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Goalie (hockey)

Goalie (hockey)

: This article is about the goaltender in ice hockey. For the position in other sports, see Goalkeeper Goalkeeper The goaltender, goalie, (or netminder in British English) in ice hockey is a player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering the net to prevent the opposing team from scoring. He usually plays in or near the area in front of the net called the goal crease (or often just crease). Due to the power and frequency of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment designed to protect the body from direct impact. No more than one player on each hockey team plays as goalie at any one time in a game.

Goaltender play in ice hockey

Goalie privileges

Goaltender is typically a specialized position in ice hockey; at higher levels in the game, most goalies don't play other positions and most other players don't play goalie. A typical ice hockey team may have two or three goaltenders. The goaltender has special privileges that other players do not. He wears special goaltending equipment that is not subject to the same regulations. He may legally hold the puck with his hands to cause a stoppage of play. If a player from the other team hits him without making an attempt to get out of his way, the offending player is penalized. In some leagues, if a goalie's stick breaks, he can continue playing with a broken stick until the play is stopped, unlike other players who must drop their broken stick immediately.

Goalie saves

When a goalie blocks or otherwise stops a shot from going into his goal net, that action is called a save. Goalies often makes saves anyway they can: catching the puck with their glove hand, deflecting the shot with their stick, blocking it with their leg pads or blocker or an other part of their body, falling on their knees or even prone on the ice to block any low shot that may come, especially up close. After making a save, controlling the rebounding puck is desirable to avoid a goal scored on a shot from the rebound, or simply allowing the goalie's own team to get control of the puck. Goalies often catch a shot if they can to better control how it re-enters play. If too many opposing players are nearby, the goalie may decide to hold the puck longer than about a second to stop play. See also shot on goal, save percentage, and goals against average.

Goalie penalties and substitutions

A goalie can get a penalty like any other player, but the goalie tends to have less bodily contact with players from the opposing team and therefore rarely gets a penalty. When he does get a penalty, the coach is allowed to select another player to sit in the penalty box for him, unless the goalie is being penalized for fighting. Goalies skate around the ice rink much less during play than other players and are substituted far less frequently in a game; often a goalie plays out the entire game.

Empty net situations

Normally, the goalie plays in or near the goal crease the whole game. However, there are a couple of situations when a goalie may leave the ice rink to be substituted by an attacking player to increase his team's chance of scoring a goal. A team temporarily playing with no goalie is said to be playing with an empty net. If the opposing team commits a penalty while the goalie's team has control of the puck, the goalie may leave to be substituted because as soon as the penalized team gets control of the puck, play is stopped before they can score a goal. However, if the empty net team puts the puck in their own goal net by mistake, the goal still counts against them. Also, during the last minute or so of a game, if a team is likely to lose anyway because they are a goal behind the other team and the puck and playing action are on the other team's side of the ice rink, the coach may decide to have the goalie leave the rink to be substituted by an attacking player to increase the team's chance of scoring a goal to tie the game. Since no goalie is protecting the empty goal net, it is easier for the opposing team to score an empty net goal.

NHL goaltender awards

- The Vezina Trophy is awarded each year by the NHL to the league's most outstanding goaltender as determined by the general managers of the teams.
- The William M. Jennings Trophy is awarded each year by the NHL to the goaltender from the team that allowed the fewest goals during the regular season.
- The Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award is awarded each year by the NHL to the goaltender with the best save percentage during the regular season.

NHL goalies who have scored in a game

A goalie scoring a goal in an NHL game is a very rare feat. Ron Hextall and Martin Brodeur have both accomplished this twice. Nabokov was the first goalie to score a shorthanded goal. Both Billy Smith, the first goalie to be credited with a goal, and Mika Noronen scored without actually shooting the puck; they credited with goals because they were the last people on their respective teams to touch the puck. See also: NHL Goalies who have scored in a game

Notable Goaltenders

- Ed Belfour
- Johnny Bower
- Martin Brodeur
- Gerry Cheevers
- Ken Dryden
- Bill Durnan
- Tony Esposito
- Grant Fuhr
- Glenn Hall
- Dominik Hasek
- Ron Hextall
- Nikolai Khabibulin
- Miikka Kiprusoff
- Olaf Kolzig
- Bernie Parent
- Jacques Plante
- Manon Rheaume
- Mike Richter
- Patrick Roy
- Terry Sawchuck
- Tommy Salo
- Vladislav Tretiak
- Georges Vezina

