Legal Face-off tactics

[CrazedHockeyDad 0]

The Hockey Canada rules on face-offs say a bunch of things. One of them is that the players can not move "until the puck is dropped". We're wondering what that means.

If the puck has left the official's hand, has it been dropped? Or do you have to wait until it hits the ice?

Another related question, is it legal to make your first motion to clear the opponent's stick from the dot and then play the puck? Or do you have to direct your motion to the puck?

Centers, what are your favorite or successful tactics?

[shute 4]

i've always tried to knock or direct the other players stick away before i go for the puck and i've never had a problem.. i sometimes even stick my foot and then my body out to block their stick from getting to the puck if they are left handed. never had a problem but then again i only play in rec leagues.

[hockechamp14 0]

The refs aren't going to blow down a face off between the time it leaves the hand and the ice, regardless of what the intent of the rules are.

A couple things you can do that are shades of grey in legality are pushing out the other guy's skates on the draw. If you do it well, the refs won't be able to tell if you did it or if he tripped on your stick.

Or you can do the "ass-check" since the refs are calling more interference on the face off draws. You have to make a turn and throw your hip into the other guy, boxing him out and making sure you're playing the puck. When you do this, it can also be helpful to make a stick check on the other center as you turn.

[Docter Pepper 0]

One of them is that the players can not move "until the puck is dropped". We're wondering what that means.

It says dropped, not landed. If i drop something down a bottomless pit, when would you consider i dropped it?

[CrazedHockeyDad 0]

This is my thinking, but I'm wondering if it's legal to make the first motion of the face-off a stick check of the other center while the puck is in the air.

There is the Times Square Ball Theory to consider. Just because the ball starts to drop, does that mean you shout, "Happy New Year", or do you have to wait until it hits bottom? ;)

The refs aren't going to blow down a face off between the time it leaves the hand and the ice, regardless of what the intent of the rules are.

The intent of it is really my question. I can't make it out from the language. Maybe one of the refs here can say....

[G60 0]

totally off topic, but i have an old Hockey News Draft Preview during the time Lindros played for the Generals, and it was mentioned "one of Lindros' signature moves is grabbing the opposing players stick during the face off and taking control of the puck" :lol:

[OhMyGodImOnFire 0]

Is that legal? "Using" someone elses stick?

[CCC8190 0]

Is that legal? "Using" someone elses stick?

simply, no.

i play center and when i take draws i get my hands extremely low on the stick. my bottom hand is probably 5 inches above the heel of the blade and my top hand at mid shaft. im sure i look goofy as hell, but it works great for me. as for other tactics, if i want to win it back, for example, i watch the refs hand and as soon as the puck is DROPPED, i push forward against my opponents stick and back to sweep the puck. i also somewhat use the "ass check" somebody previously referred to.

[tsiarls79 0]

i play in a small rec ice league where refs aren't really trained, i sometimes lift my stick when the ref drops the puck and somewhat bat it to my wing, is that legal?

[CCC8190 0]

i play in a small rec ice league where refs aren't really trained, i sometimes lift my stick when the ref drops the puck and somewhat bat it to my wing, is that legal?

no, batting is illegal. i remember one year in the playoffs brindamour did that to holik and holik bitched like crazy

[hockechamp14 0]

i play in a small rec ice league where refs aren't really trained, i sometimes lift my stick when the ref drops the puck and somewhat bat it to my wing, is that legal?

no, batting is illegal. i remember one year in the playoffs brindamour did that to holik and holik bitched like crazy

He might have been mad because Brind'amour may not have had his stick on the ice at the start of the drop.

[tsiarls79 0]

so even if i had my stick on the ice when the puck is dropped, i cant lift my stick to bat the puck? crap...

[DamnLocust 0]

I've seen the puck batted hundreds of times, never seen a ref call it illegal. I've only played in roller/beer leagues, so maybe the refs just don't know/care about the batting.

One thing I do when im losing a lot of draws is turn my stick around. (I'm a LH player, so I hold the stick as a RH player would). I get some crazy looks from the opposing team, and sometimes even the ref, but it's sometimes enough to just throw off the opposing center. If not, I at least get a little chuckle out of it.

[Chadd 916]

If they don't stop you, it isn't illegal. Keep the stick and your body off the other guy and you should be good to go.

[EndBoards 0]

In the rare case that I take a draw, I watch the ice and start my move as soon as I pick up movement in my peripheral vision.

Use a low grip, and a wide stance. As far as tactics, first priority is preventing a clean win by the other guy. Next priority is moving the puck to the right or left. A distant third is to moving it backwards.

