Ask anyone who’s ever played it: hockey is a weird game. But these NHL rules will have even the most diehard fans scratching their heads in disbelief.
Goalies can’t participate in play on the other side of centre ice
Goalies are usually too busy in front of and around the net to think about this, but according to NHL.com, rule 27.7 states that goaltenders cannot play the puck, check an opponent or participate in the play in any way beyond the centre ice line. If he does, he’ll receive a minor penalty. The last goalie in recent memory to get busted for this was Patrick Roy—and he even tried to deke out Wayne Gretzky when he did it!
A team can switch its goalies as many times as it wants while play is live
The Hockey News reports that it’s totally within the rules of the game for one goaltender to hit the bench and be replaced by his backup during play. We can’t imagine it’d be particularly smart, but it’s possible—and it has happened before. Scotty Bowman tried it when he was coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 1992.
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Players can’t play the puck with a broken stick—except goalies
Most hockey fans know that players have to immediately drop a stick when it breaks, otherwise they’ll get a penalty. But according to Grantland, that rule doesn’t apply to goalies. Rule 10.4 states that a goaltender can play with a broken goalie stick until a stoppage in play or a teammate hands him a new one (no throwing or sliding allowed).
There’s now an emergency goalie on hand at all times
It’s rare, but possible that a team’s two goalies could get injured in the same game. Fortunately, the NHL now has that situation covered: according to CBC, a rule created in 2017 mandates that teams have an emergency goaltender present in the stands at home games, ready to step in for either side should the need arise.
Only goalies can be in net for a penalty shot
This might sound obvious, but according to NHL.com, only a goaltender can be in net for a penalty shot, and he must stay in the net until the penalty taker has touched the puck. Rule 24.2 was put in largely because long-time NHL coach Roger Neilson would often substitute his goalie for a defenceman, who would then charge at the player taking the penalty shot.
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Goalies can’t leave anything in front of the net after getting pulled
Pulling your goalie is perfectly alright, but they can’t leave their stick, any piece of equipment, or a mound of snow—or any kind of obstacle—in front of the net on their way to the bench. According to NHL.com, rule 67.5 also states that a goal would be awarded if this happened. Thank good old Roger Neilson for this rule, again; he used to tell his goalies to leave their stick across the net when they were pulled.
Goalies can be penalized for holding onto the puck for too long
According to NHL.com, rule 67.3 outlines a number of ways goalies can earn a minor penalty for improper handling of the puck. He can be penalized for holding the puck in his hands for longer than three seconds, or causing an unnecessary stoppage in play, or throwing the puck forward, or deliberately dropping the puck into his pads or on top of the net. Life sure is tough for the guy getting hard rubber fired at him all game.
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Hockey history in 30 images
The game of hockey has a long, storied history, from the frozen ponds of Europe and North America to packed arenas around the world. Here’s a series of snapshots of how this beloved game has evolved over the decades.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry Macdougal
Lots of places claim to be the birthplace of hockey—including many Canadian cities—but its true origin appears to be in 18th-century England. The Hockey News reports that a book written by three members of the Society for International Hockey Research shows evidence that the first hockey games took place as far back as the 1790s. The name “hockey” came from the puck the English used in these early games, which was made from a cork bung used as a stopper in Hock Ale beer casks.
Historia/Shutterstock
In between coming up with the theory of evolution, famous scientist and naturalist Charles Darwin loved to talk hockey. The Hockey News notes that he played the game in the 1820s, along with other prominent Brits like King Edward VII and Albert, Prince Consort to Queen Victoria. In a letter to his son dated March 1, 1853, Darwin asked him if he had a pond worthy enough on which to play hockey, and fondly recalled playing games on a frozen river in Shrewsbury, England.
