Dear Answer Girl,
What’s with the icing rule in hockey? I’ve never really understood it.
-Lost On IceYou know, that’s a really great question. So great, in fact, that I decided to take it to none other than Bill Puck, ETSU’s own Buccaneer ice hockey coach (if you haven’t seen a Buccaneer hockey match before, you’ve really been missing out – call the athletics office for a game schedule).
The following is a basic outline of Mr. Puck and my icing conversation:

ANSWER GIRL: Mr. Puck. Great match last night against the University of Minnesota-St. Paul. You guys really skated hard.
BILL PUCK: Uh, thanks. Next time, we hope to take some shots in addition to skating hard.
AG: Absolutely. So anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me about the icing rule. Is it anything like icing a cake? Ha ha.
PUCK: Uh … no not really.
AG: Ha ha. Oh, okay.
PUCK: Icing is pretty much just the rule that discourages teams from dumping the puck down the ice to nobody just to clear it out and get regrouped.
AG: Oh.
PUCK: Yeah.
AG: Right. So, could you elaborate on that a little, maybe? I’m not sure if that is really enough info for our readers to get a good idea about the icing rule.
PUCK: What else is there to say?
AG: Well, um. I don’t know. When does the umpire know to call it icing?
PUCK: They’re actually called referees and linesmen.
AG: Sorry.
PUCK: Umpire, ha.
AG: So, how do they know?
PUCK: Know what?
AG: When it’s icing.
PUCK: Oh, when the puck goes across the center and opposite goal line without anyone touching it.
AG: That’s it?
PUCK: Yup. Except that the ref won’t blow the whistle until someone from the defensive team touches the puck, and if an offensive player is legally onside during the whole play and manages to get to the puck first, then it’s not icing.
Additionally, if a team is playing short because of a penalty, they cannot have icing called against them, and if the power play time is about to expire and they ice the puck then the whistle depends upon the exact moment that the team returns to full strength.
AG: Oh …
PUCK: And the only other thing is that the defense is never allowed to let the puck be iced on purpose. If they can get to it before it crosses the lines, they have to (except the goalie), or the offensive team gets a face off on the offensive half at the corner face off spot.
AG: Oh …
PUCK: And if a player is shooting the puck and it is deflected off a defender’s skate or stick and then travels the opposite way down the ice, crossing the centerline and goal line, it isn’t icing.
And if the puck goes through the goal crease before it crosses the goal line (but isn’t a goal), it isn’t icing either. And if someone shoots from the far half of the ice and they score, it isn’t icing, even though the puck technically crosses the centerline and goal line as it enters the net.
And, if someone touches the puck at any point during its travel across the centerline and goal line, then it definitely isn’t icing.
AG: Oh, it’s so clear now. Thank you so much. I’m going to have to leave now, I …
PUCK: Wait, I haven’t explained what happens if the goalie tries to dislodge the puck from the back of the net during an icing situation …

You know, talking to knowledgeable people about these things is really the best way to go sometimes. Until next time, question question question.

Send your questions to ETSUAnswerGirl@hotmail.com and look for the answer in a future issue of the East Tennessean.

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