Links

- [http://www.goaliesarchive.com The Goalies Archive] Complete goaltending history of every NHL and WHA teams
- [http://www.hockeygoalies.org HockeyGoalies.org] Comprehensive list of goalies
- [http://www.angelfire.com/id/goalienicknames/gsolhome.html Goalie Nicknames] ja:ゴールキーパー (アイスホッケー)

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, known simply as hockey in Canada and the United States, is a team sport played on ice. It is one of the world's fastest sports, with players on skates capable of going high speeds on natural or artificial ice surfaces. The most prominent ice hockey nations are Canada, United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In all there are 64 members in the International Ice Hockey Federation. As one might expect, its worldwide popularity is concentrated primarily in locales cold enough for natural, long-term seasonal ice cover. It is the official national winter sport of Canada, and it is comparably popular in certain regions of the United States (notably the Northeast, the Northern Midwest, and Alaska). The parts of North America which have the strongest followings of the sport are often called "hockey country". Although it is the least watched major professional sport in the United States, it enjoys intense popularity in Canada. It is generally accepted that about 10 million Canadians watched the 2002 Olympic gold medal hockey game on television, in which Canada defeated the United States 5-2. While most of the countries mentioned above have their own professional ice hockey league, North America's National Hockey League, commonly called the NHL, is considered the world's premier professional ice hockey league and attracts almost all of the world's elite players.

Game

National Hockey League Ice hockey is played on a hockey rink by six players per side, each of whom is on ice skates. The objective of the game is to score goals by playing a hard vulcanized rubber disc, the puck, into the opponent's goal net, which is placed at the opposite end of the rink. The players may control the puck using a long stick with a blade that is commonly curved at one end. Players may also redirect the puck with any part of their bodies, subject to certain restrictions. One of the six players is typically a goaltender, whose primary job is to stop the puck from entering the net, and who is permitted unique gear towards that end. goaltender The other five players are divided into three forwards and two defencemen. The forward positions are named left wing, center and right wing. Forwards often play together as units or lines, with the same three forwards always playing together. The defencemen usually stay together as a pair, but may change less frequently than the forwards. A substitution of an entire unit at once is called a line change. Substitutions are permitted at any time during the course of the game, although during a stoppage of play the home team is permitted the final change. When players are substituted during play, it is called changing on the fly. The boards surrounding the ice help keep the puck in play, and play often proceeds for minutes without interruption. When play is stopped, it is restarted with a faceoff. There are two major rules of play in ice hockey that limit the movement of the puck: offside and icing. In most competitive leagues, each team may carry at most 23 players on its game roster, two of whom are typically goaltenders. North American professional leagues restrict the total number of skaters to 18 or fewer. The remaining characteristics of the game often depend on the particular code of play being used. The two most important codes are those of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and of the North American National Hockey League (NHL), the world's top professional league. North American amateur hockey codes, such as those of Hockey Canada and USA Hockey, tend to be a hybrid of the NHL and IIHF codes, while professional rules generally follow those of the NHL.

