Offside (ice hockey)

Last updated August 01, 2024

In ice hockey, a play is offside if a player on the attacking team does not control the puck and is in the offensive zone when a different attacking player causes the puck to enter the offensive zone, until either the puck or all attacking players leave the offensive zone. Simply put, the puck must enter the attacking zone before attacking players. If a player on the attacking team is in the offensive zone when the puck enters, either an immediate offside occurs, or they must retreat to the neutral zone.

For determining offside, the position of the puck and players must be considered to be in the neutral or offensive zone. Usually, the puck enters or leaves the offensive zone when it completely crosses the blue line. A player is in the neutral zone if either skate is in the neutral zone or touches the imaginary plane extending upwards from the leading edge of the blue line; otherwise, he is in the offensive zone.

When an offside violation occurs, a linesman will stop play. To restart play, a faceoff is then held at the ice spot closest to the infraction, usually a neutral spot, or if there is a delayed penalty, at a spot in the defending zone of the defending team, which incurred the penalty. Even if the linesman erred in calling offside, the faceoff will still occur.

Faceoff Location
	No penalty	Delayed penalty
Intentional Offside	defending spot of attacking team	defending spot of defending team
Offside	neutral spot of defending team (usually)
No Offside (Error)	neutral spot of defending team (usually)

Rules

Delayed offside rule

Under the delayed offside rule, an infraction occurs when a play is offside and any attacking player touches the puck or checks a player in the offensive zone. For example, under NHL's delayed offside rule, play is stopped immediately when an attacking player carries the puck into the zone while a teammate is already in the attacking zone, or when an attacking player in the neutral zone completes a pass to a teammate who is already in the attacking zone. A delayed offside occurs when a player on the attacking team is in the offensive zone before the puck and the attacking team causes the puck to enter the zone without the attacking team having possession. When a delayed offside occurs, a linesman will keep an arm up to signal it, and all attacking players must retreat back into the neutral zone without touching the puck or checking an opponent for the delayed offside to end. If an attacking player touches the puck during the delayed offside, play is stopped.

The National Hockey League (NHL) and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) apply similar rules for determining offside. A player is judged to be offside if both of their skates completely cross the blue line dividing their offensive zone from the neutral zone before the puck completely crosses the same line. In both organizations, it is the position of a player's skates that are important. They cannot use their stick or other part of their body to remain onside. The lone exception to this rule is that an attacking player's skates may precede the puck into the attacking zone when they are skating backwards if they are in control of the puck.^[1]^[2] The position of the puck is used for determining offside. Offside is determined by the skate positions when the puck completely crosses the blue line. If the puck was in the attacking zone, touches the blue line, and then completely leaves the blue line back into the attacking zone, the puck is considered to have been in the attacking zone the entire time, so there is no determination of offside, and the puck did not completely cross the blue line.

If any individual player is in an offside position, their entire team is offside. A delayed offside occurs if the puck is passed or shot into the offensive zone while an attacking player is offside but has not been touched by a member of the attacking team. In most leagues, the attacking team may "tag up" by having all players exit the offensive zone. At that point the offside is waved off and they may re-enter the offensive zone in pursuit of the puck.^[1] If a member of the attacking team has control of the puck while offside, a linesman will stop play and a faceoff will be held at the faceoff spot nearest the point of the infraction. Typically, this means the spot closest to the blue line if the puck is carried into the zone, or in the case of a pass, the spot closest to where the pass originated. If a linesman judges that the attacking team acted to force a deliberate stoppage in play by going offside, they can move the faceoff into that team's defensive zone.^[3]

If a goal is scored from a shot (at the neutral or defensive zone) that creates a delayed offside, the goal will be denied, even if the attacking team clears the offensive zone before the puck enters the goal.

Immediate offside rule

Under the immediate offside rule, an infraction occurs and play is stopped as soon as a play is offside, even if the attacking team does not control the puck. Some levels of hockey use this rule, such as younger divisions of minor hockey sanctioned by USA Hockey.^[4]

Exceptions

Under both NHL and IIHF (Rules 83.1 and 83.2) rules, there are two conditions under which an offside can be waved off even with players in the attacking zone ahead of the puck.

A defending player has legally carried the puck out of their own zone, and then passes the puck back into their own zone only for the puck to be intercepted by an attacking player.
A defending player clears the puck out of their own zone, but the puck then bounces off another defending player in neutral ice back into their own zone.

During a faceoff, a player may be judged to be in an offside position if they are lined up within 15 feet of the centres before the puck is dropped. This may result in a faceoff violation, at which point the official dropping the puck will wave the centre out of the faceoff spot and require that another player take their place. If one team commits two violations during the same attempt to restart play, it will be assessed a minor penalty for delay of game.^[5]

Offside pass

An offside pass occurs when a pass from inside a team's defending zone crosses the red line. When such a pass occurs, play is stopped and a faceoff is conducted in the defending zone of the team that committed the infraction.

