What is the best way to learn the rules of hockey?
336635
Even better.  hang out with hockey fans.  Go to games with them.  IF they are good they will help by explaining things to you.  That's things that I do with my friends that aren't big hockey fans, but are interested.  I help increase their knowledge and therefore their love of the game.
867689
Hockey's origins are indeterminate. Indeed, the very definition of the game is at debate. Some observers accept as hockey any pastime where participants on skates use a club, or other wooden implement, to knock a ball or some such propellant about. Others say an activity cannot be recognized as hockey unless it is a contest between teams and conducted under an accepted set of rules.\n\n\nHunters in the Snow, by Pietr Bruegel (the elder), circa 1565\nCopyright/Source\n   \nAmusements bearing some resemblance to hockey are known to have taken place in Europe as early as the sixteenth century, or even earlier. For example, a painting by Pietr Bruegel (the elder) entitled "Hunters in the Snow" (circa 1565), depicts skaters carrying curved sticks. One of these figures is about to bring his stick in contact with a small object on the ice.\n\nThe earliest skate blades were fashioned from animal bones, but it is known from the journals of Olaus Magnus, the last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden, that polished iron blades were used in the Gulf of Bothnia area in the 1500s.\n\nSome hockey history enthusiasts trace the game's beginning to Mesopotamia, in the third millennium B.C. These historians point to Tablet XII of the Gilgamesh epic (an ancient text from the area that is now Iraq) that shows men employing curved sticks to manipulate a wooden ring over a dirt surface.\n\nRegardless of what these stalwarts along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers or those on the lakes of northern Europe were actually doing, there is no evidence to suggest a progression of their play to a form that can be accepted as structured sport.\n\nResearch points to North America as the region where the idea of a contest on ice took hold and led to the sport we know today. Incarnations of the game are said to have occurred in New York and Newfoundland as early as the late eighteenth century. In recent years, the name of Windsor, Nova Scotia, has come to the forefront as hockey's birthplace. Proponents point to a passage in Thomas Chandler Haliburton's 1843 novel, The Attaché; or Sam Slick in England, as evidence. Sam, a fast-talking Connecticut Yankee, mocks the reminiscences he imagines his traveling companion will have of his childhood at King's Collegiate in Windsor, including "hurly on the long pond on the ice." Critics do not accept this passage as satisfactory evidence, noting that the source in question is a work of fiction. However Windsor's backers argue that the novel is largely autobiographical and that the "hurly" referred to is a direct recollection by Haliburton of what he knew as a youth around 1810.\n\nAnother Maritime entrant in the origins contest is Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Advocates base their argument on an array of events, innovations and developments that sets their claim apart from those of rivals. They note that primitive forms of the game were played on Dartmouth lakes and ponds as early as 1827. The Acadian Magazine in January of that year, for example, contains a poem including the lines: "Now at ricket with hurlies some dozens of boys/ Chase the ball o'er ice with a deafening noise." A newspaper report in February 1867 tells of "a match game called hockey, i.e. ricket" being contested by officers of the Garrison and the Fleet at Oathill Lake. As well, notes the Dartmouth claim, that city was the home of the Starr Manufacturing Company, Canada's earliest producer of ice skates.\n\nFor years, the city of Kingston, Ontario, enjoyed the title of hockey's birthplace. This resulted from a report of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1942, which said that soldiers of the Royal Canadian Rifles played hockey on the harbour ice in 1855. The evidence has subsequently proved suspect and Kingston authorities themselves have rejected the claim, asserting that the game was not introduced there until 1886.\n\n  \nPage from Sir John Franklin's journals and corr
467957
Hey cherrycola,\n\n     Here are my tips:\n\n     1) Know the rules, and the basics: Goalies can use their hands inside their box, with the exception of a) when his teammate passes the ball to him with his foot, and b) when he is outside the box.\n\n     2) Be aggressive. The best goalies are hands on and take charge goalies. They are the boss of the Box, and take seriously the fact THEY are the last man standing when a goal opportunity presents itself.\n\n     3) Be willing to endure pain. As a goalie, you will have to dive to block incoming shots and land roughly, jump to punch balls away or grabbing them, bumping into players occasionally, especially opposing ones. Finally, you will get roughed up when you charge an advancing forward, all by him self -- the one-on-one situation.\n\n     4) Polish up your reflexes, but more important, your positioning under the 3 goal posts. Watch videos of the great goalies and watch their footwork and positioning during key offensive situations. Watch how they dive (a dying art in my opinion. Goalies today have lost that flare and acrobatics that made goalie an attractive position in the first place. \n\n     5) Know your own personal weaknesses and strengths. Are you too short? Too Tall? Great on on-on-one but weak in the air? Bossy? Too dependent? Find out, compensate, and build on it.\n\nWell, Cherrycola, I hope this helps. Take care
537734
Fatigue - obviously you want to keep fresh legs out there.\n\nScore - if you're up by a few, a coach will put a checking line (4th line) out to give them some ice time.  If you're down by a few, the coach might put all wingers/centers out to generate some offense.\n\nLine Matching - say the opponent puts out their 1st line, you might want to put your 1st or 2nd line out to even things up.\n\nPenalties - a coach on the power play may put out 4 forwards and 1 defenseman, a shorthanded coach might play 4 defensemen.\n\nPuck possession - this is biggest deciding factor.  When a team has the puck (or dumps the puck) in the offensive zone, they will take this opportunity to change.  Usually the defensemen will come off first, followed by the forwards.  It wouldn't make much sense to change up when the puck is by your own net.\n\nA line change can be made at any time (except when a team ice's the puck) for any reason.  Sometimes a coach will mix lines together in the middle of a game just to throw the other coach off or to find some new chemistry between his players.\n\nAgain, lines can be changed at any time, for any reason.  But usually there is a good reason.
