glad you're here! One 'famous' line that will hold a special place in my heart is the LA Kings '70's Line' from their 2014 season. You should totally react to the final game in the final playoff series that year. Double overtime. It was crazy!
i will say this.. ,the trapazoid was almost completely a rule made to limit one goalies skills.. and it was even known as the 'martin broduer rule' which is a goalie you should look up top 3 goalie of all time
Hockey is the only sport that allows player substitutions on the fly, they do not have to wait for a stoppage of play. Also, the scorekeeper doesn't just track the score of the game, they also keep track of which player is credited with goals, assists and penalties and sometimes there can be a huge amount of info dropped on them at one time (think a huge bench clearing brawl where over a hundred penalty minutes can be assessed)
There's a handful of rules that utilize being in ones defensive zone, which is why the Neutral zone exists. For example, if you shoot the puck over the glass without a deflection from your defensive zone, it's a 2 minute minor penalty for Delay of Game. If you shoot it over the glass in the neutral or offensive zones, there's no penalty. Additionally, as many other people here have already mentioned, the Neutral zone acts as a transitional area from defense to offense, where the offensive team needs to puck to cross the blue line of their opponents offensive zone before any other offender can enter the zone; the offside rule. If you're familiar with soccer, think of the blue line as the furthest-back defender; no offending player can cross it ahead of the puck.
Definitely need to check out an explanation of offsides, icing, forechecking, and backchecking to understand game dynamics. Penalties are somewhat tough to grasp as well. The rest is just watching hockey with a good beer in hand.
Markus Näslund and Mikael Renberg are both Swedish players. Its kinda crazy how big of an impact they had on the games. Especially as "secondary" players. They were no Forsberg, Lidstrom or Sundin. But they were still part of a legendary line up
I finally understand offsides in "world football" and it has helped in understanding that game. This video should have covered the relevance of the blue line for offsides and the redline for icing. The puck must enter the attacking zone (beyond the blue line) before any attacking player or it is offsides and if the puck is shot all the way down the ice and not on goal from behind the center red line with out being touched, it will cause a face off in your defending zone. Also, line changes are fast and there is a penalty for too many men on the ice if the player entering the game touches the puck before the player leaving the ice reaches the bench. Also, the scorekeeper assistants are not just counting goals, they could be counting shots on goal, saves, ice time for each player, hits, face offs won, etc.
When I was a kid in the 1970's HNIC would show animated shorts explaining hockey in the first intermission with a character called Peter Puck. Although some of the rules have changed it's a very informative and entertaining way to learn about hockey. Peter Puck was also a nickname given to Peter Pocklington later on who was owner of the Edmonton Oilers. I don't think Edmonton fans were very happy though when he traded the G.O.A.T. Wayne Gretzky to the L.A. Kings. I'm not a fan of the Oilers nor Gretzky per se but I would have been pissed if I were. No one has come close to breaking his scoring records although Ovechkin has a decent chance of breaking his goal scoring record.
Neutral zone is between the blue lines. You are allowed to rise from your defensive zone to neutral zone freely, but if you rise from neutral zone to offensive zone, the puck MUST cross the blueline first. If there is a teammate of yours, or if you skate in before the puck, that's called offside. When offside happens the play stops and a faceoff occurs on the closest faceoff dot. The center faceoff circle is only to start a period and as in football, after a goal. Icing is a rule unique to hockey. If you dump the puck in to the offensive zone before you cross the center line, and the puck crosses the goal line that's called icing. When a team is quilty of icing, a faceoff occurs on their defensive zone. Line changes can be confusing to people who come from other sports, but basically there isn't any limit on how many changes you can make. Hockey is a very intense sport and usually a "shift" i.e for forwards only last a couple of minutes. Think it like, you hop on ice, explode into action, you get gassed and when there is a chance you hop back on the bench to get a fresh teammate on ice. Rinse and repeat. They didn't touch penalties. Usually penalty is for 2 minutes. The penalty is served by the quilty player in the penalty box. During this his team is not allowed to bring a player to replace him. So it's 2 minutes 5on4 or what is called a power play. Penalties can happen simultaneously but the situation will never be worse than 5on3. Serious infringements can be penalized with a 5 minute major. Usually this is followed with a game misconduct. Player is out of the game and his teammate has to serve the penalty. It's sometimes also called 5+20 since 20 minutes of penalty time is added to the offenders record. Difference between "2 minute minor" and "5 minute major" is that if there is a 2 minute penalty going, and the opposing team scores on the powerplay, the penalty is over. 5 minute majors never stop and have to be served in full, even if the opposing team scores 3 times. Penalties happen quite a lot, it's an intense game. Usually the teams practice both powerplay and shorthanded play to be ready for these situations. Usually there is a dedicated power play group, consisting of the teams best scorers. Sometimes teams even have "power play specialists" who might not be playing that much 5on5 minutes, but can be game breaking when playing 5on4. I.e maybe a offensive minded D-man who isn't that reliable 5on5 but can patrol the offensive blueline like a chad.
in very rare cases, both the starting and back up goalies may be hurt. There is usually an amateur goalie in the arena who may be the Zamboni driver or someone who works in the building. He van be pressed into service. It happened in Toronto a few years ago. He got suited up and made some good saves.
You wondered why there are 20 players when only 5 skaters (non-goalies) are on the ice. Hockey may be the only sport where players exchange while the game is actively under way, not just during dead times after a whistle. It's possible that an entire 20-minute period could play with no stops if there was no scoring or whistles or pucks into the crowd, etc. Players skate hard for a minute or so, and then if play is still going, when it's safe they will quickly exit into their bench while the next line hops over the boards into the ice. The defensive (2 defensemen) and offensive (center and two wings) players maintain their own exchanges, so the benches are busy places during the active play. Of course they can also exchange players after a whistle when play is dead.
Great video guys and I'm glad you're into hockey. Once you get the rules, lines and the strategy, you can really appreciate the sport more. FYI There's some great sport channels for reacting named Secret base and sb Nation.
The video totally glosses over the fact that players in hockey can and do change "on the fly" while play continues. This helps explains why there are so many scorekeepers. For a goal, in addition to crediting a goal to the scorer and up to two assists, there is a statistic tracking every player on the ice when a goal is scored. There are also all sorts of statistics related to ongoing play like shots and blocks and hits. Because players are constantly changing as the game progresses, it's can be a challenge to keep track of who's on the ice, let alone who's involved in all these minor events. In the NHL these days, they have technology to help them: players wear microchips in their uniforms so they can be tracked and there are cameras everywhere for video review. But at lower levels, it's just up to the eyes of the scorekeepers.
The "neutral zone" over the past few years has had major changes. The centre red line used to in play regarding offside. For example if you were in your defensive zone and passed the puck to a teammate on other side of the red line, it was offside, your not allowed to pass the puck over two lines ( the blue line, then the red line). Just a few years ago, the league dropped the centre red line in regards to passing. You can now pass the puck from inside your own blue line to a teammate as far as the oppositions blue line, no two line pass offside. Why the league did this was to make the game faster. Before players had to stop in the "neutral zone" in front of the red line to accept a pass, now, they can spread out in the entire zone, blue line to blue line and wait for a long break out pass. It has opened up the speed of the game, and also caused many more injuries because players are flying through the neutral zone and if they have their head down, well, you've seen the video's on hardest hits.
An explanation of Icing. You know how Ted Lasso always asks how the Offside rule works in Soccer? That's kinda like Icing in hockey - I'll often get casual fans who have watched for decades go "how is that icing?? ...and what is icing?" 😂
As people have said, the neutral zone is important for the offside rule, a player can not skate over the blue line and have the puck passed to them they must carry it in, or it must be shot into the attacking zone before players follow it across the blue line to retrieve it. Especially in the the playoffs it becomes very important during power plays.If a player receives a penalty, they go to the penalty box and their team must play with a player missing. The team that has the full team on the ice is now on the "power play" Typically in a power play, the team who has the advantage will get the puck into their opponents zone and keep passing the puck around trying to find the perfect shot. A side effect of this is that the team who are attacking are closer to the bench and can continue to change shifts and keep fresh players on the ice. The disadvantage for the defending team is that they can't get back to the bench to change, unless there is a stoppage, or the puck is taken out of their zone giving them space to make change. Even if they don't get time to make a change, clearing the puck out of their zone, means all the other teams players have to leave the zone and come back, without breaking the offside rule. This will give the defence a few seconds break, and burn some time off the clock. During the power play, you will see the defensive team often just trying to "clear the puck". - another thing you may see occasionally, is that as penalty expires, the team who have been killing the penalty, will fire the puck to the neutral zone, where their player is coming back on the ice. If timed well, they may have a breakaway shot at a goal.
