In a normal situation, an ice hockey team consists of six players—five skaters and a goalie. The five skaters are divided into two defensemen and three forwards. In practice, due to the game's dynamic nature, all five players participate in both the defensive and offensive efforts.
The Goalkeeper
The goalkeeper's job is to stop the puck from entering his goal. He leaves his goal area relatively rarely, especially when the puck is behind his goal and the opponent's players are far from him, to move the puck away or allow his defensive players to start an offensive move.
In certain situations in the game, such as a lag near the end of a foul about to be whistled against the opposing team, the goaltender can make room on the ice for another skater to increase the offensive pressure on the opposing team.
the defenders
The primary role of the defenders (in English: defensemen) is to prevent the opponent's forwards from scoring situations by taking control of the puck or, if the opponents hold it, pushing it away from the goal to the sides or corners of the arena.
When their team is on the attack, the role of the defenders is to support the offensive play from behind, close to the blue line delimiting the attack zone, to prevent the puck from leaving the attack zone - something that will force their teammates to slide from the attack zone to the neutral zone to avoid a different situation and start the attack again. From their back position, they can hit the puck directly at the goal or look for a pass to a striker who is in a better position than themselves. Defenders who are gifted with outstanding skating ability can take more risks and get closer to the opponent's goal to help more in the attacking game while relying on their skating ability to allow them to return to defence if necessary quickly.
the pioneers
The three strikers are divided into right and left-wingers and a central striker. The wing strikers operate mainly along the wings of the arena, as their role indicates, while the central striker positions himself as far as possible in front of the opponent's goal, slightly outside the goal square, so as not to violate the protections that the goal square gives to the goalkeeper. He is given greater freedom of action than his teammates. The positioning of the central striker according to the opponent's goal is done for several reasons: to attract one of the opponents to him, to hide from the opponent's goalkeeper what is happening, allow the puck to deflect when it is hit into the goal by a teammate, to mislead the opposing goalie; and enable a quick takeover of the puck when it is pushed away by the opposing goalie and create a renewed scoring situation immediately. In practice, the dynamic nature of the game causes rapid changes in the positions of the players depending on the position of the puck - for example, when it is caught in the corner of the arena on one wing, the striker of the other wing approaches the middle of the attack zone or positions himself behind the goal to open a passing line for his teammate.
When the other team controls the puck, the role of the strikers is to pressure the opposing defenders who start their team's offensive move still in their defensive zone to delay the move and look for an opportunity to steal the puck close to the opponent's goal. When the other team enters the attacking area, the role of the wing forwards is to deal with the defenders supporting their team's forwards from behind to prevent them from passing or hitting the goal from a distance. The central striker is usually withdrawn to help the defenders guard the opponent's strikers.
The Captain
The captain of an ice hockey team wears the letter "C" on his uniform.
An ice hockey team can appoint one of its players as a captain, whose official position allows him to talk with the referees about constitutional interpretations of situations in the game. The team also appoints alternate captains (Alternate captains) who fulfil the role of captain when the captain is not on the ice. The captain wears the letter "C" on his uniform, and the alternate captains wear the letter "A".
Beyond his official role, the captain is expected to be a leader among the players and represent them in current team management issues.
Due to the limitations imposed by his position and the additional protective equipment he carries on his body, the game's rules prohibit a goalkeeper from being captain.
In the NHL and other leagues, there is no obligation to appoint a permanent captain, and several teams do not have one and instead have several players designated as alternate captains.
Player lines and substitutions
To keep players on the ice at all times, they change in short cycles—every 30 seconds to a minute. Players can be changed when the game is stopped or while it is being played. A player's time on the ice before being replaced is usually called a "shift."
The replacement of the players while the game is being played is done when the replaced players approach the bench of their team to a distance of 1.5 meters at most (in the NHL, the distance limit is measured at 5 feet in English measurements) and they must not be involved in the game. Only then will their replacements be able to enter the ice arena and immediately join the course of the game. This means that while the substitution is being made, both the replaced players and the substitutes do not affect the course of the game. Therefore, such a substitution must be carried out with maximum coordination. As quickly as possible, and when the team's goal is not in danger of scoring, and the puck is far from it, the substitution is carried out before the opposing team reaches a dangerous attack with a significant numerical advantage.
