Face-off

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A face-off during a National Hockey League game in 2008 Caps Devils Face Off (2289414369).jpg
A face-off during a National Hockey League game in 2008

A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse.

Contents

During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing players attempt to gain control of the puck or ball after it is dropped or otherwise placed between their sticks by an official.

Ice hockey

Face-offs
Video of a face-off in a Swiss hockey game
Face-off in youth hockey tournament at Ice Palace, West Edmonton Mall.jpg
A face-off at centre ice in a youth hockey game
Harvard Crimson face-off against Brown Bears mens ice hockey.jpg
ECAC college face-off (Harvard Crimson vs Brown Bears)

Hockey face-offs (also called 'bully', and originally called 'puck-offs') are generally handled by centres, but are sometimes handled by wingers, and, rarely, by defensemen. [1] One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice to start each period and following the scoring of a goal. The linesmen are responsible for all other face-offs.

One player from each team stands at the face-off spot (see below) to await the drop of the puck. All teammates must be lateral to or behind the player taking the face-off. [2] Generally, the goal of the player taking the face-off is to draw the puck backward, toward teammates; however, they will, occasionally attempt to shoot the puck forward, past the other team, usually to kill time when shorthanded although shooting directly at the net is also possible—scoring a goal directly from a face-off, while rare, is not unheard of. However, where the face-off occurs at one of the five face-off spots that have circles marked around them, only the two opposing players responsible for taking the face-off may be in the circle. A common formation, especially at centre ice, is for a skater to take the face-off, with the wings lateral to the centre on either side, and the skater, usually a defenseman, behind the player handling the face-off, one toward each side. This is not mandatory, however, and other formations are seen—especially where the face-off is in one of the four corner face-off spots.

Face-offs are typically conducted at designated places marked on the ice called face-off spots or dots. There are nine such spots: two in each attacking zone, two on each end of the neutral zone, and one in the centre of the rink. Face-offs did not always take place at the marked face-off spots. If a puck left the playing surface, for example, the face-off would take place wherever the puck was last played. On June 20, 2007, the NHL Board of Governors approved a change to NHL Rule 76.2, which governs face-off locations. The rule now requires that all face-offs take place at one of the nine face-off spots on the ice, regardless of what caused the stoppage of play. Rule 76.2 also dictates that, with some exceptions, a face-off following a penalty must occur at one of the two face-off dots of the offending team's end. [1]

An official may remove the player taking the face-off if the player or any players from the same team attempt to gain an unfair advantage during the face-off (called a face-off violation). When a player is removed, one of the teammates not originally taking the face-off is required to take the face-off. Common face-off violations include: moving the stick before the puck is dropped, not placing the stick properly when requested to do so, not placing the body square to the face-off spot, or encroachment into the face-off circle by a teammate. In the NHL, the player from the visiting team is required to place his stick on the ice for the face-off first when it takes place at the centre-line dot. For all other face-offs, the player from the defending team must place his stick first. Before the league's 2015–16 season, the visiting player was required to place his stick first on all face-offs. [3] A player who does faceoffs as a speciality is sometimes called or deemed a Face-Off Specialist.

Faceoff Location
No penaltyDelayed penalty
Start of periodcentre spot
Goal
Icing defending spot of attacking teamneutral spot of attacking team
Intentional Offsidedefending spot of defending team
Offside neutral spot of defending team (usually)
Offside called in error
Icing called in errorcentre spot (except USA Hockey)
defending spot of defending team (USA Hockey)

History

In the first organized ice hockey rules (see Amateur Hockey Association of Canada, AHAC), both centres faced the centre line of the ice rink, like the wingers do today. At that time, another forward position existed, the rover, who faced forward like centres did today, but a few feet away. The opposing forwards would whack the ice on their own side of the puck three times, then strike each other's stick above the puck, and then scramble for the puck. This manoeuvre was known as 'bully'. [4] The Winnipeg players invented what is today known as a 'face-off'. [4] In Germany and other countries the term 'bully' is still commonly used. [5] [6] [7]

Bandy

In bandy, play begins with a "stroke off" with each team confined to its own half of the bandy pitch. However, the game is restarted with a face-off when the game has been temporarily interrupted. The face-off is executed on the place where the ball was situated when the game was interrupted. If the ball was inside the penalty area when the game was interrupted, the face-off is moved to the nearest free-stroke point on the penalty line.

In a face-off one player of each team place themselves opposite each other and with their backs turned to their own end-lines. The sticks are held parallel to each other and on each side of the ball. The ball must not be touched until the referee has blown his whistle. At face-off the ball may be played in any direction.

In bandy, face-offs are regulated in section 4.6 of the Bandy Playing Rules set up by the Federation of International Bandy (FIB). [8]

Floorball

Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team, it's played indoors with a tennis sized ball. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods and just like ice hockey it begins with a face-off.

Broomball

Like in ice hockey, a game of broomball begins with a face-off.

Rinkball

Rinkball, a sport combining bandy and ice hockey elements, also begins with a face-off.