Scorekeepers assistants likely help determine who is credited with assists on scoring plays. As well as whether the guy who winds up the scoring shot is actually the goal scorer, or if another player tipped it in and therefore is the goal scorer. Hockey is fast and you need a lot of eyeballs to catch everything.
So the score keepers are not just keeping track of the goals.They have to keep track of shots, shoot attempts, saves, blocks, hits, etc. It needs allocated to the correct players, who change about every 30-45 seconds or so. It's a lot to keep track of. And for the neutral zone question, the blue lines are actually more for delineating reach teams zone. It's used for offsides rules so, like soccer, players can't just stand by the opposing teams goal.
The scorekeeper assistants have a number of responsibilities and are required due to the speed of the game and the fact that there are constant substitutions. Assistants responsibilities include (usually one assistant watches each team): - Keeping track of and recording which players are on the ice at the ice at the time of a goal - Record jersey numbers of players who will receive assists on a goal - Keeping track of and recording which players are on the ice at the time a penalty is called against the goaltender (penalty must be served by an on ice player) - Provide information about players/goalies participating in the game - Track the numbers of players who leave the bench during a brawl incident - Ensure the accuracy and availability of equipment and measuring tools in the scorekeepers bench - Anything else the scorekeeper assigns (Boundaries???)
There are probably dozens of famous lines, so as a Rangers fan I'll just mention the GAG (Goal a Game) line of the late 60s early 70s, Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert (zhilbear, not gilbert), and Vic Hadfield.
Learning about the salary cap might be beyond your interest level but it completely changes how managers acquire players and plan the roster years in advance. Since every team has an aggregate salary cap, rich franchises can’t totally run away from the poorer ones in the standings. But you need to be able to fit new players under your cap and manage cap space going forward as you look at how many years a player has on his contract and his dollar value. Cap space itself is a commodity and teams will trade away extra assets like draft picks or prospects just to get rid of a player that’s become too expensive for what he brings.
I actually find this is a great video, though like others mentioned they missed icing and offsides. Thankfully the same channel did a follow up explaining both of them if you wish to check it out.
The relevance to the neutral zone is related to the offside. In football offside is a moving reference related to the position of the attacker and the last defender when the ball was struck. In hockey offside is a static reference related to the blueline. The puck must precede all attacking players into the offensive zone or they will be called offside, the position of the defending players is irrelevant. If the attacking team is offside, they can clear the offside condition by exiting the attacking zone and re-entering it as long as they did not touch the puck while the offside condition was active. As soon as the team defending moves the puck outside the defensive zone into the neutral zone, any pending offside condition is cancelled.
It used to be that a player couldn't pass the puck over any blue line and the red line. That was a two line pass. That rule is gone. The only importance of the neutral zone is the blue lines. When a player is entering the offensive zone (across the blue line), the puck must cross the line before a player on your team. Otherwise, it's off sides, and the puck is dropped in the neutral zone.
Line changes during play. Usually with one of the defensemen holding the puck back in his defensive zone while his teammates change. One of the fresh defensemen will take the puck from him allowing him to be the last change. But there is plenty of times that just the defensemen are charging or just the forwards. Because they switch sides every period, the second period is known as the long change, because both teams bench is further away from their defensive zone, making it more difficult to safely change. Defensemen don’t skate as much as forwards, so they can get by with just three lines and even sometimes longer shifts. All the lines for both teams follow a consistent rotation with two big exceptions. The fourth line of forwards (which often has rookies and/or old players at the end of their career) will get skip a lot during rotations. I imagine the coach skips them when there is a commercial break or when a whistle has blown to stop play. Giving the forwards on the top three lines 1-4 minutes chance to rest before their next shift. The other major exception to the everybody on the top three lines playing evenly is special teams. Whenever a power play is happening, the players on the ice are called special teams. Each team will have two shifts for power play unit and two shifts of penalty killers. They are made of players who play even strength as well. But not all of the regular players play special teams. Some players will play both power play and penalty kill, some only play power play, some only play on penalty kill and some play neither. Depending on how many Penalties are called in a game and how many on each team can give certain players in the top three lines significant more playing time than others in the top three lines.
The NHL uses a smaller playing surface than international hockey does. On the bigger ice it's much more like football (soccer) both in strategy and gameplay. Offsides is exactly the same as football except for the fact that the far blue line is the same as the furthest back defender in football. I'd suggest watching some Olympic hockey to get a better idea of what I'm talking about above.
You guys need to check out a separate video discussing the rules of play. This helps add a lot of context when watching the game - for example, the different types of penalties.
You can switch on the fly during play. The player going off has to be within a couple meters and you can't play the puck until he's completely off. If you do, that's a Too Many Men penalty (even in women's hockey).
The neutral zone is just what we call that area. There is not as much rules significance to it as the offensive or defensive zones. It is just NOT those areas and does play into the offsides rules. I believe the scorekeeper's assistant are there because keeping stats in hockey can get complicated. Who committed what penalty and to whom, who actually scored a goal, who assisted on a goal, and who was on the ice during a goal are all stats that are kept and these assistants probably help run replays to sort that stuff out. There used to be only one referee and two linesmen like in soccer but they found that too many penalties were being missed behind the play so they added the second referee to the NHL in 2000. The linesmen are there to officiate boundary calls like icing and offsides and have the unenviable duty to separate players who have been fighting. Referees call penalties and adjudicate if goals are scored or not. Also, one of the referees drops the puck at center ice to start each period and following the scoring of a goal while the linesmen are responsible for all other face-offs. Unfortunately, this video doesn't go over any of the infraction rules. That will require its own video.
Ive never watched hockey, as in a full match or a full highlight of a match. I just know to get the puck in the net and avoid others. But as a kid, ive played this version of hockey with a foam “hockey stick” and the puck was a plastic ball with holes thru it. Almost like a dog toy ball. Oh wait, turns out its called field hockey😂😂. I played that in elementary school. Grades 4 and 5 and won a championship in grade 5, my last year before a new school. It was great fun and i never had any more experience with hockey of any form. Thank u guys for bringing something new to me
Well, a video that looks at all the various rules would be a good video and play strategies are game strategies like line changes and sometimes I’ll pull the goalie and add another attacker towards the end of the game if they’re behind by a goal or two, so now they’re on a power-play so strategies and penalties should be looked at.
Another point about the Neutral Zone, is that if play is stopped "Whistled dead" for some specified infractions in an offensive/defensive zone, sometimes the play is brought out of the zone and resumed in a neutral zone face off, as to give or take away a slight advantage to either team, depending which side caused the stoppage in play.
I have greatly enjoyed your baseball reactions. They have been sincere, carefully done, and funny, and I hope you will give my other favorite sport, hockey, the same treatment. The playoffs are starting; it’s the perfect time! I suggest a vid on penalties: what’s illegal, how penalty time is served, what happens when the team who’s a player up scores, short-handed goals, major penalties, etc.
Great video ! you should learn about offsides and icing and then watch a game. The playoffs are about to start, personally I think you should watch the maple leafs-lightning series or devils-rangers one. Playoff hockey is a bit different in terms of style and atmosphere, it's insane.
5:25 The neutral zone has relevance, in that the puck has to precede ALL players when they go on the offensive into the offensive zone. If the puck ever goes back toward the neutral zone out of the offensive zone, then all of the players have to go back to the neutral zone and have the puck precede them to get back into the offensive zone, otherwise there is an offside call and a face off in the neutral zone. .o
Weird that the video spent more time on the scorekeepers than the neutral zone... But to sum it up quickly, offsides happen when an offensive player enters the attacking zone before the puck. Defenders forcing the puck beyond the blue line back into the neutral zone forces the offense to all leave the attacking zone so they can get onsides again, and gives them a much needed breather to reset. Icing happens when the puck is shot from behind the center line and travels behind the goal line without being touched. Players can sub in and out whenever they want as long as there aren't more than 6 on the ice. The refs give subs a little leeway to get on and off, but if a player plays the puck before the player he replaced is completely off the ice that will be a too many men penalty.
The video is like a visual table of contents. It doesn't explain basic penalties, roles of players, game time(60 minutes), period length(20), or the amount of periods! (3) Contracts, yearly Salary Cap for each team that's even across the league. League length, playoff structure. League awards. Standards for what's considered an "allstar goalscorer" (50+ per full regular season), average speed of players, the fastest players. Speed of the slapshots in nhl(anywhere from 85-108mph) . They teach you enough that you'll want to look for more details lol. It would have been great if they had links that broke off in each chapter to go into detail of that topic.
The number one most difficult thing for new viewers to understand is the offsides rule, but it’s not too bad, basically it’s just that the puck or puck carrier must enter the offensive zone before any teammates. That’s what the neutral zone ends up meaning, the space between the blue lines, which define the offensive zone for each team
You might also want to know why the lines change so often - hockey is incredibly tiring. These guys move around 35 mph, as fast as a car. To play more than 2 minutes at a time as a forward would destroy you. Getting the puck out of your zone so you're safe to change your lines (play does not stop when you change lines) is very important, and is a big part of the power play and even-strength play. Defencemen are very slightly less mobile, so they might change every 3-5 minutes.
