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.
Defence or defense in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners. They were once called cover-point.
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.
Fighting is an established tradition in North American ice hockey, with a long history that involves many levels of amateur and professional play and includes some notable individual fights. Fights may be fought by enforcers, or "goons" —players whose role is to fight and intimidate—on a given team, and are governed by a system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials, and the media refer to as "the code". Some fights are spontaneous, while others are premeditated by the participants. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of penalties on players who engage in fights.
Matthew Barnaby is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks, and Dallas Stars.
Jari Pekka Kurri is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. Beginning in 1980, he played right wing for five National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Rangers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and the Colorado Avalanche. Kurri played 17 seasons in the NHL and was the first Finnish player to be enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame, in 2001. He was a member of a Stanley Cup–winning team five times, all with the Oilers. In 2017, Kurri was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1985, and was the NHL goal scoring leader in the 1985–86 season.
Matthew David Cooke is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played sixteen seasons and 1046 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Cooke won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2008–09 NHL season and was a member of the Team Canada team that won the gold medal at the 2004 World Championships. In addition to having played for the Penguins, he also played in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild. Cooke was born in Belleville, Ontario, but grew up in Stirling, Ontario. He served as head coach of the Newfoundland Growlers for the 2023/24 season.
Ian Laperrière is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey winger who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and serves as the current head coach for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the American Hockey League affiliate and primary development team for the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.
Esa Tikkanen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, and the Washington Capitals, and won the Stanley Cup five times in his career, including in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990 with the Oilers, and 1994 with the Rangers.
Enforcer is an unofficial role in ice hockey. The term is sometimes used synonymously with "fighter", "tough guy", or "goon". An enforcer's job is to deter and respond to dirty or violent play by the opposition. When such play occurs, the enforcer is expected to respond aggressively, by fighting or checking the offender. Enforcers are expected to react particularly harshly to violence against star players or goalies.
Ville Juhani Nieminen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward who played over 400 games in the National Hockey League.
Matthew Carle is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. Carle played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and Nashville Predators. He was originally drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the second round, 47th overall, in 2003.
This is a list of common terms used in the sport of ice hockey along with the definitions of these terms.
In ice hockey, a line is a group of forwards who play in a group, or "shift", during a game.
The 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers season was the Flyers' 43rd season in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Brad Marchand is a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger and captain of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Bruins selected Marchand in the third round, 71st overall, of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
The Stanley Cup ring is a championship ring, an annual award in the National Hockey League given to the team that wins the Stanley Cup Finals, a best-of-seven series to determine the league's champion that season. In addition to the winning players, teams give rings to coaches, trainers, scouts, executives, and other staff members. Teams often give rings to players who played for the team, but do not qualify to have their name engraved on the Stanley Cup. The most ever won by a single player was Henri Richard with 11 total championship rings.
