Category Archives: Advice

Hockey is different from almost any other team sport in terms of its acceptance for fighting within the game. It’s incredibly rare to witness a fight during a football, basketball or soccer game. But hockey… hockey’s different. Bare knuckle fighting is not only accepted in hockey, sometimes it’s actually encouraged and incentivized. But, why? Why […]

One of the most difficult things to understand for new hockey fans is just exactly how and why the players make substitutions so frequently and sometimes at seemingly random intervals. In most sports players either wait on the bench or on the sidelines until a stoppage in play allows for a substitution. In hockey, this […]

Have you ever been watching a hockey game when all of a sudden the goalie just decides to up and leave? Where’s he going!? Who’s going to play goalie!? First off, calm down… he has his reasons and we’re here to fill you in on what exactly is happening. Often when a team is trailing […]

Waiting for halftime during the hockey game? Well… you may be stuck waiting awhile, as hockey doesn’t use the traditional quarter/half format that other popular sports like football and basketball use. So… why? Interestingly enough, professional hockey used to be played into two 30 minute halves prior to the 1910-11 season. The concept of three […]

In the market for some new skates? Not sure when exactly you should replace your old skates? Look no further, we’ve got some telltale signs that should alert you when it’s time to replace your skates. The fact is, there’s no definitive time to replace your old skates, but there are several indicators that can […]

Ever heard the phrase power-play in hockey and wondered what exactly does that mean? and how does it happen? Let’s lay it out in plain English. A power play is when one team has more players on the ice than the other team. This happens when a penalty is called and a player is sent […]

Ever seen goalies move around their crease line at the start of a game or period and scraping and scratching away the surface of the ice. Goalies scrape the ice around them with their skates and stick to prepare the crease before the start of play. They do this for a few reasons, to stop […]

Sharpening your blade removes knicks and makes the edge of your blade even so that you can stop and dig into the ice at speed and with fewer falls. Are you a hockey player wondering how often you should sharpen your skates to improve your game? As a good rule of thumb, you should sharpen […]

Ever hear the phrase OTL and wondered what it really means? Here’s the simple answer. OTL stands for OverTime Loss – which means a team looses the game after going over regulation time and into extra known as a ‘sudden death’ overtime period of 5 minutes. (20 minutes during playoffs). What is Overtime? In hockey, […]

Ever wondered why hockey players are always spitting, on the bench, on the ice, between shifts, literally everywhere. Wherever you look they seem to be spitting! The truth is, when you do high-intensity exercise in cold air, saliva and mucus build up making you want to spit more to clear your airways – that’s the […]