When diving into the world of team sports, you’ll quickly notice common formats that structure gameplay. Many sports rely on quarters or halves to divide the action. Think of football, basketball, and lacrosse, all utilizing a four-quarter system, or soccer and college basketball for men, opting for two halves. Beyond these, you have innings in baseball, holes in golf, sets in tennis, and rounds in boxing and MMA, each unique to their sport.
However, hockey stands out with its distinctive approach: periods. Unlike most other sports, hockey, especially at the professional NHL (National Hockey League) level, uses a period system. This format is quite rare, primarily shared with floorball, a hockey variant.
Let’s clarify the structure of a hockey game and address the common question: how many quarters are there in hockey?
Hockey Game Structure: Periods, Not Quarters
In hockey, games are structured into three periods. These periods are the primary units of gameplay, defining the flow and duration of a match.
From the very inception of the sport, hockey has consistently adhered to this three-period format. This fundamental structure sets hockey apart from many other popular team sports.
Duration of a Hockey Period
At the NHL level, each period in hockey is 20 minutes long. Consequently, a standard regulation hockey game consists of 60 minutes of total playing time, distributed across these three periods. This 60-minute regulation time is the battleground where teams aim to outscore their opponents and secure a win.
Between each period, players get a break during a 15-minute intermission. These intermissions occur after the first and second periods, providing crucial rest and strategic planning time for teams before resuming play.
Quarters vs. Periods in Hockey: Clarifying the Terminology
To reiterate clearly: hockey does not use quarters. Instead of dividing the game into four segments like basketball or football, hockey employs a system of three periods.
While the concept of breaking down game time is shared with sports that use quarters or halves, hockey’s period system is unique. If you’re wondering about “quarters” in hockey, you should be thinking about “periods” – the correct term for the primary divisions of a hockey game.
Navigating NHL Overtime Rules
Like many competitive sports, hockey games can sometimes remain tied after regulation time. To resolve these tied games, overtime periods are implemented to determine a winner. These are extra periods added after the standard three periods to break the deadlock.
For a comprehensive understanding of overtime rules, the full NHL rulebook section on overtime is available here.
Overtime in NHL Preseason and Regular Season Games
- During the preseason and regular season, if a game is tied after three periods, a five-minute overtime period is played. This overtime is played with only three skaters per team plus a goalie (3-on-3 hockey), creating more open ice and scoring opportunities.
- This overtime period operates under sudden-death rules. The first team to score in overtime immediately wins the game.
- If neither team scores during the five-minute overtime, the game proceeds to a shootout.
- In a shootout, each team selects three shooters to take penalty shots in alternating fashion over three rounds.
- The team that scores the most goals in these three shootout rounds is declared the winner.
- If the score remains tied after the initial three shootout rounds, the shootout continues, round by round, in a sudden-death format. This continues until one team scores and the other does not in a given round, thus determining the winner.
Overtime Rules for NHL Playoff Games
- Playoff overtime in the NHL takes on a different, more intense format. If a playoff game is tied after regulation, teams play a full 20-minute overtime period. Crucially, playoff overtime is played with 5-on-5 hockey, the standard player configuration.
- Similar to regular season overtime, playoff overtime is also sudden-death. The first team to score in any overtime period wins the game and advances (or wins the series).
- If no goal is scored in the initial 20-minute overtime period, the game continues into successive 20-minute overtime periods. This process repeats – a full 20-minute period followed by sudden death – until one team scores. Playoff games can, and sometimes do, extend for multiple overtime periods, making them incredibly dramatic and demanding.
In summary, while many sports use quarters, hockey uniquely employs periods to structure its games. Understanding that hockey games are played in three periods, each 20 minutes long, with specific overtime rules for both regular season and playoffs, is fundamental to appreciating the sport. So, when thinking about the divisions of a hockey game, remember: it’s all about the periods, not quarters!