Over a minute is actually a long shift for any position. If a defenseman is on the ice for 3-5 minutes shifts there are some serious problems. Average shift length is around 45 seconds.
In the pros, the average shift is around 40-45 seconds. Penalties affect those times, where players on the “short handed” team)are 20-30 seconds and the “power play” team might be 1-1:15. This is because the 4 penalty killers players are using more energy, while team strategy for the “power play” team requires less skating. The priority for the defensive team is to keep fresh legs on the ice, while the power play team wants their best players out longer to maximize scoring opportunities.
Look up offsides and Icing to describe the neutral zone. Another thing is. Since this was talking about the positions. There is a term called pulling the goalie. Lets say, if the game is coming down to the end. And your down by a goal or 2. The team might pull their goalie, And another skater will come in.
The blue lines are to prevent off side passing - a team can not pass the puck across 2 zone lines to get an odd man rush to score - if they do make an off side pass the play is whistled down, and a face off to restart the game is taken near where the pass originated. Why so many score keepers? Because points are awarded to the players who score plus assists to the last 2 players who touched the puck before the goal. So the score keepers are keeping track of who passed the puck to whom before a goal to ward the points properly... These points are important to the players because contracts and bonuses are determined by them...
A couple of things about penalties that you should watch for, are that they don't automatically stop the play. If the team that is not getting the penalty have the puck, they can continue to play. The team getting he penalty continue to defend, but as soon as they touch the puck, the game stops while the player who offended is sent off. There are no set rules on the positions of your players. You are allowed six on the ice. This means that if you the team that is not being penalized, your goalie can leave the ice and be replaced with an extra skater. Now that team has an extra player and don't need a goalie, because as soon as the other team touches the puck, play will be stopped. - if you hear the announcer say that there is a penalty coming (an official will have an arm up) you may well see the goalie racing for the bench. The use of this rule will sometimes be seen close to the end of the game too. If a team is a goal down and there is a minute or so left to play, when they take a face off if they win possession their goalie will race straight to the bench and another attacker will come on to try and even the score. If the face off is in the zone of the team that is up goal, the team trying to score may go into the face off without a goalie at all, but with one skater prepared to race back to try stop a goal if they lose the face off. Pulling the goalie is only done to try and tie the game and send it to overtime. I have seen a team with thirty seconds left on the clock score two goals twelve seconds apart to tie a game.
You may want to watch a few games before starting with the play offs? Possibly even some Canadian or American women's Olympic hockey? In Olympic hockey, less contact is allowed and the rink is bigger. Skaters are often a tad slower (because they aren't all over six feet) and with the larger ice surface, it can be easier to see some of the formations or set ups they will use. It will be easier to observe them following offside rules or icing rules, using tactics like dumping the puck in to follow it, or going in as a line - spread over the larger surface, you may recognize a "rugby" style of attack where the person with the puck enters the attacking zone just ahead of their line mates to keep the puck on side. Girls play hockey from a very young age too and there are some phenomenal players. As with mens Olympic hockey, it is the US/Canada games that are the most intense. Even watching a regular season NHL game might help, as play off hockey is very intense
Olympic hockey seems to be taken down from TH-cam, here's some clips from a USA/Canadian international.I know there are hockey teams in the UK and have been for a while, I've seen clips and they don't seem to have the same flow or speed as these North American womens teams. You can see some great plays in this, as well as the flow that sets them up th-cam.com/video/ZQEEOPSOONw/w-d-xo.html
they need multiple scorekeeping assistants because they have to keep score of not just goals but shots on net, a players time on ice, hits, and some others stats that would be hard for one person to keep track of
Actually, that’s not quite right. A player can receive a pass in the offensive zone IF the puck crosses the blue line before the player does. Basic point: the puck must enter the offensive zone before a player’s skates enter the offensive zone.
@Kent Zepick I've skated into the attacking zone in nhl games before and still got offsides called the only point I understood to not get it called was stopping past center ice passing to another player then crossing the blue line bc alot of nhl teams do that
@@sacrilegiousboi I can’t discount your experience. Just repeating what the rule book says. And if you watch almost any game, you’ll see my understanding of the rule play out. 😊
@@sacrilegiousboi The rule used to be that you couldn't pass across two lines - so passes from the D-zone to past center weren't allowed. They removed that back in 2005 in an attempt to improve offence. Now, you can pass from your D-zone all the way to the opposing blue line. They call it a "stretch pass" and it's a very high-risk/high-reward tactic that a lot of teams try to use. No player can enter an O-zone before the puck - and that's what the linesmen are looking for. If you get the puck, and have control over it, before you cross the blue line, you're not offside. If a teammate goes in before the puck crosses the line, it's offside.
This didnt explain line changes super well, basically when one line gets tired they move on to the next one. Player hop over the boards to quickly change and avoid a too many men penalty, which can happen on lazy changes when a person come over too quickly and there are six skaters. You'll often see teams stall and take the puck behind their own net to give their mates extra time to make changes. D pairs will stay out longer, often switching when their team gets a breakout (Takes the puck out of their own end and into the neutral zone)
My suggestions- a basic rules vid(they’re fairly true to their terminology) and one that talks about the strategy for player substitutions(line changes).
Just on scoring... The score keepers are likely recording shots on goal, blocks, maybe hits (maybe only NHL). They also probably use video replay to confirm things like if a shot made it to the goalie or was blocked or hit the post (this matters for above mentioned stats). They might also review goals to get the goal or assists correct. While the referee traditionally reports this after a goal, the scorers might change it after reviewing it. It's a fast moving game and sometimes you see on replay what really happened. I score youth hockey games and I'm all by myself with no benefit of video replay. I do my best but I might watch a replay after the game and realize I got an assist wrong or missed one. But I do my best. Most parents in the score booth don't bother at all to try to get it right. The video didn't explain the neutral zone and offsides and/or icing but tbh the best way to learn that is watch a game and say "wait, why did they blow the whistle there? What's that about?" That's the best way to learn IMHO.
Such a well put together video, that its a shame they left out the most important aspects in order to watch the game.....Offsides and Icing. As well as maybe explanations of some of the more common penalties.
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I can't believe this video glossed over the offside rule, that's like the most important part
And the Buffalo Sabers, French Connection Line.
Or any of the rules, really.
The point of the neutral zone is because of the offside rule. The puck must cross the blue line (attack zone) before any of the offensive players.
Also, it helps to understand defensive strategies like the Neutral Zone Trap or "stacking the neutral zone".
I confess that the removal of the offside rules in ice hockey AND soccer would make me very happy. Imagine the fast breaks that would happen (and the chaos)!
@@brent4723 are you taking about the removal of the 2 line pass rule?
@@gougemaster1074 I was focused more on allowing an attacker to arrive across the blue line before the puck arrived. Practically that would require the removal of the rule you mentioned, so yes.
@@brent4723 Removal of the offside rules tends to bog down games and eliminate fast breaks. Teams would need to play with a more defensive mindset to counter what you suggest. If a team doesn't have to worry about the other team waiting in their defensive zone, they can focus more on their own speed and attack. In a sense, having an offside rule is like the NBA outlawing zone defense.
Understanding offsides and icing will explain why they play the way they do
This. I would also add the trapezoid, delay of game, and too many men on ice. Then a touch of power plays and overtime/shootout. Everything else penalty wise is pretty obvious.
Understanding offsides and icing is the most important part, but I think it would also be a good idea to find a video that explains the NHL as a league. How the schedule/divisions work, how the standings work (it's a point system similar to soccer), how the playoffs work, etc.
Honestly I'd love to see you find videos like this for any/all of the sports you plan to dive deeper into.
That’s a great suggestion, thank you!
@@DNReactsI'm an American who got really into European football (I'm a Tottenham fan) a few years ago, and it's what I found really helpful and fascinating as well. Learning about the season structure, promotion&relegation, the champions league, etc. It really helped me get into the sport and to follow it.
The structure of the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL are all so very different from each other too.
Apologies for the rambling, love your videos and the discussions you guys have!
@@Lambdakastel have you seen the show Ted Lasso?
@@ZachWilsonsMomsFriend I have not. I hear a lot about it but I don't really know anything about it
@@Lambdakastel it’s about an American college football coach that knows 0 about soccer going over and coaching a premier league team. It’s absolutely hilarious! I recommend
This video has a lot of the very very basics when it comes to hockey and is definitely lays a good starting framework to understand hockey, but it doesn't actually cover the gameplay aspects or rules of hockey which are also very important, obviously. The channel that made this video has another in their "hockey 101" series that goes over offsides and icing rules which will explain that question you had about the neutral zone, and basically explains the rules regarding all the lines and markings on the ice.
