🏒Kanuni za Hoki ya Barafu

Ice hockey is a fast team sport played on an ice rink between two teams. Wearing skates and carrying sticks, players try to shoot a rubber puck into the opponent's goal. It is a contact sport known for its speed and intensity.

Score more goals than the opposing team by shooting the puck into the net defended by the goaltender. The team with the most goals at the end of regulation wins.

• •Each team usually has 6 players on the ice, including 1 goaltender (5 skaters + 1 goalie).
• •A goal counts when the puck fully crosses the goal line inside the net.
• •Offside: an attacker may not cross the opponent's blue line before the puck (skate position is what counts).
• •Icing: shooting the puck from your own half across the opponent's goal line untouched is penalised with a face-off in your own zone.
• •Player substitutions are made 'on the fly', without stopping play.
• •A foul leads to a penalty: the offending player is temporarily removed and the team plays short-handed.

Each goal is worth 1 point; there are no different goal values. The score is simply the number of goals each team has scored. The team with the most goals at the end of the game wins. In overtime or a shootout, the decisive goal determines the winner.

A game has 3 periods of 20 minutes of effective time, with two intermissions (often 15 minutes) to resurface the ice. If tied, a sudden-death overtime and then a shootout may decide the winner. The duration and overtime format vary by federation and match type (group stage or knockout).

The team with the most goals at the end of regulation wins. If the score is level, the winner is decided by sudden-death overtime and, if needed, a shootout (depending on the format).