Para ice hockey words · Beginner

Ice hockey played by athletes with a lower-body impairment, who sit on sledges and push and shoot with two sticks. It is played under the WPIH Rulebook, which uses the same rink layout and many of the rules of ice hockey, with changes for sledges.

The player's seat and mobility device. It has a frame, a heel or leg support, a front skid, a foot guard, a bucket (the seat), a blade carrier and blades. Equipment is approved at a check before each competition and may not be changed afterwards.

The white ice surface, between 56 and 61 m long and 26 and 30 m wide, with rounded corners and boards 107 cm high. The team benches must have two doors with level access so players can enter and leave without being lifted, and the benches and penalty boxes are floored to protect the sledge blades.

Three periods of 15 minutes of actual time, with two 15-minute intermissions. The clock runs from the face-off and stops when the whistle blows, the teams change ends each period, and the ice is resurfaced in the intermissions.

A team may list up to 13 players and 2 goalkeepers (14 players and 2 goalkeepers if it includes at least one woman). At most six athletes, one of them a goalkeeper, may be on the ice at once.

The six on-ice positions are the goalkeeper, the right and left defensive players, the right and left wing players and the centre.

Each team has one 1-minute time-out in regulation time or overtime, asked for by a player the coach names at a stoppage.

A player uses two sticks, which are measured together. Each is at most 100 cm from the toe to the pick end, the blade is at most 32 cm long and 7.5 cm wide, and the curve is at most 1.5 cm. Only tape may be added, and the ends are closed with tape or plugs.

The toothed end of the stick, used to push the sledge along the ice. It has at least six teeth of equal length (three each side), the teeth are at most 4 mm deep, the end is at most 10.2 cm long and at least 3.2 cm thick, and the teeth may not be conical or end in a needle point.

A black vulcanised rubber disc, at most 7.62 cm across and 2.54 cm thick and weighing 156 to 170 g.

Every player wears a certified helmet (approved by HECC) with the chin strap fastened, a certified full face mask, gloves that cover hands and wrists with the palms intact, a throat protector, shin protection, elbow pads and shoulder pads. A custom mouth guard is recommended.

Teams wear matching jerseys, pants and socks, and bring a light and a dark set. Numbers run from 1 to 99, the name goes on the back, the captain wears a C and alternates an A, and the jersey must not hang below the sledge frame.

The referee or linesman drops the puck between the sticks of two players facing the sideboards. Their sledges stay outside the spot and the stick blades are on the ice on the white part of the spot.

A minor and a bench minor are two minutes, a major is five minutes plus a game misconduct for the player, a misconduct is ten, a game misconduct sends the player off for the rest of the game, and a match penalty is a five-minute penalty plus ejection and an automatic suspension. A penalty shot can also be awarded. All penalty time is actual playing time.