There are two determining factors in an offside pass violation:

Puck position when pass is released. Since the blue line is considered part of the zone the puck is in, if the puck is behind or in contact with the blue line when the pass is released, the pass may be an offside pass.
Skate position of the receiver. If the receiver has skate contact with the red line at the instant the puck completely crosses it, the pass is legal regardless of where the puck actually makes contact with their stick. Both of their skates must be completely on the far side of the red line when the puck crosses the red line into the attacking zone to be governed by the aforementioned offside rule.

This offside pass rule is not observed by all leagues. For instance, it was abolished by the IIHF, and its member countries' leagues (except the NHL) in 1998. The National Hockey League adopted the version used by the top minor leagues, under the terms of their 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, in which the centre line is no longer used to determine an offside pass. This was one of many rule changes intended to open up the game and improve scoring chances.

History

In the sport's earliest history, hockey was played similar to rugby, in which forward passing is not allowed. Also, hockey's offside infraction was influenced by the offside penalty from soccer. A legal pass could be made only to a teammate who is in an "onside" position behind the puck, thus forcing players to skate with the puck to move it forward.^[6] Therefore, a player cannot simply "stake out" in the offensive zone, receive a pass from a teammate in the neutral or defensive zones, then skate in and try to score on the opponent's goal.

In the event of an offside pass, the play was stopped and a faceoff conducted from the point of the infraction, regardless of where it occurred. The first significant relaxation of this rule occurred in 1905, when the Ontario Hockey Association began to allow defensive players to play the puck within three feet of their goal if the puck rebounded off the goaltender. In some cases, a black line was painted onto the ice surface at that three foot mark, which served as an early precursor to the modern blue lines.^[7]

Forward passing within the neutral and defensive zones was first allowed in the NHL in 1927, but after a season of extremely low scoring in 1928–29, the league first allowed forward passing in all zones. The result was immediate and dramatic as the number of goals scored per game more than doubled immediately.^[8] Under the NHL's new rule, there were no restrictions placed on where a player could be relative to the puck, resulting in players standing deep in their offensive zone while waiting for teammates to bring the puck forward. As a result, the NHL introduced the modern offside rule on December 16, 1929, effective six days later.^[9]

The rink was divided into three zones by two blue lines as of the 1928–29 season, and the centre line did not yet exist. Teams were allowed a forward pass in any of the zones, but the puck must be carried over a blue line by a skater.^[10] Frank Boucher and Cecil Duncan introduced the centre red line in the 1943–44 season, in an effort to open up the game by reducing the number of offside infractions and create excitement with quicker counter-attacks.^[11] The change allowed the defending team to pass the puck to out of their own zone up to the red line, instead of being required to skate over the nearest blue line then pass the puck forward.^[10]

In the late 2010s, there were many goals being reviewed, due to a new Offside review system. There were complaints about how it affected the flow of the game. It is ruled differently now, where a team may request a review after a goal is scored during a play that team considers to be offside. If is ruled not offside, the goal counts and the team requesting the review is assessed a minor penalty.

Related Research Articles

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.

In ice hockey, a goal is scored when the puck entirely crosses the goal line between the two goal posts and below the goal crossbar. A goal awards one point to the team attacking the goal scored upon, regardless of which team the player who actually deflected the puck into the goal belongs to. Typically, a player on the team attempting to score shoots the puck with their stick towards the goal net opening, and a player on the opposing team called a goaltender tries to block the shot to prevent a goal from being scored against their team.

Short-handed is a term used in ice hockey and several related sports, including water polo, and refers to having fewer players on the ice during play, as a result of a penalty. The player removed from play serves the penalty in the penalty box for a set amount of time proportional to the severity of the infraction. If a goaltender commits a minor infraction, another player who was on the ice at the time of the penalty serves, often but not necessarily the team captain.

In ice hockey, icing is an infraction that occurs when a player shoots, bats, or deflects the puck from their own half of the ice, beyond the opposing team's goal line, without scoring a goal.

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defenceman</span> Position in ice hockey

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.

An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and surrounded by walls approximately 1.22 metres (48 in) high called the boards.

Checking in ice hockey is any of a number of defensive techniques aimed at disrupting an opponent with possession of the puck or separating him or her from the puck entirely. Most types are not subject to penalty.

In ice hockey, a penalty shot is a type of penalty awarded when a team loses a clear scoring opportunity on a breakaway because of a foul committed by an opposing player. A player from the non-offending team is given an attempt to score a goal without opposition from any defending players except the goaltender. This is the same type of shot used in a shootout to decide games in some leagues.

In ice hockey, an official is a person who has some responsibility for enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. There are two categories of officials, on-ice officials, who are the referees and linesmen that enforce the rules during gameplay, and off-ice officials, who have an administrative role rather than an enforcement role.

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.

The 2005–06 WHL season was the 40th season for the Western Hockey League. Twenty teams completed a 72-game schedule. The Vancouver Giants won their first President's Cup, defeating the Moose Jaw Warriors in the championship series and earning a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup tournament. The Medicine Hat Tigers won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy for the best regular season record for the first time since 1985–86.

