learn more about hockey

Banana blade, power play, icing, Wayne Gretzky, the crease.

My DH and I were watching TV and saw some Blackhawks at the Red Wings. I started asking questions and these are a few of the things we talked about.

It’s all very interesting! Yay!

Of course I have always known who Wayne Gretzky is. Maybe I just didn’t know how utterly spectacular he is for the sport.

Well, baseball is going into the postseason, and while I’ll enjoy that, it’s time for me to have a new tribe to attach myself to, to have a wonderful diversion during the winter.

This is going to be a new challenge because I understand the strategy of baseball, basketball, American football, and volleyball. I guess it’s most like basketball, with the face-off like a tip-off, penalty like a foul, both have goals, and the players going from offense to defense and back again reactively, within a split second, depending on the possession of the puck or ball.

but they really aren’t very good!

Someone trod on the ball too!

a Hartford Wolfpack game in April :)

“international” ice is 15 feet wider than NHL ice.

Rangers had a number of players go to the 06 olympics including win medals!

played at the end of a NY Ranger game… when they win

Why?

Because it’s Jaromir Jagr’s favorite song (star player)

this is when a team scores a goal while the OTHER team is on a powerplay.

is made up of 3 20 minute periods

Since there are no ties in hockey anymore – if the game is tied at the end of regulalation (3 periods) the play continues to a 5 minute sudden death overtime, meaning first team to score wins

if the game is still tied at the end of sudden death, play continues to a shootout!

In a shoot out each team gets 3 shots – best out of 3 wins
BUT! if there is still a tie (same number of shots made out of 3) play continues to a sudden death like shootout – each team picks a new shooter… for each round, if the first team makes the shot, the other team has to make it also, or the first team wins. If the first team misses, and the second team makes it, the second team wins. Play continues until this happens.

I forget the record for the shootout but it was a NY Ranger game at the end of November, i think it was 14 rounds – both teams had run out of offensive players and it was up to the defensemen to win it! (Rangers won, btw)

when the other team takes a penalty and one of their players has to sit in the penalty for (usually) 2 minutes and they play a man down i.e. 5 on 4

A power play ends when your teams scores or when the penalty time expires – whatever comes first