578277
Check this:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey
964458
Practice doing this by yourself with a bucket of pucks.\n\nGet someone like a coach or an older player to show you the proper technique on how to do it.\n\nI'm not an expert but I think it's mainly using your wrists and an upward pulling motion when you are in very close to the net.
234628
I have attached links to volleyball.org which has links to the rules for various forms of the game. I also have attached links to techniques.\n\nAs a rookie coach, you might want to read a book or books on coaching volleyball from a bookstore or your local library. These include:\n\n* Coaching Volleyball Successfully by Sally Kus;\n* The Volleyball Coaching Bible edited by Donald Shundell and Cecile Reynaud.\n\nBoth books are published by Human Kinetics.\n\nBest wishes to you and your team for the coming season.
991363
I'm not sure how educational they are but you could try the text-based games on Rinkworks.com.  They are certainly mind boggling and very addictive.
305485
nhl.com   usahockey.com   or google hockey. good luck! its a really fun and exciting game, the best if you ask me.
898638
I had a friend who went to play on a team for the first time. Things he had to work on was speed and stability with skating. Body checking, Stick handling and passing.\nHis shots where hard (though sometimes off target).\n\nI don't know what your strengths and weaknesses are nor your past experiences on the ice or playing floor hockey, street hockey or shinny hockey. So it's tough to say, but using my friend's skills as a guide, I would suggest to work on your agility on the ice, your stick handling and your passing & shooting.
863661
Here is the best site you can find for this type of information:\n\nwww.hockeyinformer.com\n\nIt's not 100% accurate but it is the best site out there for goalie information and starters.
699659
I'm Ms. Know it all....132 best answers and the numbers are growing.\n\nseriously if i really wanted to ask someone about hockey i would ask Scotty Bowman he is the master mind of hockey.\n\n\nGO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
438651
First you need to understand all the rules of the game being played or it will just look like weird anarchy interrupted by officials stopping the flow for mysterious reasons. Then all the terminology and jargon associated with the sport. Then the history of each sport to provide context as the commentators are always referencing this or that last season or 20 years ago. Then the players and on and on. But start with the rules or all the rest will not mean anything.
854354
good question. The first thing I would advise you to do is not watch how other skaters skate. A lot of these skaters don't skate correctly. Check with your rink to see if they have a learn to skate for hockey or learn to play hockey. You didn't Say how old you are so if you are in youth hockey, your coach should be showing you the proper stride skating forwards and backwards. One of the answers you got from someone on this question was the push on the back of your skate. That is wrong for hockey skates, but right for in line skates. The push on hockey skates is on the front part of your blade. Remember, your blade has a rocker on the front and back of your blade. Your weight is forward when skating, not backwards. Backwards, you fall down. If you are older, out of high school. then check your rink to see if they have any adult classes for skating skills. It's good to learn the proper way to skate from someone who is certified to teach. Even figure skating teachers can show you the correct way to skate on hockey skates. Good luck.
923726
http://www.hockeyinformer.com/web/fantasy/goalies/index.shtml\n\nThey read all the papers & find out which goalie is starting each game.\n\nThey even have a 7 day forcast.\n\nhttp://www.goaliepost.com/ \n\nis pretty good too, but sometimes not as accurate
253349
What I usually did before a game (way back in the fall...anyone else think field hockey should be year-round?) Was run a lap around the field, stretch (backbend pushups are good, and lots of leg-stretching). Then I'd drive and push pass with a friend. 3 offense players against 2 defense player (plus the goalie)is a good defensive drill and a 3-man weave ( 3 people pass the ball back and fourth in a braid and then shoot on goal) is a good offensive drill. Scrimagaing helps a lot too, if you can get enough people together.\n As for equipment, a stick, mouthguard, shinguards, spikes/cleats, and for indorr hockey you shoud have a glove since your hands are so low to the ground.
968173
Friend,\nI didn't learn to play hockey until I was 34.\nPlaying in adult leagues is not to be compared to high school or college games.  The speed alone would wipe us out.  But the principles are the same.............positioning is the key.  You have to read the plays and anticipate where to be.  Your position on the ice is the key to your success or failure.