Parents and Coaches: What’s That Call? About Icing

Everything you need to know about hockey calls but are embarrassed to ask. Icing – “Ice it!” Spectators yell this all the time when the team just needs to get the puck out of there. Last year, this led my son’s PeeWee coach to give all the parents and players on the team a 12-page test on hockey rules and ref signals. Why? Because most of the time when you yell “Ice it!” what you really mean is “Clear it!”

What you need to know about icing: In short, icing occurs when a player sends the puck from one end of the ice to the other. What makes it icing, versus a clear, is when the puck crosses the goal line, where it often hits the board. Icing is signaled by the linesman, who raises one hand over his head to signal that icing is in play (as the puck heads to the far end of the ice). After the icing is whistled, he folds his arms in front of his chest.

When a team is shorthanded (aka, on a penalty kill), icing is not called and the play continues. At even strength, icing results in a face-off near your goalie, giving the other team a chance to score. Icing, therefore, is not a terrible thing to do while on a penalty kill—but is a bad strategy when you’re not.

*What’s a clear? Sending the puck as far away from your goalie as you can without icing it. Icing is not an effective clear because the penalty brings the puck right back to where it was.

What else is there to know? Well, for example, if the puck goes past the goal line and into the net, that’s not icing—it’s just a plain old goal. You can find other details on pages 73–75 of the 2007–09 Official Rules of Ice Hockey booklet available at www.usahockey.com (pdf).

See it in action:

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Kelly Kordes Anton for this article.