Penalties

USA Hockey A typical game of ice hockey has two to four officials on the ice charged with enforcing the rules of the game. There are typically two linesmen, who are responsible only for calling offside and icing violations, and one or two referees, who call goals and all other penalties. In men's hockey, but not in women's, a player may use his hip or shoulder to hit another player if the player has the puck or is the last to have touched it. This use of the hip and shoulder is called body checking. Not all physical contact is legal -- in particular, most forceful stick-on-body contact is illegal -- as there are many infractions for which a player may be assessed a penalty. For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the penalty box and his team has to play without him for a short amount of time, giving the other team what is popularly termed a power play. A two-minute minor penalty is often called for lesser infractions such as tripping, elbowing, roughing, boarding, high-sticking, too many players on the ice, illegal equipment, charging (leaping into an opponent), holding, interference, delay of game, hooking, or cross-checking. More egregious fouls of this type may be penalized by a four-minute double-minor penalty, particularly those which (inadvertently) cause injury to the victimized player. These penalties end either when the time runs out or the other team scores on the power play; in the case of a goal scored during the first two minutes of a double minor, the penalty clock is set down to two minutes upon a score (effectively expiring the first minor). Five-minute major penalties are called for especially violent instances of most minor infractions which result in intentional injury to an opponent, as well as for fighting (from which comes the band Five for Fighting) and spearing. Major penalties are always served in full: they do not terminate on a goal scored by the other team. Two varieties of penalty do not always require the offending team to play a man down. Ten-minute misconduct penalties are served in full by the penalized player, but his team may immediately substitute another player on the ice unless a minor or major penalty is assessed in conjunction with the misconduct (a two-and-ten or five-and-ten). In that case, the team designates another player to serve the minor or major; both players go to the penalty box, but only the designee may not be replaced, and he is released upon the expiration of the two or five minutes, at which point the ten-minute misconduct begins. The rare game misconducts are assessed for deliberate intent to inflict severe injury on an opponent. The offending player is ejected from the game and must immediately leave the playing surface (he does not sit in the penalty box); meanwhile, if a minor or major is assessed in addition, a designated player must serve out that segment of the penalty in the box (similar to the above-mentioned "two-and-ten"). A player who is tripped by an opponent on a breakaway – when there are no defenders except the goaltender between him and the opponent's goal – is awarded a penalty shot, an attempt to score without opposition from any defenders except the goaltender. A penalty shot is also awarded for a defender other than the goaltender covering the puck in the goal crease. Officials also stop play for puck movement violations, but no players are penalized for these offenses. The sole exceptions are deliberately falling on or gathering the puck to the body, carrying the puck in the hand, and shooting the puck out of play in one's defensive zone (all penalized two minutes for delay of game). Games are overseen by Official (ice hockey) that are selected by the league for which they work. The most common officiating organisation is [http://www.usahockey.com USA Hockey], where referees are selected for games depending on their experience level (one, two, three, or four. Officials are divided into on-ice officals and off-ice officals.

Tactics

Official (ice hockey) An important defensive tactic is checking – attempting to take the puck from an opponent or to remove the opponent from play. Forechecking is checking in the other team's zone, backchecking is checking while the other team is advancing down the ice toward one's own goal; these terms usually are applied to checking by forwards. Stick checking, sweep checking, and poke checking are legal uses of the stick to obtain possession of the puck. Body checking is using one's shoulder or hip to strike an opponent who has the puck or who is the last to have touched it. Offensive tactics include improving a team's position on the ice by advancing the puck out of one's zone towards the opponent's zone, progressively by gaining lines, first your own blue line, then the red line and finally the opponent's blue line. Offensive tactics are designed ultimately to score a goal by taking a shot. When a player purposefully directs the puck towards the opponent's goal, he or she is said to shoot the puck. A deflection is a shot which redirects a shot or a pass towards the goal from another player, by allowing the puck to strike the stick and carom towards the goal. A one-timer is a shot which is struck directly off a pass, without receiving the pass and shooting in two separate actions. A deke (short for decoy) is a feint with the body and/or stick to fool a defender or the goalie. Headmanning the puck is the tactic of rapidly passing to the player farthest down the ice. A team that is losing by one or two goals in the last few minutes of play may elect to pull the goalie; that is, removing the goaltender and replacing him or her with an extra attacker on the ice in the hope of gaining enough advantage to score a goal. However, this tactic is extremely risky, and as often as not leads to the winning team scoring a goal in the empty net. Although it is officially prohibited in the rules, at the professional level fights are sometimes used to affect morale of the teams, with aggressors hoping to demoralize the opposing players while exciting their own, as well as settling personal scores. Both players in an altercation receive five-minute major penalties for fighting. The player deemed to be the "instigator" of an NHL fight is penalized an additional two minutes for instigating, plus a ten-minute misconduct penalty. This so-called instigator rule is highly controversial in NHL hockey: many coaches, sportswriters, players and fans feel it prevents players from effectively policing the objectionable behavior of their peers, which is often cleverly hidden from referees. They point to less extreme on-ice violence during the era before the rule was introduced. Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe famously observed that "If you can't beat 'em in the alley you can't beat 'em on the ice."

