Proper Faceoff Procedure

[Bladoww 4]

Hey everybody - playing in a beer league and never gave a ton of thought about faceoffs... someone goes up to the dot and tries to win it. However this season there’s one guy who complains about how the player on the other team is handling things on the faceoff approach. Other than being a prima-donna about the whole thing, it did make me wonder about what the standard practice is.

Best I can tell is this: 1) Center ice guest puts stick down first, and 2) Other than center ice, the attacking player puts stick down first.

That jive with you guys, or does your league do it differently?

[althoma1 574]

For Hockey Canada faceoff rules and procedures, read through this: http://rulebook.hockeycanada.ca/english/section-10/rule-10-2/#:~:text=A face-off shall take,sticks flat on the ice.

The visiting team is always supposed to put their stick down first, but that's just one of several rules. 

Other key items include players lining up square across from each other (a player shouldn't be lined up sideways - their feet should be shoulder width apart and their toes should be pointed forward) and the players sticks should be in the white crescent on their side of the dot (most rinks in Canada have these white crescents on all the dots except center). 

 

[chippa13 1844]

It is beer league. Nobody thinks about Home/Visitor. As long as both guys are pretty square with sticks down, have at it.

[althoma1 574]

20 hours ago, chippa13 said:

It is beer league. Nobody thinks about Home/Visitor. As long as both guys are pretty square with sticks down, have at it.

100%. Square up, get your stick on the ice on your side of the dot and go. When officiating beer league I definitely don't keep track of which team is home and away as there's no line change procedures or any of that. I should've thought of that in my first post. Completely on point.

Anyone complaining about the visiting team not putting their stick down first would be laughed at - you might as well complain about the home team getting the last line change that that point. If a player isn't putting their stick on the ice at all before a faceoff or is turning their body sideways; those are legitimate gripes. 

Even in high level travel hockey, squaring up and getting sticks on the ice on their side of the dot are the key points for the centers. The rest is more about making sure the other players aren't entering the faceoff circle early. Who puts their stick down first usually doesn't matter as the puck isn't supposed to be dropped until both players have their sticks on the dot, are squared up and stationary; so, it should be a fair draw regardless of who put their stick down first. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by althoma1

[caveman27 208]

I usually lost at face-offs.

Using a right-hand stick, I tried to draw the puck backwards to my left defense 50% of the time, push the puck to my left winger 40%, push the opponent's stick away and draw the puck backwards 9% of the time, or pull the opponent's stick up and try to kick the puck 1% (it never worked for me). 

[start_today 770]

In adult league, I’m happy as long as the opposing center isn’t turned 90 degrees and one of their wings isn’t closer to the face off dot than the ref. That feels like a low bar, but still very, very hard to meet. 

[BenBreeg 493]

Not the lowest bar, I won't complain as long as both teams have 5 players on the right side of the puck.