An ice hockey team is structured so that, if possible, there are permanent pairs of defenders and permanent trios of forwards on the ice, maintaining coordination between the players and a uniform level of freshness among them. The formations of the strikers and the defenders are called "lines" (in English: lines).
This means that when there is a change of players, the entire line of players usually changes (in English: line change)—for example, all three forwards who together make up a line of players left the ice together, and three forwards who make up a different line of players will enter in their place.
In the international frameworks of the IIHF, 22 players are registered in each team's roster, of which 20 are skaters - that is, four lines of forwards and four lines (pairs) of defenders. In the NHL, each team has two fewer players on the roster, so there are only three lines of defenders. In general, an ice hockey team will aim for its best players to play on the first line of players and stay on the ice longer than their teammates - but this is at the coach's discretion. There may be cases where one of the team's stars is transferred to the second or even third line to create balance and uniformity between the lines of players.
Up for attack and down for defence
The neutral zone trap: The defending team, in white, traps the attacking opponent in the neutral zone. The attacking player has to hit the puck casually into the attack zone and chase it to prevent his teammates from entering a different position.
An orderly drop to the defence limits the offensive players to the right wing of the offensive zone. Passing back to the left back and from there to the left-wing forward will help overcome this
When a team takes control of the puck in its defensive zone and goes on the offensive, its goal is to get to the offensive zone quickly but in an orderly manner to avoid a different situation. The goal of the other team's players is to disrupt their opponent's attack by limiting their ability to enter the offensive zone in an orderly manner.
The "neutral zone trap" is a common technique to achieve the goal - the defending team players concentrate in the neutral zone and prevent the puck from entering their defensive zone in a way that would endanger their goal. The offensive players sliding forward are forced to wait for the puck to enter the offensive zone to avoid being caught in a different situation. In many cases, the offensive player leading the puck is forced to casually hit it into the offensive zone to prevent a different situation from his teammates. Thus, the offensive players are forced to chase the puck into the offensive zone disorderly, and the defensive players have an advantage in reaching the puck and taking control of it.
Another option for the defending team is "wing lock" (in English: wing lock) - pushing the opponent's attacking players to a specific wing upon entering the attacking zone to reduce their manoeuvring area and reduce the immediate danger to the goal. By doing this, the defenders delay the course of the opponent's attack and create time for themselves to manage in a defensive formation. The offensive players can overcome the limitation still in the neutral zone by passing back to the defender on the other wing, and from there, a quick pass to the wing striker the other team tried to isolate from the move.
Numerical advantage and numerical disadvantage
The team in red is outnumbered. Her players defend in a tight formation that creates a "box" around their goal.
When a team is at a numerical disadvantage on the ice due to a penalty for a foul they have committed, most of their attention is given to "killing" the penalty - passing the penalty time without conceding a goal. In such a situation, the players will defend their goal in a tighter formation, from which they will push the attacking players to the sides and corners of the arena, depending on the position of the puck. Since the "icing" rule does not apply against a team with a numerical disadvantage, it can move the puck freely across the entire ice arena - thereby "killing" part of the penalty time until the opposing team returns the puck to the offensive zone. Sometimes, the players of the outnumbered team will go forward into their attack zone to delay the start of a new offensive move by their opponent, or - if an opportunity for an explosive attack presents itself - they will even try to score a goal despite the numerical disadvantage, but this is a dangerous attempt that is only made if it is created for them Immediate and clear hatching condition.
The team players with a numerical advantage aim to take advantage of their advantage and score as long as the penalty lasts. Since the danger of conceding a goal is less for them, they increase the offensive pressure on the other team and sometimes even take one of the two defenders off the ice and bring in another striker as long as the penalty for their opponent continues. The game, naturally, is primarily played in the offensive zone of the team that has a numerical advantage, so it is characterized by a relatively static game and calculated offensive moves and multiple passes in an attempt to find the breach in the opponent's dense formation, move the puck to a free player and reach a scoring position. At the same time, the team that is in a numerical advantage strives that the puck is not moved by the opposing team beyond the blue line delimiting the attack zone - because, in this case, all its players will have to slide to the neutral zone to avoid a different situation, thus losing part of the time of the numerical advantage, and if the opposing team succeeds Move the puck to the other end of the arena - she will be able to change her players during the game and refresh the composition of her players on the ice when the puck is far from her hair, thus increasing her chances of defending and "killing" the penalty time.
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