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.

This is a list of common terms used in the sport of ice hockey along with the definitions of these terms.

Delay of game is a penalty in ice hockey. It results in the offending player spending two minutes in the penalty box. In the NHL, delay of game is usually called under nine circumstances:

A player or goaltender intentionally shoots or throws the puck out of the playing area.
A defensive player in the defensive zone shoots the puck directly over the glass. This penalty only applies if the player shoots it over the glass. If the puck is shot into the bench, no penalty is assessed.
A player or goaltender intentionally knocks the net's goalpost off its moorings, which stops the play. If the net is intentionally knocked loose during a breakaway, the breakaway player is awarded a penalty shot. If there is not enough time in the game to serve the full delay of game penalty, the last player to take a shot is also awarded a penalty shot.
The player or goalie intentionally keeps the puck behind the net for more than a minute
The goaltender freezes the puck rather than passing it on to a teammate when no player on the opposing team is within sufficient distance to apply offensive pressure to him.
Any skater other than the goaltender uses their hands to make the puck unplayable.
Fans begin to throw objects onto the ice or disrupt the game.
Beginning from the 2017–18 NHL season, an unsuccessful coach's challenge for offside results in the challenging team being assessed a bench minor for delay of game.
For adjustments to clothing, equipment, skates or sticks..

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.

In ice hockey, a pass is the movement of the puck from one player to another, usually by a motion of the stick. A pass differs from a shot, in that a pass is typically weaker than a shot and is not directed at the opponent's net with the intention of scoring a goal. The function of passing in ice hockey during gameplay strongly resembles the role of passing in other goal sports such as soccer and lacrosse. Passing is one of the most fundamental skills in hockey. An effective pass is described as being "stick to stick" or "tape to tape", referring to the tape on the blade of a hockey stick. Effective passing requires good vision, anticipation, and timing, as well as execution. A player that is an effective passer will normally record many assists, which are awarded to the second and third to last player to touch the puck before a goal. The National Hockey League record for most career assists is 1,963 by Wayne Gretzky, who is considered one of the best passers of all time. Different types of passes are employed in different situations or using different techniques:

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.

References

1 2 "Rule 83 – Off-side". National Hockey League. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
↑ "Rule 83: Off-side" (PDF). International Ice Hockey Federation. pp. 45–47. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
↑ "Rule 450 – Offsides" (PDF). International Ice Hockey Federation. pp. 45–47. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
↑ "2013–17 Official Rules of Ice Hockey" (PDF). USA Hockey. p. 79. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
↑ "Rule 76 – Face-offs". National Hockey League. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
↑ Harper, Stephen J. (2013). A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey. Simon & Schuster Canada. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4767-1653-4.
↑ Harper, Stephen J. (2013). A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey. Simon & Schuster Canada. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-4767-1653-4.
↑ Pincus, Arthur (2006). The Official Illustrated NHL History. Reader's Digest. p. 36. ISBN 1-57243-445-7.
↑ "N.H.L. moguls amend forward pass rule". Ottawa Citizen. December 17, 1929. p. 11.
1 2 "Historical Rule Changes: 1929–30". NHL Records. National Hockey League. 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
↑ Shea, Kevin (November 19, 2011). "Spotlight – One on One with Frank Boucher". Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 12, 2020.

^[1]

↑ "NHL GMS propose small offside rule change". March 3, 2020.

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[NHLRule83-1] 1 2 "Rule 83 – Off-side". National Hockey League. Retrieved January 8, 2014.

[IIHFRule83-2] "Rule 83: Off-side" (PDF). International Ice Hockey Federation. pp. 45–47. Retrieved July 31, 2024.

[IIHFRule450-3] "Rule 450 – Offsides" (PDF). International Ice Hockey Federation. pp. 45–47. Retrieved January 8, 2014.

[4] "2013–17 Official Rules of Ice Hockey" (PDF). USA Hockey. p. 79. Retrieved January 8, 2014.

[5] "Rule 76 – Face-offs". National Hockey League. Retrieved January 8, 2014.

[6] Harper, Stephen J. (2013). A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey. Simon & Schuster Canada. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4767-1653-4.

[7] Harper, Stephen J. (2013). A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and the Rise of Professional Hockey. Simon & Schuster Canada. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-4767-1653-4.

[8] Pincus, Arthur (2006). The Official Illustrated NHL History. Reader's Digest. p. 36. ISBN 1-57243-445-7.

[9] "N.H.L. moguls amend forward pass rule". Ottawa Citizen. December 17, 1929. p. 11.

[nhl-rules-10] 1 2 "Historical Rule Changes: 1929–30". NHL Records. National Hockey League. 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.

[11] Shea, Kevin (November 19, 2011). "Spotlight – One on One with Frank Boucher". Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 12, 2020.

[12] "NHL GMS propose small offside rule change". March 3, 2020.

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