Team...each team has 5 players on ice, not including the goalie.
- Right Wing
- Left Wing
- Center
- 2 defensemen
Gameplay. They play three 20-minute periods, with two intermissions between the first and second periods. They start out with the face off, where the ref drops the puck at the middle of the rink between the team's centers. After that, basically what they're looking to do is maneuver around the ice, in and out, passing the puck here and there, and try to shoot this flat rubber disc into a net.
If a team is down by one goal near the end of the third period, they'll usually take their goalie out of the game, this allows the team to have a sixth player on ice, giving them an extra man to help score a tying goal. Though sometimes, the other team gets the puck an scores an easy empty-net goal, thus sealing the game's outcome.
Penalties. There are several different things that can be called..the most common calls are hooking, slashing, holding, interference, boarding, tripping and so on.
The player who takes the penalty sits out for 2 minutes, giving the other team a one-man advantage. The idea being that they have a better chance to score a goal...this is called a
Power Play
Overtime. If the game is tied at the end of the third period, they go into a 5 minute overtime period. That consists of only 4 players on the ice per team, instead of the usual five. First team to score in overtime wins.
Shootout. If there's no winner at the end of OT, they go into a shootout..which is one player alone, trying to score a shot against the other team's goalie. Each team does this for a best out of three. If no one scores in the best-of-three round, they go to a sudden death shootout round. It goes as long as needed...First team to score wins.
I'm a mega Thrashers fan, btw. Anything else I can help you with, just say so