Periods and overtime

A game consists of three periods of twenty minutes each, the clock running only when the puck is in play. In international play, the teams change ends for the second period, again for the third period, and again after ten minutes of the third period. In many North American leagues, including the NHL, the last change is omitted. Various procedures are used if a game is tied. In tournament play, as well as in the NHL playoffs, North Americans favor sudden death overtime, in which the teams continue to play until a goal is scored. Prior to the 2004-05 NHL season , the National Hockey League decided ties by playing a single five-minute sudden death overtime period, with the added stipulation that each side can play with a maximum of five players on the ice during the overtime. International play and several North American professional leagues, including the NHL, now use an overtime period followed by a penalty shootout. If the score remains tied after an extra overtime period, the subsequent shootout consists of five (or three) players from each team taking penalty shots. After these six (or ten) total shots, the team with the most goals is awarded the victory. If the score is still tied, the shootout then proceeds to a sudden death (actually sudden victory) format. Regardless of the number of goals scored during the shootout by either team, the final score recorded will give the winning team one more goal than the score at the end of regulation time.

Equipment

The hard surfaces of the ice and boards, pucks flying at high speed (over 160 km/h at times), and other players maneuvering (and often intentionally colliding) pose a multitude of inherent safety hazards. Besides skates and sticks, hockey players are usually equipped with an array of safety gear to lessen their risk of serious injury. This usually includes a helmet, shoulder pads, elbow pads, mouth guard, protective gloves, heavily padded pants, a 'jock' athletic protector, and leg guards. Goaltenders wear masks and much bulkier, specialized equipment designed to protect them from many direct hits from pucks. Youth and college hockey players are required to wear a mask made from metal wire or transparent plastic attached to their helmet that protects their face during play. Professional and adult players may instead wear a visor that protects only their eyes, or no mask at all; however, some provincial and state legislations require full facial protection at all non-professional levels. Rules regarding visors and face masks are mildly controversial at professional levels, as some players feel that they interfere with their vision or breathing and/or encourage carrying of the stick up high, in a reckless manner, while others believe that they are a necessary safety precaution. In fact, the adoption of safety equipment has been a gradual one at the North American professional level, where even helmets were not mandatory until the 1980s. The famous goalie, Jacques Plante, had to suffer a hard blow to the face with a flying puck in 1959 before he could persuade his coach to allow him to wear a protective goalie mask in play.

History

The history of ice hockey is one of the most contested in all of sports. The city of Montreal had been traditionally credited with being the birthplace of hockey, but early paintings contest this claim; 16th-century Dutch paintings show a number of townsfolk playing a hockey-like game on a frozen canals. city of Montreal city of Montreal Kingston, Ontario and Windsor, Nova Scotia also lay claim to its origins for similar reasons. The origin of the word hockey is officially unknown, it may derive from the Old French word hoquet, shepherd's crook, but it may also derive from the Middle Dutch word hokkie which is the diminutive of 'hok', meaning litterally meaning 'shack' or 'doghouse' but in popular use meant goal. When Great Britain conquered Canada from France in 1763, soldiers used their knowledge of field hockey and the physically aggressive aspects of what the Mi'kmaq Aboriginal First Nation in Nova Scotia called dehuntshigwa'es (lacrosse). As Canadian winters are long and harsh, new winter sports were always welcomed. Using cheese cutters strapped to their boots, both English- and French-speaking Canadians played the game on frozen rivers, lakes, and ponds. Early paintings show hockey being played in Nova Scotia, as well as in the state of Virginia in the United States. On March 3, 1875, the first ever organized indoor game was played in Montreal, as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. In 1877, in order to make some sense of the game, McGill students, James Creighton, Henry Joseph, Richard F. Smith, W. F. Robertson and W. L. Murray invented seven ice hockey rules. Having an organized system in place, the game became so popular that it was featured for the first time in Montreal's annual Winter Carnival in 1883. In 1888, the governor general of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston (whose sons were hockey enthusiasts), attended the Carnival and was so impressed with the hockey spectacle that he thought there should be a championship trophy for the best team. The Stanley Cup was first awarded then to the champion amateur team in Canada, and continues to be awarded today to the National Hockey League's championship team. As an interesting historical footnote, one of Lord Stanley's sons was instrumental in introducing ice hockey to the United Kingdom and from there, to Europe at large. By 1893, Winnipeg hockey players incorporated cricket pads to better protect the goaltender's legs. They also introduced the "scoop" shot, later known as the wrist shot. In the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, Houghton, MI was the birthplace of professional ice hockey in the United States when the Portage Lakers were formed in 1899. The National Hockey League was formed in November of 1917, when members of the former National Hockey Association were engaged in a dispute with one of their fellow owners over insurance proceeds. The NHA disbanded, and the new league began play in December of that year. On February 16, 2005, the NHL became the first major professional team sport in North America to cancel an entire season because of a labour dispute. Play resumed again in the fall of 2005.

