Offside (ice hockey)

In ice hockey, the current play is offside if a player on the attacking team enters the attacking zone before the puck itself enters the zone, either carried by a teammate or sent into the attacking zone by an attacking player. If a defending player carries, passes, or otherwise intentionally sends the puck into his defensive zone, any attacking player in the zone is not offside. However, if an attacking player is attempting to shoot the puck into the attacking zone and it deflects off a defending player, an offside violation can still occur. This is unlike the icing rule, where an unintentional deflection by the other team will negate an icing call.

When an offside violation occurs, the linesman blows the play dead, and a faceoff is conducted in the neutral zone closest to where the infraction occurred.

Contents

Factors that determine offsides

There are two determining factors in an offside violation:

  1. Attacking players' skate position: One of a player's skates is not in contact with or behind the blue line of the attacking zone before the puck enters that zone.
  2. Puck position: The puck must completely cross the edge of the blue line nearest the attacking zone to be considered inside the attacking zone for the purposes of offsides.

Note that the puck must enter the attacking zone for an offside call to be made; a player being over the line does not result in an offside call until the puck crosses the line.

An attacking player's skates may precede the puck into the attacking zone provided he is in control of the puck and no other offside condition exists when the puck completely crosses the determining edge of the blue line.

Immediate vs. delayed vs. tag-up offside

Though the basic offside rule is always the same, there are different rules for the situation when the puck is shot in while a player is offside, but the defending team gains control of the puck.

Play is stopped immediately if a player from the attacking team touches the puck in the attacking zone while he or any of his teammates is offside, or if a shot on goal occurs.

Offside during faceoffs

Offside is also used to refer to a player lining up on his opponent's side during a faceoff. Failure of a team to properly to line up for the faceoff may result in the ejection of the offending team's center; If the violation persists, a delay of game penalty may be assessed.

Offside pass

In ice hockey, an offside pass or second (blue) line pass is a pass from inside a team's defending zone that 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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 his stick. Both of his skates must be completely on the far side of the red line when the puck crosses the red line into the attacking zone is 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 recently adopted the version used by the top minor leagues, under the terms of their 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, in which the center line is no longer used to determine a two-line pass. This was one of a number of rule changes intended to open up the game and improve scoring chances, making the game more exciting for the fans.

References

  1. ^ NHL (2008). "Rule 83 - Off-side". National Hockey League Official Rules 2008-2009. NHL.com. http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26497. Retrieved 2009-08-26.