Offside in hockey is one of those rules that newcomers to the game may have difficulty understanding at first. No need to worry….it is easily explained.
When a member of the attacking team has control of the puck they must make sure that the puck goes over the defending team’s blueline before any players (including the player with the puck,) do. A team is offside when any member of the offensive team crosses the blueline before the puck does. A player’s stick may cross first but not his skates. If both skates are over the blueline before the puck….it is offside. If the player has one skate over the line and one on the line….he is onside.
What happens when a team is offside?
The officiating structure in hockey is to have two referees and two linesmen. It is the linesmen that will be positioned at the blueline and they will make the call. Hockey is a fast and furious game and making these calls is not so easy. When a team is offside the linesman will blow the whistle and play is stopped. A faceoff outside the blueline will happen to restart the play.
The offside rule has been in place since 1929. Before 1929 I can just imagine all of the lazy “cherry pickers” hanging out inside the blueline and not coming back at all….I used to play with some lazy dudes who would have loved the lack of offsides. Ya gotta backcheck, you bums.
What is a delayed offside?
A delayed offside is when the puck is shot or passed into the offensive zone while an offensive player is offside but the puck has not been touched by any other member of the attacking team. The linesman will not blow the whistle right away but raises his arm signaling an impending offside call. The players that are offside have the opportunity to “tag up” which means that they can skate out of the offensive zone quickly. When all of the offensive offside players are outside the blue line the official will lower his arm and the offside is waved off….no play stoppage occurs. The players will then be onside and they can enter the zone again.
The Following Words are Offside
There are three exceptions when offside will not be called. You can’t be offside during a corner kick, throw in, or goal kick. Just kidding those are Soccer rules….not hockey. And who really cares about Soccer?
Get Your Favorite Hockey Stuff Here
Thanks for your time and please leave a comment below.