Thank you! We will check it out!
Enjoying sports has brought this community together you both are awesome and so have been the people responding to my comments. 😊
Thanks Wesley! Really appreciate your support 😀
As a Canadian who has played for years but also played Football (soccer). One thing I can tell you for sure, if either of you have the opportunity to get on the ice and play in a game, either by way of pond hockey or pickup beer league , you would find the game EXTREMELY fun to play. I have friends who were British and moved here in Canada. They told me their kids wanted to join in minor hockey, Well we took them out, got them all the kit they needed and sign them up to join minor hockey...... Their kids absolutely loved it. Tough part for you guys would probably be learning to skate proficiently... once your skating is up, its a riot of a game to play!
Love this Paul, and I think you’re right. I’m (Damo) actually a pretty decent skater. Not sure if I’d be strong enough whilst playing hockey too though 😅
@@DNReacts Damo if your a decent skater, you will be absolutely fine! Search it out in your area and join in a pick up game, you will love it. I guarantee it!!! ...by the way the NHL playoffs start on Monday, you may be able to get it at late hours on your TV, but worth recording and watching, I highly recommend you watch The Edmonton Oilers with the best player in the world (Conner McDavid). This will show you what Hockey is all about.....speed, skill and passion 👍
The fact that they talked about the neutral zone and the trapezoid but not why the offside lines are there is surprising lol
Greetings again from Canada, eh!! Well, the phrase that was missing was "changing on the fly"...players on the ice can change with players on the bench while the play is still on going, which coined the phrase "changing on the fly". One of the most important duties of a coach is to have the players on the bench ready to come on the ice. A coach will go up and down the bench, tapping players saying "you're up, and you're up" so those guys will stand up and jump on the ice when the player they are replacing jumps off the ice. There is a certain rotation, so you know if player x is coming off, you're coming on. Most shifts last 45 seconds to about a minute, however, sometimes a team is bogged down in their defensive zone and can't leave to change up and could play for over 2 minutes, which is exhausting. Usually bad things happen then, you get scored on or you take a penalty because of fatigue.
This was actually a great explanation video, as simple as it was at times. You should look at a rule video next. At first hockey can seem complicated with all the lines on the ice and the penalties, but after a while you'll realize it's as easy to understand as other sports.
Been studying hockey for 50 years…. Still learn something new everyday… what looks like disorganized chaos is actuslly a very structured set of maneuvers plays and set ups…. It’s really incredible once you start getting it…. You’ll be amazed at what these true athletes can do and how it can be like a ballet or symphony…. I would suggest reading the book “keep your eyes off the puck”….
Imo, hockey is the best pro game to watch live. Football 🏈 is best on television.
Just discovered you guys. Greetings from Chicago. Hockey is fast , but once you understand it, it is well worth the time it takes to learn. Like most people stated. Offsides and icing are essential to understanding the game. If not, you will get frustrated as to to why they keep blowing the whistle, stopping play and having face offs.
Welcome to the channel! We will definitely be learning more about Hockey 😀
Relevance of the Neutral Zone:
1. It's called "Neutral" because neither team can claim possession of it.
2. This is where a good amount of play actually begins -- as this is where players leaving their own zone (defensive zone) begin to generate speed as they move up the ice (to the offensive zone), or use the space to set up on defense.
It’s called the neutral zone for two reasons: 1. It’s not in the attacking/offensive zone, nor is it in the defending/defensive zone, therefore it’s “neutral”. 2. It’s not so easy to score from there for either team and both teams have an equal chance at a goal.
When a player is on the ice, that's called a shift. A shift can be anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds. Skating is so exhausting that players have to shift constantly. Usually good coaches know how to work their shift rotation to match up their checking lines against the opponent's scoring lines. Players can change during play as long as the player coming off the ice doesn't touch the puck, so the next line can jump onto the ice before the previous line has made it to the bench.
As someone who worked behind the scenes for college hockey, the two scorekeepers assistants are likely double-checking goals to give statistic credit, or my favorite job, tracking who was on the ice when a goal was scored. I was shocked by the lack of neutral zone discussion, but it seems the other commenters have that one covered. Cheers lads 😂
They are definitely recording shots, hits, takeaways and giveaways
4:50 The neutral zone is significant within the conext of the offside rule. No attacking player may cross the blue line from the neutral zone to their attacking zone before the puck does. If the puck re-enters the neutral zone, the attacking team must completely evacuate from their attacking zone before the puck can be returned to the attacking zone. One of the goals of the defending team is to dispossess the other team of the puck and return it to the neutral zone since it forces the attacking team to leave and reset their attack.
The neutral zone exists because of a couple of rules. The first relates to offside and passes. At one point in time you could not pass the puck across two lines. This was intended to make moving the puck up ice more difficult and discourage cherry picking (one player standing at the offensive blue line waiting for a break away pass). This was rule was dropped, but you still needed the neutral zone to allow offensive players to organize while onside without automatically putting the opposing players onside (onside being that the puck must enter the offensive zone before any offensive player does). The second reason is because the team in the defensive zone is allowed to hand pass the puck to a team mate. Not having a neutral zone would make hand passes legal on half the ice surface and allow a player to easily hand pass directly from the defensive to offensive zone.
The third reason is not really rule related, but more about game dynamics. In the offensive zone the defensemen position themselves near the offensive blue line to position themselves to keep the puck on side. This puts them relatively close to the wingers on the defending team and this is by design. If the defensemen on the team in the offensive zone had the full 100' of ice to the red line to play with the defending wingers would have too much area to be able to effectively defend and very little chance of getting the puck out of the zone.
I don't know how well I explained this for people who didn't grow up with the game, but I hope it helps a little.
The neutral zone is about offside rules. The puck has to enter the offensive zone before any attacker. If the puck leaves the zone, all the offensive players must leave the zone before the puck can re-enter the offensive zone.
Unlike soccer, there are unlimited substitutions during a game, and players can be subbed out while game play is going on. There need not be a stoppage of play.
The concept of the "Power Play" and penalties were barely scratched. When a foul is committed, a player will be taken off the ice, and his team has to play short-handed for the duration on the penalty or until the other team scores (there are exceptions). So, at times during the game, teams will be playing 5 on 4 (plus goaltenders), and this is known as "The Power Play."
Hockey was always fairly popular in the USA, particularly in the northern states. It's biggest problem in the earlier days was tracking the puck on older televisions. At one time, Fox Sports used a production effect to add a glow to the puck so that it was more visible, and if the puck was passed or shot at high speed, it left a red trail. Reviews were mixed about whether or not it improved the older televised games, but such gimmicks became obsolete when screen sizes got much larger on their way to the modern, high definition flat screens that most people now own. Some adjustments to the rules like removing the two line pass offside violation and obstructing other players by locking up with them or physically blocking them really opened the game up to showcase the skating skills of world class athletes. Switches between offense and defense can seem chaotic but it's that speed of those transitions and the teamwork required to convert those instances into scoring chances that makes hockey so exciting.
The neutral zone doesn't really have any official role except serving as a buffer between both attacking zones. In hockey, the puck has to enter the offensive zone before any attacking players and stay there for the duration of the attack. If the puck goes out of the zone, every attacking players has to exit the zone before the puck can come back in. In short, the neutral zone is:
- where the game starts every period, or re-start after a goal
- where teams organize their transition from offense to defense - and vice versa - when the puck possession changes, and
- where the attacking team can regroup after the puck exits the offensive zone
That is indeed lacking a lot.
- An "offside" occurs when a player crosses the offensive blue line before the puck does, if the team that commits the offside has possession, play is stopped and the faceoff to resume play will be at the blue line on the side where the offside play occured. An offside situation is cancelled by every player of that team falling back south of the offensive blue line.
- "Icing" is when a player plays the puck from the defensive side of the red line to where it goes behind the opposing team's goal line (to their end). If the other team's skater (so not the goalie) is there or is getting there first, play is stopped and the faceoff will be at the other end (at the team's end that played the puck to the other end for the icing).
- If the puck is played over the glass, into the netting at either end of the rink, into a bench, through the glass, onto a team's net (and isn't knocked back into play basically immediately), or if a player on the bench touches the puck, play is whistled dead and the faceoff will be wherever is appropriate. If a defending team plays the puck DIRECTLY over the glass or into the netting above the glass from their end, that's a 2min penalty for 'delay of game'.
- Penalties are/can be called for: tripping, hooking, slashing, high-sticking, charging, elbowing, boarding, checking from behind, cross-checking, interference, goalie interference, roughing, hit to the head, delay of game, unsportsmanlike conduct, too many men, fighting, embellishment, illegal equipment, and I do believe 'spearing' and 'stomping' or something along those lines sometimes happen.