A clean win is nice and all, but if you've got a mismatch in skill one side or the other, take advantage of it. You'll win almost every draw you send to that side of the ice.

[Project824 0]

This is my thinking, but I'm wondering if it's legal to make the first motion of the face-off a stick check of the other center while the puck is in the air.

There is the Times Square Ball Theory to consider. Just because the ball starts to drop, does that mean you shout, "Happy New Year", or do you have to wait until it hits bottom? ;)

The refs aren't going to blow down a face off between the time it leaves the hand and the ice, regardless of what the intent of the rules are.

The intent of it is really my question. I can't make it out from the language. Maybe one of the refs here can say....

Sure it's legal to make contact with your opponent's stick while the puck is in the air. Players have made many a long faceoff career out of doing this. If you wait for your Times Square theory to move on the puck you'll lose every faceoff you ever take. Your stick should move the second the referee's hand moves, also meaning you should be looking at his hand instead of the faceoff dot.

[CrazedHockeyDad 0]

Sure it's legal to make contact with your opponent's stick while the puck is in the air. Players have made many a long faceoff career out of doing this. If you wait for your Times Square theory to move on the puck you'll lose every faceoff you ever take. Your stick should move the second the referee's hand moves, also meaning you should be looking at his hand instead of the faceoff dot.

This confirms my thoughts. I just thought I'd check the legality of it with the board, since I never played this game growing up. The wording of the rule is ambiguous.

I took my daughter out to work on face offs and found this was a winning strategy for me: take care of the opponent's stick decisively, then take the puck. Of course I have 3" extra in reach, 60 lbs extra in weight, and some extra muscle, but she has similar advantage against her opponents generally, as she's a big, strong girl. I don't know why we don't see this more often as the default strategy in girl's hockey....maybe it only works when there is a mis-match in strength at the dot.

Recently, during one of the intermissions of Hockey Night In Canada, some pro was talking about taking face-offs and was advocating a clean, fast "J" motion to get to the puck first and pull it backwards....not what we've been discussing.

[All Torhs Team 0]

I've seen the puck batted hundreds of times, never seen a ref call it illegal. I've only played in roller/beer leagues, so maybe the refs just don't know/care about the batting.

When I was learning to ref I was taught to not let players bat it. Blow the whistle immidiatly after they do it, and do the face off again.

[hockeymom 2]

Sure it's legal to make contact with your opponent's stick while the puck is in the air. Players have made many a long faceoff career out of doing this. If you wait for your Times Square theory to move on the puck you'll lose every faceoff you ever take. Your stick should move the second the referee's hand moves, also meaning you should be looking at his hand instead of the faceoff dot.

This confirms my thoughts. I just thought I'd check the legality of it with the board, since I never played this game growing up. The wording of the rule is ambiguous.

...this was a winning strategy for me: take care of the opponent's stick decisively, then take the puck. ... I don't know why we don't see this more often as the default strategy in girl's hockey....

Recently, during one of the intermissions of Hockey Night In Canada, some pro was talking about taking face-offs and was advocating a clean, fast "J" motion to get to the puck first and pull it backwards....not what we've been discussing.

Under the new standards you must play the puck, not the stick. A lot of early face-offs got whistled down this year for stick contact. As Project said, you watch the ref's hand and make your move when he does... but you can't be seen to have your primary purpose be to "decisively take care of the opponent's stick".

The "j" method works well, it is the method my daughter has often used to win face-offs with a very high win percentage ... to send it back to the D. As others have said here, your blade goes under your opponent's stick. After far too many incidents of "losing" the face-off, because she won it and the D couldn't handle it ... she is now directing the puck out to her wingers (this year) so isn't using the "j" that often... nor winning the face-off as much.

[CrazedHockeyDad 0]

Under the new standards you must play the puck, not the stick.

Got a link for that? I only found this HockeyCanada video on the OWHA site:

http://www.odharefs.com/Video/Interference.wmv

It has a section on 'face-off interference'. The narrator says,

"Players are not permitted to use their free hand or stick to impede or block the progress of opponents who are in pursuit of the puck or trying to obtain defensive position."

It's pretty clear to me that this is not what we are disussing. We are talking about a static battle for a puck at a face-off dot. No progress is required.

[sonsplayhockey 0]

Under the new standards you must play the puck, not the stick.

Got a link for that? I only found this HockeyCanada video on the OWHA site:

http://www.odharefs.com/Video/Interference.wmv

It has a section on 'face-off interference'. The narrator says,

"Players are not permitted to use their free hand or stick to impede or block the progress of opponents who are in pursuit of the puck or trying to obtain defensive position."

