Face-off

For other uses, see Face Off (disambiguation).
Video of a face-off in a Swiss hockey game

A face-off is the method used to begin play in ice hockey and some other sports. The two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the opposing skaters attempt to gain control of the puck after it is dropped between their sticks by an official. Face-offs are generally handled by centres, although some wingers handle face-offs and very rarely, some defensemen as well. One of the referees drops the puck at centre ice to start each period and following the scoring of a goal. The linesmen are responsible for all other face-offs.

Ice hockey

One player from each team stands at the face-off spot (see below) to await the drop of the puck. All teammates must be lateral to or behind the player taking the face-off (this is in contrast to basketball, for example, where the player taking the tipoff is encircled by teammates). Generally, the goal of the player taking the face-off is to draw the puck backward, toward teammates; however, they will, occasionally attempt to shoot the puck forward, past the other team, to kill time when shorthanded. However, where the face-off occurs at one of the five face-off spots that have circles marked around them, only the two opposing players responsible for taking the face-off may be in the circle. A common formation, especially at centre ice, is for a skater to take the face-off, with the wings lateral to the centre on either side, and the skater, usually a defenseman, behind the player handling the face-off, one toward each side. This is not mandatory, however, and other formations are seen—especially where the face-off is in one of the four corner face-off spots.

In the middle of a large red circle with the Toyota logo, lit partially by sunlight shining through the roof above, two hockey players from different teams are attempting to take control of the puck beneath them. The referee, in a black and white vertically striped shirt with an orange band around his upper right arm, stands off to their left. Around the edges of the circle are the two players' teammates, some just beginning to skate into the circle.
A face-off at centre ice in a youth hockey game

Face-offs are typically conducted at designated places marked on the ice called face-off spots or dots. There are nine such spots: two in each attacking zone, two on each end of the neutral zone, and one in the centre of the rink. Face-offs did not always take place at the marked face-off spots. If a puck left the playing surface, for example, the face-off would take place wherever the puck was last played. On June 20, 2007, the NHL Board of Governors approved a change to NHL Rule 76.2, which governs face-off locations. The rule now requires that all face-offs take place at one of the nine face-off spots on the ice, regardless of what caused the stoppage of play. Rule 76.2 also dictates that, with some exceptions, a face-off following a penalty must occur at one of the two face-off dots of the offending team's end.

An official may remove the player taking the face-off if the player or any players from the same team attempt to gain an unfair advantage during the face-off (called a face-off violation). When a player is removed, one of the teammates not originally taking the face-off is required to take the face-off. Common face-off violations include: moving the stick before the puck is dropped, not placing the stick properly when requested to do so, not placing the body square to the face-off spot, or encroachment into the face-off circle by a teammate. In the NHL, the player from the visiting team is required to place his stick on the ice for the face-off first when it takes place at the centre-line dot. For all other face-offs, the player from the defending team must place his stick first. Before the league's 2015–16 season, the visiting player was required to place his stick first on all face-offs.

History

In the first organized ice hockey rules (see Amateur Hockey Association of Canada, AHAC), both centres faced the centre line of the ice rink, like the winners do today. At that time, another forward position existed, the rover, who faced forward like centres did today, but a few feet away.

Face-offs were first called "faces" of the puck, or a "puck-off".

Bandy

In bandy, the game is restarted with a face-off when the game has been temporary interrupted. The face-off is executed on the place where the ball was situated when the game was interrupted. If the ball was inside the penalty area when the game was interrupted, the face-off is moved to the nearest free-stroke point on the penalty line.

In a face-off one player of each team place themselves opposite each other and with their backs turned to their own end-lines. The sticks are held parallel to each other and on each side of the ball. The ball must not be touched until the referee has blown his whistle. At face-off the ball may be played in any direction.

In bandy, face-offs are regulated in section 4.6 of the Bandy Playing Rules set up by the Federation of International Bandy (FIB).[1]

Lacrosse

Face-offs are also used in lacrosse. In a lacrosse face-off, two players face each other in a crouching position with the ball placed between the two sticks. At a signal from the official, each tries to gain possession of the ball. A player can not hold on to the ball.

Field hockey

Two female field hockey players prepare to start or resume the match with a bully-off in the centre of the pitch.

A similar technique, known as a bully-off, is used in field hockey. The two opposing players alternately touch their sticks on the ground and against each other before attempting to strike the ball. Its use as the method of starting play was discontinued in 1981.[2]

Similar rules in other sports

A face-off is also similar to a jump ball in basketball, a ball-up in Australian rules football, and a dropped-ball (if contested) in association football. All of these also involve two opposing players attempting to gain control of the ball after it is released by an official.

An event similar to a face-off has been attempted in at least two leagues of American football: the XFL, a short-lived professional football league that played its lone season in 2001, instituted an "opening scramble," replacing the coin toss, in which one player from each team attempted to recover a loose football after a twenty-yard dash. The team whose player recovered the ball got first choice of kicking, receiving, or defending one side of the field. Because of an extremely high rate of injury in these events (in the league's first game, one XFL player was lost for the season after separating his shoulder in a scramble), the event has not gained mainstream popularity in most other football leagues. X-League Indoor Football nonetheless adopted a modified version opening scramble (using the name "X-Dash") when it began play in 2014, but tweaked to avoid the injuries so that each player chased after their own ball.

The coin toss remains the method of choice for determining possession at the beginning of an American football game.

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Face off.
  1. ↑ "Bandy Playing Rules" (PDF). Federation of International Bandy. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  2. ↑ "New hockey laws ended India's rule", The Times of India, February 27, 2010
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