Most fouls are 2 min penalties (minors), hits to the head are basically always 5 min (majors) +20 (misconduct, where the player is ejected from the game), grievous/dangerous fouls (most often hard hits from behind into the boards on an unaware player) are 5 or 5+20. High-sticking (sticking an opposing player in the face) is 2+2 (consecutive minors) if it draws blood. If the same player takes two minor penalties at once, that is likewise 2+2 (play resumes until the team that fouled gains possession, during which time another foul can happen).
If one team has more (most often 1, but sometimes more) players serving a penalty, they're 'shorthanded' and the other team is on the 'power play'. If the team on the power play scores a goal, the earliest active 2 minute minor penalty ends. 5 min penalties keep going no matter what until they're served. If this happens during the first 2 of a 2+2, that 2 is gone and the other 2 remains (2:49 left of a 2+2 -> 2:00 left after a goal). A team can be down to 3 on-ice skaters minimum, if they take another penalty with 2 active non-fighting penalties underway, it only extends the penalty time.
- If a player on a breakaway (literally with possession, behind all opposing skaters) gets fouled, this is usually a penalty shot (puck to center ice, fouled player 1on1 with the opposing goalie, backwards movement/stopping disallowed and the attacking player can't touch the puck after the goalie touches it... similar to a shootout attempt)
- You can take an airborne puck down with your hand, but you can't close your hand on it, hold onto it or throw it and only defensive players can 'bat' it with a hand. If such an infraction occurs and that team has possession following it, it's a 'hand pass', play is stopped and the faceoff is in the appropriate place. If a defending player closes their hand on a puck in their goalie's crease (the small box right in front of the net/goal line), that's a penalty shot for the the other team.
- Besides goals, the 2nd-last and 3rd-last players of the attacking team to touch the puck before a goal get 'assists'. If the defending team has possession in between, that cancels out assists, but mere touches don't.
- All hockey games (with few exceptions) are three 20-minute periods, followed by overtime (OT) and/or a shootout (SO, ("SO" is also shorthand for 'shutout', when a team wins allowing 0 goals against)). NHL regular season games (and most regular season games) follow regulation with a 5 min 3on3 overtime (3 skaters on the ice per team), where the first allowed goal scored wins the game, followed by a best of 3 + sudden death "shootout", so the aforementioned 'penalty shot' scenario, if a goal isn't scored in OT. With NHL rules, the same player can't take a second attempt until every skater on the team has had an attempt (never happened as far as I know).
NHL playoff games (and most playoff games, afaik), keep doing 20-minute overtime "periods" until a goal is scored, which wins the game. Some games have gone to the 4th OT period ('7th period') or even beyond, but it's very rare.
- A team can take their goalie off the ice ("empty net") and replace him with a skater. This is usually done at the end of the game, when down by a goal or two, as a last gambit to try to tie the game. This is also done every time a penalty is called, but the team taking the penalty has yet to gain possession (play is stopped as soon as a team committing a foul gains possession). Likewise, if a player is injured (and can't get off the ice), play is stopped when that team gains possession.
- In the NHL, both teams have one 30 sec timeout they can call during any neutral stoppage (a team committing an icing can't call a timeout on the resulting stoppage).
- NHL games (at least) tend to have three 2-minute 'TV timeouts' (basically commercial breaks) per period when play is next stopped after the 6, 10 and 14 minute marks of the period, but not during a power play or other special cases.
- NHL regular seasons are 82 games (41 home, 41 away), win = 2 points, OT/SO loss = 1 point and regulation loss = 0 points. There are currently (and for the foreseeable future), 32 teams, divided into a western and eastern conference, divided into 4 divisions (Pacific, Central, Metropolitan, Atlantic) of 8 teams each. The top 3 teams of each division, plus the 2 other teams with the most points in both conferences, qualify for the playoffs. Playoff series are best of 7 games and consist of the 1st round, 2nd round, conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.
...That is pretty much the gist of it. Nowhere near everything, but pretty much everything one is likely to quickly come across. :D
Hockey is the most intense watching experience, especially playoffs. It’s pretty simple to get. It’s soccer, but faster and violent. Once you understand offsides and icing, you get it. The penalties will make sense to you as they come.
Scorekeeper assistants do a lots of things. They are basically a back-up to all other spots. They keep track of scores, penalties and other things on the background while others actually manage those things.
Neutral zone exists for offsides. Short version: all offensive players have to be outside of the attacking zone (i.e., at least part of one of their skates must be in the neutral zone) before the puck can be touched by an offensive player in the offensive zone. Additionally, if the offense is in the attacking zone and the puck fully crosses the blue line into the neutral zone, all the offensive players must leave the zone before the puck can be brought back in, or it's offsides. The blue line is weird in that the line itself can be either in the neutral zone or in the offensive zone, depending on circumstances. When entering the offensive zone, a player can have a skate just on the blue line and be onside, so in that sense it's part of the neutral zone then. But the puck coming out of the offensive zone has to cross fully over the blue line before it's considered in the neutral zone, so at that point the blue line itself is in the offensive zone.
The neutral zone was also used a couple of decades ago to limit "two-line passes", which meant that a pass could not cross over both the blue line and the center line. A player had to touch it in each part of the zone. But that rule stifled break outs and made the game boring so they got rid of it. Now, you'll often see break away after the end of a penalty kill, because the player coming out of the penalty box is often open and the team that was killing off the penalty just needs to get a long pass to him for a breakaway against the opposing goalie.
This was pretty helpful for a start. It does remind me of soccer a bit. The only name I recognized from those players was Gordie Howe, and when I think of hockey, I remember watching the “Miracle on Ice” from the Olympics as a kid. Now I feel really old.
Yeah it reminds us of soccer too! Looking forward to diving deeper into hockey!
There also used to be a "2-line pass" stoppage like an icing, which meant you weren't allowed to pass from your defensive zone into the neutral zone of the opposing team (over the blue and red line). But they got rid of that.
9:00 technically it is 6 players per team, but when talking about the game…you just hear it as 5 on 5, 5 on 4, 5 on 3, etc…because the goalie being on the ice is just a given (except in limited circumstances). So thinking about players on the ice as “5” instead of “6” is how you’ll hear players/coaches/announcers talk about it.
The neutral zone is not something you need to think about while watching the game. It is basically there to separate the two teams’ zones.
A player does not need to worry about committing an offside infraction while in his own defensive zone or in the neutral zone.
He may receive a pass in those zones from anywhere and still be onside. BUT, all attacking players must be in their defending zone or the neutral zone before the puck crosses the OPPONENT’S blue line, or the play is offside. IOW, the puck must cross the defending team’s blue line first, before any attacking player enters the defender’s zone.
This is the PERFECT time to get into hockey. Post season hockey starts Monday. The first round is usually amazing. The teams are fresh and ready to go. By the second or third round players start getting fatigued or injured. The Stanley Cup playoffs are a war of attrition. MUST WATCH!
Kings vs Oilers is going to be a sick first round matchup. Two of the hottest teams since the All-Star Break.
@@prman9984 I've been a Kings fan since 1978.
Hockey is the only sport where you can make substitutions during the run of play
BTW the zones, meaning the Offensive, Defensive and Neutral extend to the far edge of the blue line. A puck needs to completely cross in order to change zones.
Offsides and Icing are definitely the hardest things to grasp for new fans of the game. Everything else is pretty easy to understand.
Kind of surprised he didn't explain offsides or icing, as anytime someone watches hockey with me those are always the first two questions.
Also, I've been watching hockey for like 30 years and I've never once heard the term "Down Goal", lol
I've been playing hockey since I was 9 years old. I'm 40 now and I still play. Best sport in the world. The easiest way I explain Icing to people new to the game is this. We're all familiar with Basketball. Imagine if Basketball did not have out of bounds and every time the opponent got the ball in their zone, the player constantly kept chucking the ball down the entire court. He keeps doing this over and over. Now you have to run all the way down court to get the ball because the clock is still running. That is why hockey has Icing. There is no out of bounds and it limits the opposing team from draining out the clock. For offsides, all you need to realize is that either the puck itself or the player carrying the puck has to be the first to cross the blue line. It is very similar to offsides Soccer/European Football
6:11 I would presume that the score keepers assistants are there to help aid in determining who assisted the player who scored as the game is fast and goals and assists are based off of the last people to touch the puck (which can be challenging if there are deflections)
Hockey substitutions are done at play stoppages or on the fly. If a team mixes it up though they can be penalized if they have too many players on the ice. It's a fast game and it happens from time to time.
generally a line is only on the ice for short fast paced bursts. . . typically 1 to 1.5 minutes. . . but for that stretch they go all out. . then swap out. . main goal being keeping fresh legs moving on the ice
Exactly - hockey players get on the ice, go full out for a minute, and then get off the ice to catch their breath. While on the ice, they're skating, hitting, defending, and trying to score - all of which is farkin' exhausting. Then they go back to the bench to try to catch their breath, just so they can go out and do it again. It's like HIIT on skates, with other guys trying to keep you from completing your reps.