It's pretty clear to me that this is not what we are disussing. We are talking about a static battle for a puck at a face-off dot. No progress is required.

I've never heard of this either. I specifically asked the league manager and refs running a seminar at our Beer League. They said you can play the stick during a faceoff as well as when the opponent has possession or is trying to gain possession of the puck.

If I'm playing a guy who is beating me on facoffs, I'll jam him up and tell a winger to come in and pull the puck to the D. Quite often, I"ll jam the opponent's stick and have my outside winger come in right away and pull the puck to our D who then takes it around behind the net to the other winger who is awaiting the breakout pass. In your Defensive zone you don't want your opponent to win it clean cause he's probably setting up a shot from the point.

Watch the puck in the ref's hand and when you see it move, start extending your hand out to draw it back or to jam the stick. Some Beer league refs have habbits of moving something else on their body before dropping the puck. While on the bench, I'll look for this. Often it's a motion to start to get out of the way. One popular ref actually starts to move his other hand first.

[CrazedHockeyDad 0]

Under the new standards you must play the puck, not the stick.

Got a link for that? I only found this HockeyCanada video on the OWHA site:

http://www.odharefs.com/Video/Interference.wmv

It has a section on 'face-off interference'. The narrator says,

"Players are not permitted to use their free hand or stick to impede or block the progress of opponents who are in pursuit of the puck or trying to obtain defensive position."

It's pretty clear to me that this is not what we are disussing. We are talking about a static battle for a puck at a face-off dot. No progress is required.

I've never heard of this either. I specifically asked the league manager and refs running a seminar at our Beer League. They said you can play the stick during a faceoff as well as when the opponent has possession or is trying to gain possession of the puck.

If I'm playing a guy who is beating me on facoffs, I'll jam him up and tell a winger to come in and pull the puck to the D. Quite often, I"ll jam the opponent's stick and have my outside winger come in right away and pull the puck to our D who then takes it around behind the net to the other winger who is awaiting the breakout pass. In your Defensive zone you don't want your opponent to win it clean cause he's probably setting up a shot from the point.

Watch the puck in the ref's hand and when you see it move, start extending your hand out to draw it back or to jam the stick. Some Beer league refs have habbits of moving something else on their body before dropping the puck. While on the bench, I'll look for this. Often it's a motion to start to get out of the way. One popular ref actually starts to move his other hand first.

Under the new enforcement, or rather what was the new enforcement at the beginning of the season, I think "jamming the guy up" is interference, but they don't seem to be calling it any more.

I'm just asking about making contact with the opponent's stick before touching the puck, in order to gain positional advantage for *playing* the puck when it hits the dot. You are allowed to lift the stick if you can play the puck, and this seems to be something like that.

[hockeymom 2]

Under the new standards you must play the puck, not the stick.

Got a link for that? I only found this HockeyCanada video on the OWHA site:

http://www.odharefs.com/Video/Interference.wmv

It has a section on 'face-off interference'. The narrator says,

"Players are not permitted to use their free hand or stick to impede or block the progress of opponents who are in pursuit of the puck or trying to obtain defensive position."

It's pretty clear to me that this is not what we are disussing. We are talking about a static battle for a puck at a face-off dot. No progress is required.

I don't believe you understood the nuance - or I wasn't clear. Either that or I suppose what isn't clear for me is how you are "taking care of them"...LOL I confess I have never thought of the face-off as static...your feet aren't skating but your stick certainly is moving.

Of course there is going to be stick - to -stick contact in a face-off. I certainly didn't mean to imply there wasn't. However, if you are trying to find the line legally, it is HOW it is done.... if too much of your energy is focused on "decisively taking care of the opponent's stick" it could be interpreted as impeding their progress. What you are saying seems fine... just the degree is unclear.

At any rate, legal nit-picking aside... they are no longer calling (most of the time) tying up the other player or putting your stick between their legs or the butt move as interference. So I really wouldn't lose sleep over it.

To learn it, I would practice quick hand-to-eye co-ordination and the J move.

[Storm 0]

In the conduct of any face-off anywhere on the playing surface, no player facing-off shall make any physical contact with his opponent's body by means of his own body or by his stick except in the course of playing the puck after the face-off has been completed.

i.e. you can lift the opponents stick and box him out after the puck hits the ice...a teammate can pick up the puck while the two centers are fighting for position....you can even kick the puck to a teamamte.

[hockeymom 2]

Thanks Storm... that certainly clears it up nicely.