Ice Hockey is one of the most thrilling and exciting sports in the world. Imagine rolling on a layer of ice wearing sharp blades and then crashing into your opponents, fights breaking out, every few minutes. So, even people who don’t know much about ice hockey find it exciting, but when they learn about the sport, the one thing they often find interesting is how many periods in hockey there are.
Why, you might ask, is that interesting? It's because it might not be what you're thinking, and by that, we mean it's not an even number, which you might expect from most games, where they either have halves or quarters.
The Basics: How Many Periods in Hockey?
As mentioned before, a standard game of ice hockey consists of three periods, and each period is 20 minutes long according to regulations set forth by the National Hockey League, or NHL for short. This format is also followed by college ice hockey matches and international competitions.
Here is what happens in each period and in between the periods:
- 1st Period – 20 minutes
- Intermission – Usually 15 to 18 minutes
- 2nd Period – 20 minutes
- Intermission – Another break of similar length
- 3rd Period – 20 minutes
However, during each period of the game, if there are penalties, goals, icing calls, or any other interruptions called by the referee, the game clock is stopped. This means the actual time period where players are actually playing the game and trying to score goals consists of 20 minutes and not the entire period, with everything, and the overall time of the period can be significantly longer.
What Happens After the 3rd Period?
Now that you know how many periods in hockey there are, it is also important to know what happens when all the periods run out and the score is tied between the two teams. In that case, the following things happen.
- If it’s a regular NHL season game, then there is a 5-minute overtime, where three skaters from each side play, and if it is still a tie, then the game goes to a shootout.
- But in an NHL playoff game, there is no shootout. Instead, both teams play a 20-minute sudden-death overtime period where the game stops as soon as one team scores a goal, and this period follows the same rules as the regular period.
- However, in an international game or amateur leagues, the formats may vary.
Over all these three periods structure of the game has been in place for well over a century, and rules and regulations have remained more or less the same, which involve substitutions, line changes, and other strategic decisions.
How Many Quarters in Hockey?
Right now, you might be asking why we are all of a sudden talking about quarters, when the actual question was, how many periods in hockey, and the reason is to clear the confusion that some folks might have, and that is the quarters in field hockey vs the periods in ice hockey.
This is because if you simply google periods in hockey, you might get mixed results and this can confuse people don’t know much about either of the sports and the simple answer is while ice hockey has periods, the game of field hockey has four quarters, as regulated by the international hockey federation (FIH).
So, to summarize:
- Ice hockey = 3 periods (20 minutes each)
- Field hockey = 4 quarters (15 minutes each)
Hopefully, this will clear up any confusion that some keen-eyed readers might have had.
Why Does Ice Hockey Use Periods Instead of Quarters?
Now you might be thinking, instead of asking how any periods in hockey, shouldn’t we be asking why ice hockey doesn’t use quarters, rather than periods? And you are right in thinking that, after all, four quarters or even two halves seem much suited for such sports.
Well, the answer to that question is that it makes sense for sports like field hockey and football, but for ice hockey, the sport is being played on ice, and the surface requires more maintenance. Then there is also the fact that ice hockey is a much more demanding game, and more consistent breaks just make sense.