If you want some hockey players to watch Patrick Roy and Wayne Gretzky are the best
Love the video! Welcome to the Hockey fandom, we're so glad you're here! One 'famous' line that will hold a special place in my heart is the LA Kings '70's Line' from their 2014 season. You should totally react to the final game in the final playoff series that year. Double overtime. It was crazy!
Thank you, this one sounds great, have added it to our list!
2 kids and an old goat is another line name that was great.
i will say this.. ,the trapazoid was almost completely a rule made to limit one goalies skills.. and it was even known as the 'martin broduer rule' which is a goalie you should look up top 3 goalie of all time
Hockey is the only sport that allows player substitutions on the fly, they do not have to wait for a stoppage of play. Also, the scorekeeper doesn't just track the score of the game, they also keep track of which player is credited with goals, assists and penalties and sometimes there can be a huge amount of info dropped on them at one time (think a huge bench clearing brawl where over a hundred penalty minutes can be assessed)
Hockey has free substitutions. So lines can sub in while play is going on.
Thanks James!
There's a handful of rules that utilize being in ones defensive zone, which is why the Neutral zone exists. For example, if you shoot the puck over the glass without a deflection from your defensive zone, it's a 2 minute minor penalty for Delay of Game. If you shoot it over the glass in the neutral or offensive zones, there's no penalty. Additionally, as many other people here have already mentioned, the Neutral zone acts as a transitional area from defense to offense, where the offensive team needs to puck to cross the blue line of their opponents offensive zone before any other offender can enter the zone; the offside rule. If you're familiar with soccer, think of the blue line as the furthest-back defender; no offending player can cross it ahead of the puck.
Definitely need to check out an explanation of offsides, icing, forechecking, and backchecking to understand game dynamics. Penalties are somewhat tough to grasp as well. The rest is just watching hockey with a good beer in hand.
Markus Näslund and Mikael Renberg are both Swedish players.
Its kinda crazy how big of an impact they had on the games.
Especially as "secondary" players.
They were no Forsberg, Lidstrom or Sundin.
But they were still part of a legendary line up
Y’all definitely need to watch some playoff hockey games. They are by far the most entertaining playoff games
I finally understand offsides in "world football" and it has helped in understanding that game. This video should have covered the relevance of the blue line for offsides and the redline for icing. The puck must enter the attacking zone (beyond the blue line) before any attacking player or it is offsides and if the puck is shot all the way down the ice and not on goal from behind the center red line with out being touched, it will cause a face off in your defending zone. Also, line changes are fast and there is a penalty for too many men on the ice if the player entering the game touches the puck before the player leaving the ice reaches the bench. Also, the scorekeeper assistants are not just counting goals, they could be counting shots on goal, saves, ice time for each player, hits, face offs won, etc.
I have been watching the nhl for 5 decades. This is the first time I have ever heard ‘bardown’
When I was a kid in the 1970's HNIC would show animated shorts explaining hockey in the first intermission with a character called Peter Puck. Although some of the rules have changed it's a very informative and entertaining way to learn about hockey. Peter Puck was also a nickname given to Peter Pocklington later on who was owner of the Edmonton Oilers. I don't think Edmonton fans were very happy though when he traded the G.O.A.T. Wayne Gretzky to the L.A. Kings. I'm not a fan of the Oilers nor Gretzky per se but I would have been pissed if I were. No one has come close to breaking his scoring records although Ovechkin has a decent chance of breaking his goal scoring record.
Neutral zone is between the blue lines. You are allowed to rise from your defensive zone to neutral zone freely, but if you rise from neutral zone to offensive zone, the puck MUST cross the blueline first. If there is a teammate of yours, or if you skate in before the puck, that's called offside. When offside happens the play stops and a faceoff occurs on the closest faceoff dot. The center faceoff circle is only to start a period and as in football, after a goal.
Icing is a rule unique to hockey. If you dump the puck in to the offensive zone before you cross the center line, and the puck crosses the goal line that's called icing. When a team is quilty of icing, a faceoff occurs on their defensive zone.
Line changes can be confusing to people who come from other sports, but basically there isn't any limit on how many changes you can make. Hockey is a very intense sport and usually a "shift" i.e for forwards only last a couple of minutes. Think it like, you hop on ice, explode into action, you get gassed and when there is a chance you hop back on the bench to get a fresh teammate on ice. Rinse and repeat.
They didn't touch penalties. Usually penalty is for 2 minutes. The penalty is served by the quilty player in the penalty box. During this his team is not allowed to bring a player to replace him. So it's 2 minutes 5on4 or what is called a power play. Penalties can happen simultaneously but the situation will never be worse than 5on3. Serious infringements can be penalized with a 5 minute major. Usually this is followed with a game misconduct. Player is out of the game and his teammate has to serve the penalty. It's sometimes also called 5+20 since 20 minutes of penalty time is added to the offenders record. Difference between "2 minute minor" and "5 minute major" is that if there is a 2 minute penalty going, and the opposing team scores on the powerplay, the penalty is over. 5 minute majors never stop and have to be served in full, even if the opposing team scores 3 times.
Penalties happen quite a lot, it's an intense game. Usually the teams practice both powerplay and shorthanded play to be ready for these situations. Usually there is a dedicated power play group, consisting of the teams best scorers. Sometimes teams even have "power play specialists" who might not be playing that much 5on5 minutes, but can be game breaking when playing 5on4. I.e maybe a offensive minded D-man who isn't that reliable 5on5 but can patrol the offensive blueline like a chad.
Lines okay 40-60 seconds at a time. Getting into special lines together, strategies…it’s gets pretty fun to follow.
in very rare cases, both the starting and back up goalies may be hurt. There is usually an amateur goalie in the arena who may be the Zamboni driver or someone who works in the building. He van be pressed into service. It happened in Toronto a few years ago. He got suited up and made some good saves.
You wondered why there are 20 players when only 5 skaters (non-goalies) are on the ice. Hockey may be the only sport where players exchange while the game is actively under way, not just during dead times after a whistle. It's possible that an entire 20-minute period could play with no stops if there was no scoring or whistles or pucks into the crowd, etc. Players skate hard for a minute or so, and then if play is still going, when it's safe they will quickly exit into their bench while the next line hops over the boards into the ice. The defensive (2 defensemen) and offensive (center and two wings) players maintain their own exchanges, so the benches are busy places during the active play. Of course they can also exchange players after a whistle when play is dead.
Great video guys and I'm glad you're into hockey. Once you get the rules, lines and the strategy, you can really appreciate the sport more.
FYI There's some great sport channels for reacting named Secret base and sb Nation.
Thank you appreciate the support! Appreciate the heads up too, added these to our list
The video totally glosses over the fact that players in hockey can and do change "on the fly" while play continues. This helps explains why there are so many scorekeepers. For a goal, in addition to crediting a goal to the scorer and up to two assists, there is a statistic tracking every player on the ice when a goal is scored. There are also all sorts of statistics related to ongoing play like shots and blocks and hits. Because players are constantly changing as the game progresses, it's can be a challenge to keep track of who's on the ice, let alone who's involved in all these minor events. In the NHL these days, they have technology to help them: players wear microchips in their uniforms so they can be tracked and there are cameras everywhere for video review. But at lower levels, it's just up to the eyes of the scorekeepers.
The "neutral zone" over the past few years has had major changes. The centre red line used to in play regarding offside. For example if you were in your defensive zone and passed the puck to a teammate on other side of the red line, it was offside, your not allowed to pass the puck over two lines ( the blue line, then the red line). Just a few years ago, the league dropped the centre red line in regards to passing. You can now pass the puck from inside your own blue line to a teammate as far as the oppositions blue line, no two line pass offside. Why the league did this was to make the game faster. Before players had to stop in the "neutral zone" in front of the red line to accept a pass, now, they can spread out in the entire zone, blue line to blue line and wait for a long break out pass. It has opened up the speed of the game, and also caused many more injuries because players are flying through the neutral zone and if they have their head down, well, you've seen the video's on hardest hits.
An explanation of Icing. You know how Ted Lasso always asks how the Offside rule works in Soccer? That's kinda like Icing in hockey - I'll often get casual fans who have watched for decades go "how is that icing?? ...and what is icing?" 😂
As people have said, the neutral zone is important for the offside rule, a player can not skate over the blue line and have the puck passed to them they must carry it in, or it must be shot into the attacking zone before players follow it across the blue line to retrieve it.
