Hockey rinks come in various sizes. Most rinks in New Zealand are around 50 x 23 m and do not have a glass surround. The hockey rink at the Dunedin Ice Stadium is a full international sized 60 x 30 m with plastic dasher boards and full glassed in enclosure.

The rink consists of the main ice area, players benches, penalty boxes and a scorers box. The penalty and scorers boxes are normally on the opposite side of the rink to where the players benches are but due to positional constraints (the curling rink was installed) they’ve had to be moved to the same side now, see Fig. 1 below.

Lines

There are two widths of lines painted on a hockey rink: thick lines – 12 in (30 cm) wide – and thin lines – 2 in (5 cm) wide.

The ice has lines painted underneath the top layer of the ice surface. These consist of two goal lines (red), two blue lines (blue!) and a center line (red). There are also markings for the goalies crease and dots and circles to mark face-off dots and face-off circles.

There are 9 faceoff spots on a hockey rink. Most faceoffs take place at these spots. There are two spots in each end zone, two at each end of the neutral zone, and one in the center of the rink. There are faceoff circles around the center ice and end zone faceoff spots. There are hash marks painted on the ice near the end zone faceoff spots. The circles and hash marks show where players may legally position themselves during a faceoff.


Fig. 1 – Diagram of the Dunedin Ice Stadium hockey rink.

Areas of the rink

Various parts of the rink have been given different names. It’s helpful to know these so that if anyone yells “get into the slot!” you’ll know what they mean.

The Zones

The three main areas are known as the offensive, neutral and defensive zones, the neutral zone is also known as ‘center ice’. The defensive zone is always in your own end (where your goalie usually is) and the offensive zone is where your oppositions goal is. See Fig. 1 above.

The Slot

This is where the majority of goals are scored from and you’ll often hear players yelling out ‘slot!’ indicating that they are open in the slot and ready to take a shot if you pass the puck to them.

The slot is the area directly ahead of the goaltender between the faceoff circles on each side. The deep slot refers to the area at the top of the circles, furthest from the goaltender. The distinction of where the deep slot begins is gray.

The Point

This is another important area and is usually where your defense will be when your team is on the offensive.

A player in the opponent’s end zone at the junction of the blue line with the boards is said to be at the point. Usually the players at the two points are the defensemen. The name is taken from the former names of the defense positions, point and cover point.


Fig. 2 – The slot is the best place to score goals from. The points are important to cover when you’re on defense or your opposition will break past and score a goal.

Hash Marks

The hash marks are two pairs of parallel lines on either sides of the face-off circles in both ends of the rink.

Goals

At each end of the ice, there is a goal consisting of a metal goal frame and cloth net in which each team must place the puck to earn points, or goals. The opening of the goal, which sits on the goal line, is 6 feet wide by 4 feet high (1.83 × 1.22 m). The tubes extending vertically from the goal line are called the goal posts, and the tube that connects these at the top of the goal frame is called the crossbar.

Ice hockey is one of the few team sports in which there is a live area of play behind the goal. The goal frame extends 44 inches (1.12 m) behind the goal line. The sides of the frame are rounded outwards with a 20-inch (50.8 cm) radius. The rounded portion of the goal frame prevents players behind the net from passing the puck to the front of the net right along the goal post. In many cases, players try to take advantage of the shape of the goal by deliberately passing the puck off the bottom of the goal frame. This can cause the puck to change direction in a way that confuses the opposing team.

The back of the goal frame is covered in a net to catch pucks shot into the goal. The goal posts and crossbar are painted red. The inside part of the goal frame is padded to keep pucks that enter the net from rebounding out. The goal frame is moored to the ice with metal pins that only protrude about a a centimeter into the ice, as the flexible pegs require large holes that cannot be repaired by an ice resurfacer drilled into the ice.

Goal Crease

In front of each goal, there is a goal crease, which is surrounded by thin red lines and filled in with light blue. The crease is a special area of the ice designed to allow the goaltender to perform his or her duties without interference. In most leagues, no attacking player may enter the goal crease with a stick, skate, or any body part before the puck. For the purposes of this rule, the crease extends vertically from the painted lines to the top of the goal frame. This rule was eliminated from the National Hockey League and other North American professional leagues.


Diagram of a hockey goal crease . The crease is a half circle with radius of 1.8 m

Referees Crease

The referee crease is an area in front of the scorekeepers bench that no player may enter during a stoppage of play. It has no function during play.


Panoramic view of the Dunedin Ice Stadium hockey rink.

The text content of this web page is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia articles Hockey Rink, Slot, The Point and Hash Marks.