Lacrosse

Field lacrosse

Two lacrosse players set for a face-off as the referee places the ball on the ground between the heads of their sticks. Referee placing ball between middies for a lacrosse faceoff.jpg
Two lacrosse players set for a face-off as the referee places the ball on the ground between the heads of their sticks.

Face-offs are used in men's field lacrosse after each goal, and to start every quarter and overtime periods, unless a team playing man-up controls the ball at the end of the previous quarter. [9]

In the field lacrosse face-off, two players face each other at the X in the middle of the field, in a crouching position with the ball placed on the ground on the center line between the heads of their sticks, set four inches (10 cm) apart, parallel to the midline but the ends pointing in opposite directions. Two other players from each team must wait behind wing lines, [9] 20 yards from the faceoff spot on opposite sides of the field until the whistle. [10]

Any player except the goalkeeper, due to the much larger head on his stick, can face off; in practice face-offs are usually taken by midfielders. When a team is down a player due to a penalty, there will only be one other midfielder on the wing, or none if two or more players are serving time. When a third player, the maximum allowed by the rules before penalties are stacked, is serving time, the team thus penalized is allowed to have one of its defensemen come out and play on the wing during a faceoff. [9]

Players facing off must rest their stick in their gloved hands on the ground and position themselves entirely to the left of their sticks' heads. They may kneel or keep both feet on the ground. Between the time they go down into position and the referee's whistle, the players facing off must remain still. A premature movement by any player will be called as a technical foul, and the other team will be awarded the ball. To ensure that they remain still, referees are instructed to time their whistle differently on every face-off. [9]

At the whistle, each face-off player makes a move to clamp the ball under their stick head, or tries to direct the ball to their teammates on the wing. Only those six players can attempt to pick up the ball at first. The three attackmen and defensemen from either team must remain in their respective zones behind the restraining lines [9] 20 yards (18 m) from the center line. [10] Once possession is established, or the loose ball crosses either restraining line, the faceoff is considered to have ended and all players are allowed to leave their zones. [9]

If the loose ball goes out of bounds on a face-off before either team can pick it up, it is awarded to the team that last touched it and all other players are released when play is restarted. [9]

The players facing off may not step on or hold each other's sticks to prevent the other from getting the ball. Nor may they trap the ball beneath their sticks without attempting a "tennis pickup" to prevent anyone from establishing possession, an action normally penalized as withholding the ball from play, another technical foul. If they pick the ball up on the back of their stick but do not immediately flip it into the pocket, it is also considered withholding. In all these cases the face-off will be ended with the ball awarded to the opposing team at the spot of the infraction. Players facing off who deliberately handle or touch the ball in an attempt to gain possession, or use their open hand to hold the opposing face-off player's stick, receive a three-minute unreleasable penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct in addition to possession being awarded to the other team. [9]

Under NCAA rules in college lacrosse, if a team violates rules specific to face-offs, either by false starts before them by any player at midfield or illegal actions by the players facing off, more than twice in a half, each additional violation results in a 30-second penalty assessed against the team, to be served by the designated "in-home" player. [9]

A player who does faceoffs as a speciality is called a Face-Off Specialist. Also nicknamed a "FOGO", which stands for "face off, get off".

Women's lacrosse

Players preparing for a draw in a college women's lacrosse game Rutgers vs. Michigan women's lacrosse 2015 05.jpg
Players preparing for a draw in a college women's lacrosse game

In women's lacrosse, a procedure similar to a face-off is also used, although it is called a draw. The two players taking the draw stand at the center of the field, and hold their sticks together at waist level while the referee places the ball between the heads, which face each other. Four other players from each team stand on the outside of a 30-foot (9.1 m) center circle. At the whistle, the two center players both lift their sticks, tossing the ball in the air, while the players on the outside attempt to gain possession when it comes down. [11]

Field hockey

Two female field hockey players prepare to start or resume the match with a bully-off in the centre of the pitch. Field hockey bully-off.png
Two female field hockey players prepare to start or resume the match with a bully-off in the centre of the pitch.

A similar technique, known as a bully-off, is used in field hockey. The two opposing players alternately touch their sticks on the ground and against each other before attempting to strike the ball. Its use as the method of starting play was discontinued in 1981. [12]

Similar rules in other sports

A face-off is also similar to other methods used to start or resume play in a variety of other sports. All of these involve two opposing players attempting to gain control of the ball after it is released by an official.

A jump ball in basketball, [13] a ball-up in Australian rules football, and a throw-up in shinty, all involve an official throwing the ball upwards into the air after which players must play for the ball.

A dropped-ball (if contested) is a method used in association football [14] whereby an official will drop the ball rather than releasing it into the air.

Shinty

A shinty match begins with a throw-up in the centre of the shinty pitch. Shinty - geograph.org.uk - 2450227.jpg
A shinty match begins with a throw-up in the centre of the shinty pitch.

A technique, known as a throw-up, is used in the stick-and-ball sport of shinty. A game of shinty begins with referee throwing the ball into the air between two opposing players whose sticks, called "camans", are raised in the air. The players must play for the ball in the air.