Especially in the the playoffs it becomes very important during power plays.If a player receives a penalty, they go to the penalty box and their team must play with a player missing. The team that has the full team on the ice is now on the "power play"
Typically in a power play, the team who has the advantage will get the puck into their opponents zone and keep passing the puck around trying to find the perfect shot. A side effect of this is that the team who are attacking are closer to the bench and can continue to change shifts and keep fresh players on the ice. The disadvantage for the defending team is that they can't get back to the bench to change, unless there is a stoppage, or the puck is taken out of their zone giving them space to make change. Even if they don't get time to make a change, clearing the puck out of their zone, means all the other teams players have to leave the zone and come back, without breaking the offside rule. This will give the defence a few seconds break, and burn some time off the clock. During the power play, you will see the defensive team often just trying to "clear the puck". - another thing you may see occasionally, is that as penalty expires, the team who have been killing the penalty, will fire the puck to the neutral zone, where their player is coming back on the ice. If timed well, they may have a breakaway shot at a goal.
Scorekeepers assistants likely help determine who is credited with assists on scoring plays. As well as whether the guy who winds up the scoring shot is actually the goal scorer, or if another player tipped it in and therefore is the goal scorer. Hockey is fast and you need a lot of eyeballs to catch everything.
So the score keepers are not just keeping track of the goals.They have to keep track of shots, shoot attempts, saves, blocks, hits, etc. It needs allocated to the correct players, who change about every 30-45 seconds or so. It's a lot to keep track of.
And for the neutral zone question, the blue lines are actually more for delineating reach teams zone. It's used for offsides rules so, like soccer, players can't just stand by the opposing teams goal.
The scorekeeper assistants have a number of responsibilities and are required due to the speed of the game and the fact that there are constant substitutions.
Assistants responsibilities include (usually one assistant watches each team):
- Keeping track of and recording which players are on the ice at the ice at the time of a goal
- Record jersey numbers of players who will receive assists on a goal
- Keeping track of and recording which players are on the ice at the time a penalty is called against the goaltender (penalty must be served by an on ice player)
- Provide information about players/goalies participating in the game
- Track the numbers of players who leave the bench during a brawl incident
- Ensure the accuracy and availability of equipment and measuring tools in the scorekeepers bench
- Anything else the scorekeeper assigns (Boundaries???)
The video not mentioning the "Triple Crown Line" from the LA Kings, Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor, is a crime!
There are probably dozens of famous lines, so as a Rangers fan I'll just mention the GAG (Goal a Game) line of the late 60s early 70s, Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert (zhilbear, not gilbert), and Vic Hadfield.
@@ggdaddy6676 😁 A cool name for a line. And for the record I'll always pronounce Gilbert (zhil-behr) correctly..I'm a French teacher.
Learning about the salary cap might be beyond your interest level but it completely changes how managers acquire players and plan the roster years in advance.
Since every team has an aggregate salary cap, rich franchises can’t totally run away from the poorer ones in the standings. But you need to be able to fit new players under your cap and manage cap space going forward as you look at how many years a player has on his contract and his dollar value. Cap space itself is a commodity and teams will trade away extra assets like draft picks or prospects just to get rid of a player that’s become too expensive for what he brings.
I actually find this is a great video, though like others mentioned they missed icing and offsides. Thankfully the same channel did a follow up explaining both of them if you wish to check it out.
Thank you Breeze, appreciate this. Will take a look
The relevance to the neutral zone is related to the offside. In football offside is a moving reference related to the position of the attacker and the last defender when the ball was struck. In hockey offside is a static reference related to the blueline. The puck must precede all attacking players into the offensive zone or they will be called offside, the position of the defending players is irrelevant. If the attacking team is offside, they can clear the offside condition by exiting the attacking zone and re-entering it as long as they did not touch the puck while the offside condition was active. As soon as the team defending moves the puck outside the defensive zone into the neutral zone, any pending offside condition is cancelled.
It used to be that a player couldn't pass the puck over any blue line and the red line. That was a two line pass. That rule is gone. The only importance of the neutral zone is the blue lines. When a player is entering the offensive zone (across the blue line), the puck must cross the line before a player on your team. Otherwise, it's off sides, and the puck is dropped in the neutral zone.
Emergency Back Up Goalie (EBUG), the craziest thing about the NHL.
Line changes during play. Usually with one of the defensemen holding the puck back in his defensive zone while his teammates change. One of the fresh defensemen will take the puck from him allowing him to be the last change. But there is plenty of times that just the defensemen are charging or just the forwards. Because they switch sides every period, the second period is known as the long change, because both teams bench is further away from their defensive zone, making it more difficult to safely change. Defensemen don’t skate as much as forwards, so they can get by with just three lines and even sometimes longer shifts. All the lines for both teams follow a consistent rotation with two big exceptions. The fourth line of forwards (which often has rookies and/or old players at the end of their career) will get skip a lot during rotations. I imagine the coach skips them when there is a commercial break or when a whistle has blown to stop play. Giving the forwards on the top three lines 1-4 minutes chance to rest before their next shift. The other major exception to the everybody on the top three lines playing evenly is special teams. Whenever a power play is happening, the players on the ice are called special teams. Each team will have two shifts for power play unit and two shifts of penalty killers. They are made of players who play even strength as well. But not all of the regular players play special teams. Some players will play both power play and penalty kill, some only play power play, some only play on penalty kill and some play neither. Depending on how many Penalties are called in a game and how many on each team can give certain players in the top three lines significant more playing time than others in the top three lines.
The NHL uses a smaller playing surface than international hockey does. On the bigger ice it's much more like football (soccer) both in strategy and gameplay.
Offsides is exactly the same as football except for the fact that the far blue line is the same as the furthest back defender in football.
I'd suggest watching some Olympic hockey to get a better idea of what I'm talking about above.
Thank you for the info Ryan!
You guys need to check out a separate video discussing the rules of play. This helps add a lot of context when watching the game - for example, the different types of penalties.
You can switch on the fly during play. The player going off has to be within a couple meters and you can't play the puck until he's completely off. If you do, that's a Too Many Men penalty (even in women's hockey).
The neutral zone is just what we call that area. There is not as much rules significance to it as the offensive or defensive zones. It is just NOT those areas and does play into the offsides rules.
I believe the scorekeeper's assistant are there because keeping stats in hockey can get complicated. Who committed what penalty and to whom, who actually scored a goal, who assisted on a goal, and who was on the ice during a goal are all stats that are kept and these assistants probably help run replays to sort that stuff out.
There used to be only one referee and two linesmen like in soccer but they found that too many penalties were being missed behind the play so they added the second referee to the NHL in 2000. The linesmen are there to officiate boundary calls like icing and offsides and have the unenviable duty to separate players who have been fighting. Referees call penalties and adjudicate if goals are scored or not. Also, one of the referees drops the puck at center ice to start each period and following the scoring of a goal while the linesmen are responsible for all other face-offs.
Unfortunately, this video doesn't go over any of the infraction rules. That will require its own video.
Ive never watched hockey, as in a full match or a full highlight of a match. I just know to get the puck in the net and avoid others. But as a kid, ive played this version of hockey with a foam “hockey stick” and the puck was a plastic ball with holes thru it. Almost like a dog toy ball. Oh wait, turns out its called field hockey😂😂. I played that in elementary school. Grades 4 and 5 and won a championship in grade 5, my last year before a new school. It was great fun and i never had any more experience with hockey of any form. Thank u guys for bringing something new to me
Well, a video that looks at all the various rules would be a good video and play strategies are game strategies like line changes and sometimes I’ll pull the goalie and add another attacker towards the end of the game if they’re behind by a goal or two, so now they’re on a power-play so strategies and penalties should be looked at.
Another point about the Neutral Zone, is that if play is stopped "Whistled dead" for some specified infractions in an offensive/defensive zone, sometimes the play is brought out of the zone and resumed in a neutral zone face off, as to give or take away a slight advantage to either team, depending which side caused the stoppage in play.
I have greatly enjoyed your baseball reactions. They have been sincere, carefully done, and funny, and I hope you will give my other favorite sport, hockey, the same treatment. The playoffs are starting; it’s the perfect time!
I suggest a vid on penalties: what’s illegal, how penalty time is served, what happens when the team who’s a player up scores, short-handed goals, major penalties, etc.
Thank you Dan, appreciate this comment and your support! We’ll look for a good video around this for sure
You guys should watch the 2016 NBA slam dunk contest. I think you guys reaction to the pure athletism would be priceless.
It was really light on covering penalties and the rule book
Great video ! you should learn about offsides and icing and then watch a game. The playoffs are about to start, personally I think you should watch the maple leafs-lightning series or devils-rangers one. Playoff hockey is a bit different in terms of style and atmosphere, it's insane.