Women's ice hockey

cancel an entire season Ice hockey is one of the fastest growing women's sports in the world, with the number of participants increasing 400 percent in the last 10 years. While there are not as many organized leagues for women as there are for men, there exist leagues of all levels, including the National Women's Hockey League, Western Women's Hockey League, and various European leagues; as well as university teams, national and Olympic teams, and recreational teams. There have been nine IIHF World Women Championships. The chief difference between women's and men's ice hockey is that bodychecking is not allowed in women's ice hockey. After the 1990 Women's World Championship, bodychecking was eliminated because women in many countries do not have the size and mass seen in North American players. There are many who feel that the relative lack of physical play is a detriment to its popularity among the mainstream hockey public. One woman, Manon Rhéaume, appeared as a goaltender for the Tampa Bay Lightning in preseason games against the St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins, and in 2003 Hayley Wickenheiser signed with the Kirkkonummi Salamat in the Finnish men's Suomi-sarja league. Several women have competed in North American minor leagues, including goaltenders Kelly Dyer, Erin Whitten and Rheaume, and forward Angela Ruggeiro.

International competition

Europeans highly regard the annual men's Ice Hockey World Championships, but it is less important to North Americans, because it coincides with the NHL playoffs and, therefore, in North Americans' view, Canada and the United States cannot field the best team since many of their players are unavailable. Now that most Europeans play in the NHL, the world championships no longer represent the best of any nation's players. Hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924 (and at the summer games in 1920). Canada won six of the first seven gold medals. The USSR won all but two Olympic ice hockey golds from 1956 to 1988, and won a final time as the Unified Team at the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Since all players in the communist system were "amateurs," the USSR's elite national team was the best the country had to offer, while the best Americans, Swedes, Finns, and Canadians were professionals and thus barred from Olympic competition. Nonetheless, American amateur college players defeated the heavily favored Soviet squad on the way to winning the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. This "Miracle on Ice" launched a surge of newfound popularity for a game many Americans had not cared much about before. The 1972 Summit Series established Canada and the USSR as a major international ice hockey rivalry. It was followed by five Canada Cup tournaments, where the best players from every hockey nation could play. This tournament later became the World Cup of Hockey, played in in 1996 and 2004. Since 1998, NHL professionals have played in the Olympics as well, so that the best in the world have had more opportunities to face off. There have been nine women's world championships, beginning in 1990. Women's hockey has been played at the Olympics since 1998. Currently Canada and the US dominate the world scene (all world championship and Olympic finals have involved both countries).

Terminology

World Cup of Hockey net, while visiting the Powerade Centre.]]

External links

- [http://www.iihf.com/ International Ice Hockey Federation]
- [http://www.hhof.com/ Hockey Hall Of Fame]
- [http://www.nhl.com/ National Hockey League]
- [http://www.youthhockeyforum.com/ Youth Hockey]
- [http://hockeydb.com/ North American Statistics Database]
- [http://www.eurohockey.net/players/ European Player Statistics Database]
- [http://www.hockeyrefs.com/ HockeyRefs.com]
- [http://www.hockeysfuture.com/ Hockey's Future]
- [http://www.hockey.to/ Toronto Hockey]
- [http://www.tmlforum.com/ Toronto Maple Leafs discussion boards]
- [http://www.NHLReplay.com/ NHL Hockey discussion boards]
- [http://www.achahockey.org/ American Collegiate Hockey Association]

Notes

# Category:Olympic sports Category:Hockey Category:Winter sports Category:Team sports Category:Skating ja:アイスホッケー simple:Ice hockey

Goalkeeper

:This article is about the sports position. Goalkeeper is also a proprietary close-in weapon system ---- close-in weapon system In many team sports, a goalkeeper (termed goaltender in some sports) is a designated player that is charged with directly preventing the opposite team from scoring by defending the goal. Such positions exist in association football (soccer), Gaelic football, International Rules Football, handball, field hockey, ice hockey, netball, water polo, lacrosse, floorball and a number of other sports.

Overview

Usually special rules apply to the goalkeeper that do not apply to the other players. These rules are often instituted to protect the goalkeeper, being an obvious target for dangerous or even violent actions. In addition, in certain sports like ice hockey, goalkeepers are required to wear special equipment like heavy pads and a face mask to protect their bodies from impact from the play object (e.g. a puck).