American football

An event similar to a face-off has been attempted in at least two leagues of American football: the 2001 instance of the XFL instituted an "opening scramble", replacing the coin toss, in which one player from each team attempted to recover a loose football after a twenty-yard dash. The team whose player recovered the ball got first choice of kicking, receiving, or defending one side of the field.

Because of an extremely high rate of injury in these events (in the league's first game, one XFL player was lost for the season after separating his shoulder in a scramble), the event has not gained mainstream popularity in most other football leagues. X-League Indoor Football nonetheless adopted a modified version opening scramble (using the name "X-Dash") when it began play in 2014, but tweaked to avoid the injuries so that each player chased after their own ball. [15]

Coin toss

The coin toss remains the method of choice for determining possession at the beginning of an American football game. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandy</span> Ballgame on ice

Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hockey</span> Sports played with hockey sticks

Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers of players, apparel, and playing surface, they share broad characteristics of two opposing teams using a stick to propel a ball or disk into a goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice hockey</span> Team sport played on ice using sticks, skates, and a puck

Ice hockey is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hockey sticks to control, advance, and shoot a closed, vulcanized, rubber disc called a "puck" into the other team's goal. Each goal is worth one point. The team which scores the most goals is declared the winner. In a formal game, each team has six skaters on the ice at a time, barring any penalties, one of whom is the goaltender. Ice hockey is a full contact sport, and is considered to be one of the more physically demanding team sports. It is distinct from field hockey, in which players move a ball around a non-frozen pitch using field hockey sticks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goalkeeper</span> Player in sports preventing the opposing team from scoring

In many team sports that involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting opposing shots on goal. Such positions exist in bandy, rink bandy, camogie, association football, Gaelic football, international rules football, floorball, handball, hurling, field hockey, ice hockey, roller hockey, lacrosse, ringette, rinkball, water polo, and shinty, as well as in other sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icing (ice hockey)</span> Ice hockey rule

In ice hockey, icing is an infraction when a player touches the puck over the center red line and then opposing team's red goal line, and the puck remains untouched without scoring a goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centre (ice hockey)</span> Ice hockey position

The centre in ice hockey is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play is the middle of the ice, away from the sideboards. Centres have more flexibility in their positioning and therefore often end up covering more ice surface than any other player. Centres are ideally strong, fast skaters who are able to backcheck quickly from deep in the opposing zone. Generally, centres are expected to be gifted passers more so than goal scorers, although there are exceptions - typically larger centres who position themselves directly in front of the net in order to score off rebounds. They are also expected to have exceptional "ice vision", Hockey IQ, intelligence, and creativity. They also generally are the most defensively-oriented forwards on the ice, as they are expected to play the role of the third player in defense, after the defencemen. Centres usually play as part of a line of players that are substituted frequently to keep fresh and keep the game moving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penalty (ice hockey)</span> Punishment for breaking the rules in ice hockey

A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penalties are called and enforced by the referee, or in some cases, the linesman. The offending team may not replace the player on the ice, leaving them short-handed as opposed to full strength. When the opposing team is said to be on a power play, they will have one more player on the ice than the short-handed team. The short-handed team is said to be "on the penalty kill" until the penalty expires and the penalized player returns to play. While standards vary somewhat between leagues, most leagues recognize several common varieties of penalties, as well as common infractions.

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Street hockey is a collection of team sport variants played outdoors either on foot or with wheeled skates, using either a ball or puck designed for play on flat, dry surfaces. The object of every game is to score more goals than the opposing team by shooting the ball or puck into the opposing team's net. All games are derivatives of either the sport of ice hockey, floor hockey, bandy, and/or field hockey.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roller in-line hockey</span> Sport discipline

Roller in-line hockey, American roller hockey or inline hockey, is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport is a very fast-paced and free-flowing game and is considered a contact sport, but body checking is prohibited. There are five players including the goalkeeper from each team on the rink at a time, while teams normally consist of 16 players. There are professional leagues, one of which is the National Roller Hockey League (NRHL). While it is not a contact sport, there are exceptions, i.e. the NRHL involves fighting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Hockey League rules</span>

The National Hockey League rules are the rules governing the play of the National Hockey League (NHL), a professional ice hockey organization. Infractions of the rules, such as offside and icing, lead to a stoppage of play and subsequent face-offs, while more serious infractions lead to penalties being assessed to the offending team. The league also determines the specifications for playing equipment used in its games.

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No goal is a call made by referees in various goal-scoring sports to indicate that a goal has not been scored. It is commonly used to disallow an apparent goal, such as when the ball or puck has entered the net but should not count as a score due to some foul or infraction.

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The Hockey Canada Officiating Program is the governing body for on-ice officials for all ice hockey games played under the jurisdiction of Hockey Canada. The Hockey Canada Rulebook provides in-depth explanation and examples of all rules governing hockey in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rinkball</span> Team sport played on ice, using sticks, ice skates, and a ball

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References

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