Historia/Shutterstock
The Hockey Writers reports that the first organized hockey game did take place in Canada, unsurprisingly in Montreal, way back on March 3, 1875. Victoria Skating Rink was the venue, and two local teams of nine players each hit the ice that day. While other cities like Halifax and Windsor, Nova Scotia claim to have been the location of the first game in Canada, it’s generally accepted that this one in Montreal is the first.
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McGill.ca notes that the McGill men’s hockey team was the world’s first organized hockey club, and played their first game on January 31, 1877 against a collection of Montreal skaters, lacrosse and football players. Later christened “The Redmen,” they played under rules that were first created two years prior in 1875, when a faceoff was called a “bully” and the puck was still called a “ball.”
CP PHOTO / National Archives of Canada
The Hockey Writers reports that the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup—better known as the Stanley Cup—was first awarded in 1893, to the Montreal Hockey Club. Lord Stanley of Preston (then the Governor General of Canada) bought the Cup on a trip to London, and decided to donate it to Canada’s top amateur hockey team. In 1926, pro teams were allowed to lift Lord Stanley’s Mug, and it’s been awarded to the winner of the NHL playoffs ever since.
Creative Commons/Public Domain
The Hockey Writers notes that leg pads for goalies were first used back in 1896, by George Merritt of the Winnipeg Victorias. He strapped a pair of cricket pads to his legs to provide some extra protection for his kneecaps during the Stanley Cup challenge. Other netminders would follow suit, and later added leather or canvas gloves for their hands.
Creative Commons/Public Domain
Winnipeg hockey players didn’t stop at being the first to use pads—they also invented a key type of shot. WAYHA reports that the Victorias introduced the “scoop” shot, better known as the wrist shot, where muscles in the wrist and forearm propel the puck forward while remaining on the stick. It’s not as hard as a slap shot, but the wrist shot is far more accurate and adds an element of surprise.
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Niagara This Week notes that William Fairbrother of Lincoln, Ontario invented the modern hockey net in the 1890s. Fairbrother was a goalie back then, and sought to solve squabbles over whether the puck went in or not, by stringing a fishing net between the posts. After figuring out a way to secure the net to the ice rink, the hockey net we recognize today was born.
Santeri Viinamäki
Before the NHL, there was the IPHL. Hockey Central reports that the International Professional Hockey League was the world’s first fully pro league, running from 1904 to 1907. Franchises were established in Calumet, Houghton and Sault St. Marie, Michigan as well as Pittsburgh and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. At the time, leagues fought against athletes getting paid to play, but the IPHL helped change the nature of top-level senior men’s hockey from amateur to pro.
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While the game grew in popularity in North America, hockey was getting an official international organizing body. IIHF.com notes that the International Ice Hockey Federation was founded in 1908 in Paris, as Ligue Internationale de Hockey sur Glace. It consisted of Belgium, France, Great Britain and Switzerland as founding members, with Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia) joining as the fifth member. The IIHF General Congress makes decisions about the rules of the game, the statutes and bylaws across international hockey.
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Modern hockey was further shaped by the formation of the National Hockey Association in 1910. Canadiens.com reports that the NHA made several significant changes to the game, including replacing the original format of two 30-minute periods with three 20-minute periods, and going from seven players on the ice to six, dropping the rover position.
Alex Laney / CC
The NHL as we know it started way back in 1917, but it was essentially created behind closed doors. Sports Illustratednotes that owners of the NHA franchises reached an impasse with prickly Toronto owner Eddie Livingstone, and since they couldn’t remove him from the league, they dissolved it, ceasing operations and forming a new league, the National Hockey League. Toronto won the Stanley Cup that year (the team had no nickname at the time), defeating the Vancouver Millionaires three games to two in the best-of-five series.