Examples

Association football (soccer)

In association football (soccer), each team's goalkeeper defends their team's goal and has special privileges within the game. Most notably, the goalkeepers are the only players who may handle the ball with their hands or arms during open play, however they are restricted to doing so only within their penalty area, may not do so if the ball has been received direct from a throw-in or deliberate pass by a team-mate, and may not handle the ball for more than six seconds. Football goalkeepers must wear different coloured jerseys to distinguish themselves from the other players on the field.

Field hockey

In field hockey, the goalkeeper wears extensive protective equipment including helmet, face and neck guards, chest and leg padding, gloves, lower leg guards (known as pads) and shoe covers (known as kickers). While they are equipped with a stick, the restrictions of the protective equipment mean it cannot be used for much more than deflecting shots, leaving kicking the only viable method of passing the ball to team-mates. The goalkeeper is allowed to use any part of their body to deflect the ball, although they can't obstruct its play (for example by lying on top of it), and they can only do so within the goal circle (or "D"). Unlike any other of the players on the team, the goalkeeper can only stay within its defending half.

Gaelic football

In Gaelic football, the goalkeeper's main task is to prevent a goal from being scored against their side by directly defending their goal. A goal occurs when the ball comes off any part of an attacking player and passes through the goal; the attacking team is awarded 3 points.

Ice hockey

See main article: Goaltender

International rules football

In International rules football, a hybrid game between Australian rules football (which does not have a goalkeeper) and Gaelic football, the goalkeeper's main task is to prevent a goal from being scored. A goal occurs when the ball comes off any part of an attacking player and passes through the goal; the attacking team is awarded 6 points.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse goaltenders may only hold the ball in their protective crease for six seconds (the length often depends on the level of play).

Netball

A netball goalkeeper is one of two players who are permitted to remain within their defensive shooting third, and is restricted to the defensive third of the court.

Water polo

Goalkeepers in water polo are granted three special privileges when inside the four metre area:
- The ability to touch the ball with two hands.
- The ability to touch the floor of the pool.
- The ability to strike the ball with a clenched fist. However, they have one limitation that field players do not have: they may not cross the half-distance line.

Ice hockey

Game

Penalties

Tactics

Periods and overtime

Equipment

History

Women's ice hockey

International competition

Terminology

World Cup of Hockey net, while visiting the Powerade Centre.]]

Statistics

- Goal
- Assist
- Plus/minus
- Save percentage
- Goals Against Average

Personnel

- Alternate captain
- Captain
- Centre
- Coach
- Defenceman
- Forward
- Goal judge
- Goaltender
- Official
- Power forward
- Winger
- Puck Bunnies

Rink

- Crease
- Blue line
- Hash marks
- Rink
- Penalty box
- Red line
- Slot

Game play

Equipment

- Hockey pants/ Breezers
- Hockey stick
- Hockey jersey
- Shin guards/pads
- Goalie mask
- Hockey puck
- Helmets
- Visors
- Zamboni
- Ice Skates
- Jock/Jill
- Mouthguard
- Socks

External links

Notes

# Category:Olympic sports Category:Hockey Category:Winter sports Category:Team sports Category:Skating ja:アイスホッケー simple:Ice hockey

Shot (hockey)

A shot in ice hockey is an attempt by a player to score a goal by striking the puck with his stick in the direction of the net. There are three basic types of shots in ice hockey:
- The wrist shot is the simplest and most accurate shot. The player first draws the puck behind his body with his stick, and then quickly sweeps it forward.
- The snap shot can be executed the quickest. With very little windup, the player violently snaps his wrists to send the puck flying.
- The slapshot is the hardest yet most telegraphed shot. The player draws his stick back away from the puck, then forcefully brings it forward to strike the puck.
- The backhand is a wrist shot released from the back of the blade, and on the player's backhand. This shot is not as powerful or accurate as any of the other shots, however it is often unexpected. Backhand shots are primarily taken close to the goal. A count of how many shots are taken by a team is kept and this is often used as rough guide to which team is being more aggressive and dominant. A scoring attempt in hockey (as opposed to soccer) is officially counted as a shot only when it is directed on goal, resulting in a goal or requiring the goaltender to make a save. This is called a shot on goal. The numbers of shots and saves in a game are especially relevant to goaltenders, whose save percentage is based on how many shots did not get past them. The number of shots taken by skaters and the percentage on which they score is also measured, but these numbers are generally given less weight. Category:Ice hockey terminology

