I know next to nothing about hockey. NHL is really the only major pro sport I haven’t followed my whole life and I haven’t followed it at all. I know nothing about the game. Probably because where I grew up it was sort of a rare rich kid’s sport and I was a latchkey kid with a basketball hoop and a yard and could always round up enough guys for pickup games of football, basketball, and baseball. or even go to the park and play tennis. Pop Warner, and Little League, and multiple basketball leagues were a heavy presence. Even lacrosse was more common as the local college was a powerhouse, though no local schools offered it. Hockey was like, girl’s field hockey.
Anyway, I find myself interested in the sport and the NHL in particular. I have a favorite team. But I know nothing. How do I learn about NHL and the sport and go from knowing nothing to being a fanatic who can follow and participate in conversations, watch games, and know what is going on? Where would you start?
A good quick read. Hockey is not a complicated sport. The players and the culture are and Plimpton while antiquated is a great starters guide.
As for choosing a team to root for let us know where you live in the US or Canada and we can steer you in the right direction!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If you have any specific questions by all means ask them here, but really, find a friend who knows you want to learn the game, sit down, and watch the games. No sport can really be understood with words on a page or screen; that is only a supplement to watching (or, ideally, playing.)
I’d think the easiest way to learn is to just dive into it and watch a broadcast game. Every time an announcer or ref throws out a term you don’t understand just google it to get your answer. Forechecking, back checking, dump & chase, the neutral zone, the crease, delay of game, icing, pulling the goalie on a delayed penalty, carrying into the zone, stretch pass, breakaway, etc.
After you get a feel for the game and what the players are trying to do you end up watching the players move around instead of the puck.
Much better live in person. If you don’t have a local NHL team check out the AHL it is the highest minor league and many of them will make the NHL.
Other leagues like the ECHL are cheap to see but the level of play is much lower but they still have fighting which is pretty much gone at the AHL/NHL level. Very few of the ECHL guys make the NHL.
Also college hockey is good to watch. Junior hockey is mainly in Canada but there are some US teams, those are guys from 16-20 and the top guys there will likely make the NHL.
I was in the same boat as the OP about 20 years ago, though I only knew one person who was a hockey fan (my wife’s stepfather).
I’d watch some games with him, and ask him questions. I also bought a “Hockey for Dummies” book, and read through it, then referred to it while watching games.
Watching a live NHL hockey game in an arena is great fun if you live in an area where good seats are possible to get, but it’s not at all a good way of learning the game for the first time. Watching on TV gives you the play-by-play and color commentary that helps you understand what’s going on, plus generally a much better view, especially with the advent of big HD TVs. I haven’t seen the material that Leaffan suggested but it may be a good start; watching the game on TV with a friend who can explain what’s going on is also an excellent idea.
Once you have a basic understanding of the game you may want to browse through the official NHL rule book. It’s a daunting 229 pages but you definitely don’t need to read it all – just use it for reference. Basic hockey rules are really pretty simple and many of the rules are obscure and rarely used. Despite the apparently simple rules, hockey strategies can sometimes get pretty intricate and that’s something you will come to understand with time. But the basics of the game can be summarized in one sentence: shoot the puck into the net without going offside, and without committing an offense that will earn you a penalty. Minor penalties deprive a team of a player for two minutes of game time and give the opposing team a power play, which is a marginally increased opportunity to score.
Hockey is one of the fastest sports in the world and IMHO, the most exciting sport there is. It’s so incredibly energetic that in pro NHL games most skaters – not counting the goalies – typically stay on the ice for only a matter of minutes before they change. It demands all-out total energy. Which is also why as a general rule – but there are frequent exceptions – the same teams do not play on consecutive nights.
not even a single minute typically. The average shift lenght is around 45 seconds. I used to play pick up hockey with about 2 minute shifts. That was brutal at age 40.
also all the equipment they wear make you hot/sweaty pretty fast. I speak from experience , I played roller hockey and wore the same equipment except roller instead of ice skates.
This is something that, before I started really learning about hockey, I didn’t really understand. When you watch a hockey game on TV, you often don’t get a chance to actually see the shift changes happen, as the TV camera follows the puck, and teams usually try to change their shifts when the puck is in their opponents’ end of the ice.
If you get a chance to watch a game in-person, one can see the changes in action, and it’s pretty impressive.
What’s even more impressive is watching a live NHL game down close to the ice. It’s not an opportunity I’ve often had, since it’s essentially impossible to get Leafs tickets except from overpriced scalpers, but due to some friends who are NHL officials and some season seat-holders I’ve been given tickets to seats close to the ice and the energy is so fanatical that it’s frightening, and you’re thankful that you’re protected by the glass. My first impression was that “this is not like it looks on TV, at all!”