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The Hockey Hall of Fame reports that the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games were the first Olympics to include men’s ice hockey. It was dominated by the North American teams, as Canada and the U.S. finished with the gold and silver, and Czechoslovakia earned the bronze. Canada was represented by the Winnipeg Falcons, who smashed Czechoslovakia 15-0 in its first game, beat the United States 2-0 in the second game, and finally routed Sweden 12-1 to win the gold medal.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
Two key rule changes in 1929 and 1930 were instrumental in modernizing the game. The Hockey News notes that forward passing was permitted all over the ice in 1929, instead of just the defensive and neutral zones. After scoring more than doubled, the offside rule was refined the following year to essentially what it is today, with play being blown dead if players entered the offensive zone before the puck.
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The very first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934, but the game’s origin is not one of peak skill, but one of near tragedy. Sports Illustrated reports that the inaugural contest was held on Valentine’s Day as a charity event for the Maple Leafs’ Ace Bailey, who sustained a serious head and brain injury on the ice two months earlier. He required surgery but survived, though his playing career would be over. About $23,000 was raised during the game, which was won by Toronto over the rest of the All-Stars 7-3.
John Boyd / The Globe and Mail
The NHL hit the small screen in 1940, forever changing how hockey fans watched their beloved game. TV By The Numbers notes that the very first televised hockey game occurred on February 25, 1940, between the New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden. W2XBS New York broadcast the game to about 300 receivers in the Big Apple. Televised games didn’t hit Canada until 1952, but the 1940 experiment was the unofficial precursor to Hockey Night in Canada.
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All it took was a thin red line, and modern hockey took form. The Toronto Sun reports that the red line at centre ice was introduced for the 1943-44 season, in an effort to both speed up the game and reduce the number of offside calls. Many consider this rule change to mark the beginning of the modern era of the NHL.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry Macdougal
St. Patrick’s Day in 1955 was one of the darkest days in NHL history. The Hockey News notes that the Richard Riot erupted in Montreal, as Canadiens fans reacted to the suspension of star player Maurice Richard a few days earlier for punching a linesman. NHL president Clarence Campbell decided to suspend the Rocket for the remainder of the season, and that definitely didn’t sit well with Habs fans. A tear gas bomb went off amongst the melee, causing the game to be stopped and forfeited to the Detroit Red Wings. The riots spilled out into the streets of Montreal, and many believe it was a major contributor to Quebec’s Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, as ethnic tensions rose in the province.
CP PHOTO / Montreal Gazette
It’s up for debate who first curved their stick blade, but it revolutionized the way players could shoot and lift the puck. NHL.com reports that New York Rangers forward Andy Bathgate claimed he was the first to experiment with a curved blade in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and allowed Chicago Blackhawks legend Stan Mikita to borrow one of them before a game. Mikita’s story was that he and Bobby Hull were taking shots in practice when the former broke a blade, and was intrigued by the shots that followed with the cracked, curved stick. Regardless, players went nuts for the curved blades, forcing the league to limit the amount of curve on the “banana blades.”
The Canadian Press Images
The Montreal Canadiens were so dominant on the power play in the 1950s that the league had no choice but to change the rules regarding the man advantage. Canadiens.com notes that a year after Jean Béliveau scored a hat trick in 44 seconds on the same power play against Boston, the NHL proposed a rule change for the 1956-57 season, allowing players serving minor penalties to return to play after one goal. Naturally, Montreal opposed the change, but were outvoted 5 to 1.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Eleven years after Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in baseball, hockey had its first Black player in 1958. The Undefeated reports that Willie O’Ree made his NHL debut for the Boston Bruins that year, playing in two games that season, plus 43 games during the 1960-61 season. Incredibly, O’Ree played despite losing 95% of the vision in his right eye, after being hit with a puck in 1956. He didn’t reveal the injury to anyone except his sister and fellow Black player Stan Maxwell, and played pro hockey until 1979.