Puck

See
- Puck (mythology), a nature spirit
- Puck (comics), a diminuitive superhero in Marvel Comics
- Puck (Shakespeare), from A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Hockey puck, the "ball" used to play ice hockey
- Puck (moon), a moon of Uranus
- Puck, Poland, a town in Poland
- Puck, a character in the Japanese anime/manga Berserk
- Puck (The Real World), reality T.V. cast-member
- Puck (magazine), a 19th Century U.S. periodical
- Puck (goat), a specially captured wild goat crowned "King Puck" at Puck Fair every year in Ireland
- Puck (espresso coffee), an amount of tamped coffee within an espresso machine's portafilter
- Puck (videogames), a minor character appearing in Final Fantasy IX ja:パック

Ice hockey goaltending equipment

In ice hockey, the goaltender wears specialized goaltending equipment to protect him from the impact of the puck. Most modern goaltending equipment is made from the same basic materials: hydrophobic synthetic leather and nylon on the outside; dense closed-cell foams and plastics inside. The National Hockey League and most other leagues specify maximum dimensions of goaltending equipment to prevent goalies from having an unfair advantage[http://nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/rule21.html].

Blocker

The blocker is worn on the hand that holds the stick. It consists of a glove with a rectangular board attached to the backhand side. It can also be called a "waffle", in reference to older models, which were covered with real leather, but had holes cut in the leather to save weight. This gave the blocker a waffle-like appearance. In almost all cases, the goalie wears only one blocker, however, near the end of his career, retired goalie Dan Blackburn played with two after nerve damage rendered him incapable of closing his glove hand.

Chest and arm protector

The chest and arm protector or arm and body pad is designed to protect the chest and arms from the impact of pucks. It is worn under the hockey jersey.

Jock

A goalie jock, which protects the pelvic area, is more protective than a common jockstrap, though it generally uses the same internal plastic cup. The jock is padded to spread an impact over a larger area. Instead of a jock, female goalies wear a pelvic protector called a jill.

Leg pads

Goalies wear special leg pads that descend from cricket pads. The pads are typically 10 to 12 inches (25–30 cm) wide and extend 4 to 8 inches (10–20 cm) above the knee.

Mask

The first commonly used goalie masks were solid fiberglass with holes for the eyes, nose, mouth, and for ventilation. Today, most goalies don masks made of fiberglass, kevlar, carbon fiber, and other composite materials. Modern masks have a large cutout in the eye and nose area covered by a steel or titanium cage. This mask was developed by goalie Dave Dryden in the early 1980s. Many goalies are able to be identified by the custom artwork airbrushed on their masks. Some maintain the same theme thoughout their career, changing the colors to match their team's colors. Examples include Curtis Joseph's Cujo, Ed Belfour's eagle, Felix Potvin's abstract cat design, or Patrick Lalime's Marvin the Martian. Some goalies have more generic team-specific artwork, while others vary the artwork over the course of their careers. An alternative to the mask is the helmet and cage combo, which consists of a wire facemask attached to a standard hockey helmet. This became popular during the 1970s since a cage provides better sightlines than a molded fiberglass mask. Its popularity waned throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and by the turn of the 21st century, only a few professional goalies still wore a helmet/cage combo.

Pants

Goalies' protective short pants are similar to the pants forwards and defensemen wear. They have heavy padding in the thigh area with lighter padding in the back and sides covering the back of the thighs, tailbone, buttocks, and waist.

Skates

Goal skates differ from regular hockey skates. The blade is longer, wider, and flatter to provide the goalie with more stability. It is made out of carbon steel rather than stainless steel. The blade is shorter vertically so that the goaltender is lower to the ice. The boot does not have a tendon guard, which is the piece of a regular hockey skate that extends up the back of the ankle to protect the Achilles' tendon. Finally, the boot is inside a rigid cowling to protect the foot from direct impact.

Stick

The special hockey stick goaltenders use has a blade that is approximately 3½ inches (8.9 cm) wide. The lower 25 to 28 inches (63.5–71 cm) of the shaft is widened to provide more blocking surface. This area is called the paddle. Although traditional goalie sticks were usually made completely of wood, most modern sticks are reinforced with graphite and fiberglass and the paddle and blade are injected with foam to make them lighter. Recently, manufacturers have begun to produce sticks made completely from composite materials, which are more durable.

