Off-sides finally explained

there are times when it can get complicated.

There are two infractions that tend to confuse new spectators: off-sides and icing.

“Off-sides is when one of the players on the attacking team crosses the blue line before the puck,” Utah State hockey club assistant coach Jon Eccles said. “The puck has to precede the players.”

This rule was put in place to prevent teams from keeping a player at the offensive end of the ice, or “cherry-picking.” Often, you will see two players on a breakaway and one of them will have to skate parallel to the blue line in order to allow the puck to cross first.

When off sides is called, play is whistled dead and the teams will have a faceoff between the middle red line and the blue line where off-sides was called.

The rule gets a little more complicated, however. There is also a delayed off-sides call.

“Let’s say your team is attacking and the other team gets the puck past the blue line, but your team shoots it right back in when there are still players in the zone,” Eccles said. “The ref will raise his hand for off-sides but will delay calling it. If all of your team gets behind the blue line and then goes back in, it’s not off sides. If your team plays the puck without leaving the zone first, it’s off-sides.”

Many people also misunderstand the icing call.

“Icing is when someone shoots in the puck before the red line even if it’s not intentional,” Eccles said. “If you’re trying to pass ahead but shoot it 10 feet ahead of the player and the puck goes all the way to the other end, it’s icing.”

Eccles said sometimes a team will intentionally ice the puck.

“If the team is really tired and needs a break to catch its composure, sometimes they’ll shoot the puck down to stop play,” he said.

Unlike in the National Hockey League, in college hockey, icing is called as soon as it crosses the red line that runs even with the nets. At the professional level, icing is not called until a player from the opposing team touches the puck.

Also, if a team is killing a penalty – meaning the opposing team has a one-man advantage – the team cannot have icing called against it. Like off-sides, when icing is called, play is whistled dead, except the faceoff is held behind the offending team’s blue line.

-b