A Beginner’s Guide To Hockey From An NHL Fan And Recent “Heated Rivalry” Watcher

There are two main types of penalties: major and minor. A major penalty lasts five minutes, and the main way people get it is by fighting. In this case, both teams would have a player in their penalty box (the ones who fought) for five minutes, and each team would continue to skate at 5v5. Minor penalties are more common, and there are a variety of ways to be called for one. Common minor penalties include tripping, roughing (often like fighting but not as dramatic, and gloves stay on), interference, hooking (wrapping the blade of your stick around an opposing player), and high-sticking (hitting an opposing player up high with your stick). For these penalties, the naughty player sits in the box for two minutes, and their team has to skate down a player. That means the team that committed an infraction is on the penalty kill and has to skate 5v4. The team that drew the penalty (the team whose player was affected by it) gets to be on a power play and enjoy two minutes with one more skater than the other team. These power plays often yield a goal for the team with the extra skater, so taking too many penalties could be dangerous. A double minor might be called if a minor penalty is committed and the player affected is bleeding. This usually occurs when a player takes a high stick to the nose or mouth. The player has to stop bleeding before they can play, but once they are cleaned up, they can play on the power play (and often do, hockey players are super tough). A power play will end early if the team that has the extra skater scores a power play goal. If a short-handed goal (goal by the team with four skaters) is scored, the power play will continue.