Trapper

The trapper, catcher, or catch glove is the glove worn on the free hand. It is similar to a baseball mitt, but it is much more protective and has a deeper pocket. In fact, the first goalie trapper, worn by Detroit Red Wings goalie Emile Francis in 1948, was a baseball mitt. Category:Ice hockey equipment

Shot on goal

In ice hockey, a shot on goal is a shot that will enter the goal if it is not stopped by the goaltender. A shot on goal must result in either a goal or a save. Shots that sail wide or high of the net and shots that hit the goal post or crossbar are not considered shots on goal. If a goaltender blocks a shot that would have missed the net or hit the post, it is not considered a shot on goal. It is the judgment of the statistician which shots are counted as shots on goal. The statistical category that tracks shots on goal is abbreviated SOG. In a typical NHL game, each team will get close to 30 shots on goal. Category:Ice hockey Category:Ice hockey statistics

Goals-against average

Goals against average (GAA) is an ice hockey statistic that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender. It is calculated by multiplying the number of goals allowed by the number of minutes in one game, and then dividing by the number of minutes played. It is typically given to two decimal places. GAA is analogous to a baseball pitcher's earned run average. The top goaltenders in the NHL currently have a GAA of about 2.00, although the measure of a good GAA changes as different playing styles come and go. Since the statistic is highly dependent on the team playing in front of a goalie, save percentage is usually considered a more accurate measure of a goaltender's skill. Category:Ice hockey statistics

Penalty

A penalty is a punishment:
- a legal sentence, e.g. the death penalty
- used in the plural, penalties or sanctions, with the more restricted meaning of punishment for violating rules of procedure, or for abusing the judicial process.
- in sports; for example, in football (soccer) there is a penalty area, otherwise known as the 'eighteen-yard box' due to its size. Penalty kicks are taken from the penalty spot, twelve yards from the centre of the goal-line.
- Penalty (ice hockey)
- penalty (rugby)

Vezina Trophy

] The Vezina Trophy is awarded annually to the person deemed the best ice hockey goalkeeper as voted on by the general managers of the teams in the National Hockey League. Until the 1981-82 season, the goalkeeper(s) of the team allowing the fewest number of goals during the regular season was awarded the trophy. However, it was recognized that this system often meant the trophy went to the goalkeeper of the better team rather than the individual and hence the change was made to offer the William M. Jennings Trophy to the goalkeeper(s) playing for the team with the fewest goals against. The Vezina Trophy was named in honour of Georges Vezina, an exceptional goalkeeper with the Montreal Canadiens, who collapsed during a game in 1925 and was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. Upon Vezina's death, the teams former owners donated the trophy to the League to be awarded for the first time at the end of the 1926-27 NHL season. The late Jacques Plante (1929-1986) holds the record for winning the most Vezinas with seven, trailed closely by Dominik Hašek with six (the most under the current system of honouring the best individual goalie).

Vezina Trophy winners

William M. Jennings Trophy

The William M. Jennings Trophy is an annual award given to the goaltender(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team in the National Hockey League with the fewest goals scored against it. Winners are selected based on regular-season play. The trophy is named in honour of the late William M. Jennings, longtime governor and president of the New York Rangers and a builder of ice hockey in the United States. It was first presented following the 1981-82 NHL season.

William M. Jennings Trophy Winners

1981-82 NHL season
- 2006 -
- 2005 - no winner due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout
- 2004 - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
- 2003 - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils & Roman Cechmanek/Robert Esche, Philadelphia Flyers (tie)
- 2002 - Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche
- 2001 - Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
- 2000 - Roman Turek, St. Louis Blues
- 1999 - Ed Belfour/Roman Turek, Dallas Stars
- 1998 - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
- 1997 - Martin Brodeur/Mike Dunham, New Jersey Devils
- 1996 - Chris Osgood/Mike Vernon, Detroit Red Wings
- 1995 - Ed Belfour, Chicago Blackhawks
- 1994 - Dominik Hasek/Grant Fuhr, Buffalo Sabres
- 1993 - Ed Belfour, Chicago Blackhawks
- 1992 - Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens
- 1991 - Ed Belfour, Chicago Blackha