What is Icing in Hockey
What Is Icing in ICE Hockey Game?
Icing is largely a defensive strategy used to interrupt an opponent’s attack in hockey, but it can also be an offensive strategy. And as fast-moving and physical as ice hockey is, with speed, strength, and agility the hallmarks of top players, strategy still plays a big part in the game. Particularly icing. Let’s find out more.
Icing occurs when the defense sends the puck over the center red line and past the opposing team’s goal line, with no other player touching the puck. If the puck is first touched by a now-defensive player on the other team, icing is called. The result is a face-off in the defensive end of the team who sent the puck to begin with—that is, the team who caused the icing infraction.
League rules differ on icing. In the National Hockey League (NHL), icing is a double-edged strategy because first and foremost it will disrupt an offensive threat, pausing the flow and momentum of the attacking team or creating a pause in the action (the face-off) so the defensive team can get organized; however, in the NHL if a member of the team who sent the puck across the center red line reaches the puck first after it crosses the opposing team’s goal line, it becomes a smart offensive play, giving that team a potential scoring advantage. The puck is live and in play.
For this reason, you’ll see opposing NHL players race for the puck in a potential icing situation, because which team is likely to touch the puck first determines whether icing is called. An NHL rule passed in 2013 resulted in “hybrid icing,” where the linesman must determine which player will touch the puck first after it crosses the goal line. If the linesman judges that the defensive player will reach the puck first, icing is called; if the attacking player is in the lead (judging by the position of his foremost skate at the face-off dot), icing is not called and play continues. This rule was passed to prevent collisions (and therefore injuries) as players raced for the puck in an icing situation, trying to touch it first. In a potential icing scenario, if the goalie leaves his crease and touches the puck first, it’s not icing and play continues.
Sometimes, near the end of regulation play, a team pulls their goalie to have an attacking player advantage. If they have no one guarding their goal, they risk goals being scored against them because a quick clearance of the puck from the opposite end will not result in icing: when the other team clears the puck over the center red line and it goes into the goal, even if no one touches it, that counts as a goal.
Shorthand Exception to the Icing Penalty
When a team is down a player or shorthanded due to a penalty, they are free to clear the puck from their defensive zone and no icing infraction is called. However, the full-strength team will still be called for icing when they violate the rules.
ICE Hockey Game Rules
The game starts in the centre circle with a face off. This is where the referee drops the puck in between two opposing players who then scrap to win position for their team. A faceoff may also be used to resume play after a stoppage in any of the attacking or defending face off zones.
Players may use physical force to win the puck off their opponent. Body checking can be used but is not prohibited in the back or above shoulder height.
Players who are imposed to have committed a minor penalty will be ordered to leave the ice for two minutes and their team play with 5 players for that duration. If the opposing team score a goal within those two minutes then that player can return to the rink immediately.
A minor penalty can include tripping an opponent with their stick, holding with either their stick or hands, hooking with their stick or body checking a player without the puck.
Major penalties will result in a player being removed from the ice for up to 5 minutes. These may include fighting, inflicting serious injury on opposing players or continued minor violations.
