Been following ice hockey (UK EIHL) for about 5 years on and off, got my head around the majority of rules.
One thing that puzzles me is line changes? They seem completely random, how do players know when to come off, who is coming on? Does the manager have any say or is it just when you’re ready to come off you come off? If it is the manager how does he tell players to come off?
My 8 year old son asked at a game tonight and I didn’t have an answer so spent the night trying to pickup on signals or how it works and it’s just confused me more!
Comments
The coaching staff will look at the opposing players and try to match their team for the best matchup.
Each line has strengths and weaknesses, and it is the coaches jobs to maximize the strength and minimize the weakness.
The lines are set before hand: usually 4 sets of 3 forwards and 3 sets of 2 defensemen. Usually one coach will govern offense and one coach for defense. They will tell the team which line will be next up. It’s up to the players on the ice, generally, to decide when is a good time to change lines, but the coach will call it out sometimes too.
Sometimes there are designated matchups- when a certain player on the other team goes on the ice, the team knows they will try and switch lines to get the designated matchup out there asap.
Generally a shift last 45 seconds. Playing time is far from equal; the top defensive line will play half the game and the top offense line will play a third.
Then there are special teams, which play during penalty times.
Experience and discipline. After playing hockey for long enough you know what 30-40 seconds (average pro shift) feels like. You start looking for a change around then, in most cases literally by looking at the bench and skating toward it. Next guy up sees you coming and gets ready to jump the boards.
What’s not obvious is that hockey is an anaerobic sport. You are sprinting the entire time you are on the ice and your body is in oxygen debt. You can absolutely feel that and the objective is to get off before you are too tired because you are getting maybe 2 minutes rest before doing it again.
Shifts are kept short mostly because skating and banging around at maximum effort is too tiring to do for much longer than a minute. Once your line gets to that point, they’ll usually start trying to look for ways to safely get off the ice so that the guys with fresh legs can get in.
Coaches will try to time line changes to get their best defensive players on the ice at the same time as the other team’s top scorers or wait for the best defencemen to be tired before bringing out their scoring line.
Hockey usually has a bench of 20 players, with the common arrangement being 12 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies. The forwards are arranged into 4 lines, typically a top line that does about 25 minutes, a second line and checking line that do about 15 each, and a grind line that does the rest. The defensemen are arranged into defensive pairs, with the top pair getting about 30 minutes, the second pair 20,and the third pair 10. The goalie typically does not change out unless they are injured, performing poorly, or to add an extra attacker in the late game if it is close.
Coaches try to get favorable lineup matches. You want your checking line against their top line. You want your first or second line against their grind line if you can. The home team sends their line out last to a faceoff so they get advantage there.
Once play is underway the coaches are watching the other team and bench and deciding which line is up next. When the coach signals it’s time to change the team will try to buy time for the change by chipping the puck into the other team’s zone so they can safely change while their opponents retrieve it. You’ll see the skaters raise their arm as they skate to the bench to signal their replacement to get ready to come in. As the tired skater steps off the ice through the bench door the fresh skater hops over the boards and enters play.
Changing on the fly is a critical skill for high level hockey, a team with fresh skaters that can pen a team in their own zone and prevent a change has a building advantage as their opponents tire.