AP Photo
It seems absolutely crazy to think that there was a time when goalies didn’t wear masks, but that was the case up until 1959. CBC notes that legendary NHL goalie Jacques Plante first sported a fibreglass mask that year, after being hit in the face by one of Andy Bathgate’s shots. Coaches were skeptical, but Plante stuck with the mask, and won three of his seven Vezina Trophies safely behind it. Ten years later, the stigma was gone, and virtually every goaltender used one.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
The NHL went from the Original Six to a dozen in 1967, as they searched for new hotbeds of hockey. NHL.com reports that the league added two teams in California(the California Seals and the Los Angeles Kings), two in Pennsylvania (the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins), the Minnesota North Stars and the St. Louis Blues. It was the largest expansion in professional sports history, and helped grow the sport in the United States. While the Seals didn’t last and the North Stars moved to Dallas, the other four clubs are still going strong.
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Believe it or not, the rule mandating helmets in the NHL is only 40 years old, and even then, there was a loophole. The Hockey News notes that the league created a rule in 1979 that any player who entered the NHL after June 1 had to wear a helmet. However, anyone who signed their first pro contract before then could opt out, if they signed a waiver. That season, about 30 per cent of players remained sans helmet. That number dwindled quickly, until one bucketless player remained, Craig MacTavish, who retired in 1997.
CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson
Sports fans obsessed with getting the calls right welcomed instant replay into the NHL with open arms in 1991. NHL.com reports that the video review policy was used to determine several scoring plays, including whether or not the puck went over the goal line in a variety of scenarios, or if the puck was kicked into the net. For the most part, instant replay ensures the right call is made, though sometimes even watching it back umpteen times doesn’t make things much clearer.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
This rule change made in 2002 didn’t affect play on the ice, but was still incredibly important. Yahoo Sports notes that when a young fan was killed in Columbus after being struck in the head with a deflected puck, the NHL installed safety netting in all of its arenas. There was some initial backlash against the move, as many claimed that spectators should be paying closer attention to action, but common sense won out in the end, and now the netting is another part of the live hockey experience.
CP PHOTO/Frank Gunn
This seems like a no-brainer, given hockey’s origins on a frozen pond, but the first official outdoor NHL game didn’t happen until 2003. NHL.com reports that the inaugural Heritage Classic was held in Edmonton on November 22 at Commonwealth Stadium. The Canadiens defeated the Oilers 4-3, but more importantly, NHL fans got a taste of outdoor hockey and wanted more. Now, there are several outdoor games a year, from the Winter Classic to the Stadium Series.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The NHL lockout in 2004-05 was definitely one of the low points in hockey history, but some good did come out of it in the form of improved rules. ESPN notes that the NHL was the first North American sports league to lose a whole season due to a work stoppage, but key changes included the reinstatement of the tag-up offside rule, the doubling in size of the blue and red lines, and the addition of no-touch icing, all of which sped up the game. Plus, a salary cap was added, which led to more financial stability and competitive balance amongst the teams.
CP PHOTO/Ian Barrett
Of course, not all the changes that came out of the 2005 lockout were received positively. One in particular that remains a bit of a head-scratcher is the introduction of the trapezoid behind the net. The Hockey Writers reports that it stretches six feet (almost two metres) from each goal post to 20 feet wide (six metres) along the boards (a 2014 tweak added two more feet on both sides of the net), and marks the only areas in which goaltenders are allowed to play the puck behind the net. The thinking behind it was that it would create more offensive chances, while restricting goalies like Martin Brodeur, who was very skilled at puck handling outside his net. It hasn’t really worked, though; it’s put defencemen in more danger, and adds to more boring dump-and-chase-style hockey.
CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson
And finally, the most controversial and polarizing rule change to come out of the 2005 lockout: the addition of the shootout, and the removal of tie games. NHL.com notes that if a five-minute overtime period doesn’t break a deadlock, the teams pick three skaters to take alternating penalty shots against the opposing goaltender, with sudden death shots following that if necessary. The winning team gets two points, while a team that loses in overtime or the shootout earns a single point. This has led to inflated point totals, with less of an emphasis on winning in regulation. Plus, the novelty of fancy shootout moves has worn off considerably. It might be time for the league to consider another new approach to decide games.
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