5:25 The neutral zone has relevance, in that the puck has to precede ALL players when they go on the offensive into the offensive zone. If the puck ever goes back toward the neutral zone out of the offensive zone, then all of the players have to go back to the neutral zone and have the puck precede them to get back into the offensive zone, otherwise there is an offside call and a face off in the neutral zone. .o
Weird that the video spent more time on the scorekeepers than the neutral zone...
But to sum it up quickly, offsides happen when an offensive player enters the attacking zone before the puck.
Defenders forcing the puck beyond the blue line back into the neutral zone forces the offense to all leave the attacking zone so they can get onsides again, and gives them a much needed breather to reset.
Icing happens when the puck is shot from behind the center line and travels behind the goal line without being touched.
Players can sub in and out whenever they want as long as there aren't more than 6 on the ice. The refs give subs a little leeway to get on and off, but if a player plays the puck before the player he replaced is completely off the ice that will be a too many men penalty.
Thanks Deano, appreciate this! I think (think) I’ve got the offside rule from this.
The video is like a visual table of contents. It doesn't explain basic penalties, roles of players, game time(60 minutes), period length(20), or the amount of periods! (3) Contracts, yearly Salary Cap for each team that's even across the league. League length, playoff structure. League awards. Standards for what's considered an "allstar goalscorer" (50+ per full regular season), average speed of players, the fastest players. Speed of the slapshots in nhl(anywhere from 85-108mph) .
They teach you enough that you'll want to look for more details lol. It would have been great if they had links that broke off in each chapter to go into detail of that topic.
The number one most difficult thing for new viewers to understand is the offsides rule, but it’s not too bad, basically it’s just that the puck or puck carrier must enter the offensive zone before any teammates. That’s what the neutral zone ends up meaning, the space between the blue lines, which define the offensive zone for each team
You might also want to know why the lines change so often - hockey is incredibly tiring. These guys move around 35 mph, as fast as a car. To play more than 2 minutes at a time as a forward would destroy you. Getting the puck out of your zone so you're safe to change your lines (play does not stop when you change lines) is very important, and is a big part of the power play and even-strength play. Defencemen are very slightly less mobile, so they might change every 3-5 minutes.
Thank you for the info! Really appreciate it
Over a minute is actually a long shift for any position. If a defenseman is on the ice for 3-5 minutes shifts there are some serious problems. Average shift length is around 45 seconds.
In the pros, the average shift is around 40-45 seconds. Penalties affect those times, where players on the “short handed” team)are 20-30 seconds and the “power play” team might be 1-1:15. This is because the 4 penalty killers players are using more energy, while team strategy for the “power play” team requires less skating. The priority for the defensive team is to keep fresh legs on the ice, while the power play team wants their best players out longer to maximize scoring opportunities.
Look up offsides and Icing to describe the neutral zone.
Another thing is. Since this was talking about the positions. There is a term called pulling the goalie. Lets say, if the game is coming down to the end. And your down by a goal or 2. The team might pull their goalie, And another skater will come in.
The blue lines are to prevent off side passing - a team can not pass the puck across 2 zone lines to get an odd man rush to score - if they do make an off side pass the play is whistled down, and a face off to restart the game is taken near where the pass originated.
Why so many score keepers? Because points are awarded to the players who score plus assists to the last 2 players who touched the puck before the goal. So the score keepers are keeping track of who passed the puck to whom before a goal to ward the points properly... These points are important to the players because contracts and bonuses are determined by them...
A couple of things about penalties that you should watch for, are that they don't automatically stop the play. If the team that is not getting the penalty have the puck, they can continue to play. The team getting he penalty continue to defend, but as soon as they touch the puck, the game stops while the player who offended is sent off.
There are no set rules on the positions of your players. You are allowed six on the ice. This means that if you the team that is not being penalized, your goalie can leave the ice and be replaced with an extra skater. Now that team has an extra player and don't need a goalie, because as soon as the other team touches the puck, play will be stopped. - if you hear the announcer say that there is a penalty coming (an official will have an arm up) you may well see the goalie racing for the bench.
The use of this rule will sometimes be seen close to the end of the game too. If a team is a goal down and there is a minute or so left to play, when they take a face off if they win possession their goalie will race straight to the bench and another attacker will come on to try and even the score. If the face off is in the zone of the team that is up goal, the team trying to score may go into the face off without a goalie at all, but with one skater prepared to race back to try stop a goal if they lose the face off. Pulling the goalie is only done to try and tie the game and send it to overtime. I have seen a team with thirty seconds left on the clock score two goals twelve seconds apart to tie a game.
During regular play, a team cannot shoot the puck all the way down the ice to clear their zone. When team is killing a penalty, they are allowed to.
You may want to watch a few games before starting with the play offs? Possibly even some Canadian or American women's Olympic hockey? In Olympic hockey, less contact is allowed and the rink is bigger. Skaters are often a tad slower (because they aren't all over six feet) and with the larger ice surface, it can be easier to see some of the formations or set ups they will use. It will be easier to observe them following offside rules or icing rules, using tactics like dumping the puck in to follow it, or going in as a line - spread over the larger surface, you may recognize a "rugby" style of attack where the person with the puck enters the attacking zone just ahead of their line mates to keep the puck on side. Girls play hockey from a very young age too and there are some phenomenal players. As with mens Olympic hockey, it is the US/Canada games that are the most intense.
Even watching a regular season NHL game might help, as play off hockey is very intense
Olympic hockey seems to be taken down from TH-cam, here's some clips from a USA/Canadian international.I know there are hockey teams in the UK and have been for a while, I've seen clips and they don't seem to have the same flow or speed as these North American womens teams. You can see some great plays in this, as well as the flow that sets them up th-cam.com/video/ZQEEOPSOONw/w-d-xo.html
they need multiple scorekeeping assistants because they have to keep score of not just goals but shots on net, a players time on ice, hits, and some others stats that would be hard for one person to keep track of
The neutral zone is where you have to receive the puck before you take it into the attacking zone or its offsides
That makes sense! Thank you!
Actually, that’s not quite right. A player can receive a pass in the offensive zone IF the puck crosses the blue line before the player does. Basic point: the puck must enter the offensive zone before a player’s skates enter the offensive zone.
@Kent Zepick I've skated into the attacking zone in nhl games before and still got offsides called the only point I understood to not get it called was stopping past center ice passing to another player then crossing the blue line bc alot of nhl teams do that
@@sacrilegiousboi I can’t discount your experience. Just repeating what the rule book says. And if you watch almost any game, you’ll see my understanding of the rule play out. 😊
@@sacrilegiousboi The rule used to be that you couldn't pass across two lines - so passes from the D-zone to past center weren't allowed. They removed that back in 2005 in an attempt to improve offence. Now, you can pass from your D-zone all the way to the opposing blue line. They call it a "stretch pass" and it's a very high-risk/high-reward tactic that a lot of teams try to use. No player can enter an O-zone before the puck - and that's what the linesmen are looking for. If you get the puck, and have control over it, before you cross the blue line, you're not offside. If a teammate goes in before the puck crosses the line, it's offside.
Awesome. Hockey is so fun.
This didnt explain line changes super well, basically when one line gets tired they move on to the next one. Player hop over the boards to quickly change and avoid a too many men penalty, which can happen on lazy changes when a person come over too quickly and there are six skaters. You'll often see teams stall and take the puck behind their own net to give their mates extra time to make changes. D pairs will stay out longer, often switching when their team gets a breakout (Takes the puck out of their own end and into the neutral zone)
I have no idea but I love watching you guys
I feel the same Ricky 😂 Glad to have you along for the journey!
@@DNReacts wow you just made my day that’s super cool that you guys got back to me.
Informative video. I learned a lot. Look for another on hockey rules
Thanks David, we will do. Will definitely be back with more on this
My suggestions- a basic rules vid(they’re fairly true to their terminology) and one that talks about the strategy for player substitutions(line changes).
Just on scoring...
The score keepers are likely recording shots on goal, blocks, maybe hits (maybe only NHL). They also probably use video replay to confirm things like if a shot made it to the goalie or was blocked or hit the post (this matters for above mentioned stats). They might also review goals to get the goal or assists correct. While the referee traditionally reports this after a goal, the scorers might change it after reviewing it. It's a fast moving game and sometimes you see on replay what really happened.
I score youth hockey games and I'm all by myself with no benefit of video replay. I do my best but I might watch a replay after the game and realize I got an assist wrong or missed one. But I do my best.
Most parents in the score booth don't bother at all to try to get it right.
The video didn't explain the neutral zone and offsides and/or icing but tbh the best way to learn that is watch a game and say "wait, why did they blow the whistle there? What's that about?" That's the best way to learn IMHO.
Such a well put together video, that its a shame they left out the most important aspects in order to watch the game.....Offsides and Icing. As well as maybe explanations of some of the more common penalties.