Face-off

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Series of photos showing Louie Caporusso winning a faceoff

A faceoff 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 centres attempt to gain control of the puck after it is dropped between their sticks by an official. (NHL) One of the Referees shall face-off the puck to start each period and following the scoring of a goal. Linesmen are responsible for all other face-offs.

Ice hockey

Faceoffs are typically conducted at designated places marked on the ice called faceoff 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. Faceoffs did not always take place at the marked faceoff spots. If a puck left the playing surface, for example, the faceoff 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 which governs faceoffs. This change now requires all faceoffs to take place at one of the nine faceoff spots on the ice, regardless of what caused the stoppage of play.

An official may remove the player taking the faceoff if they or any players from their team attempt to gain an unfair advantage during the faceoff (called a faceoff violation). When a player is removed, one of their teammates not originally taking the faceoff is required to take the faceoff. Common faceoff 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 faceoff spot, or encroachment into the faceoff circle by a teammate. In the NHL, the player from the visiting team is required to place their stick on the ice for the faceoff first.

Other sports

College lacrosse players scramble for the ball during a faceoff.

Faceoffs are also used in lacrosse. In a lacrosse faceoff, two players face each other in a crouching position, the back of the head of each player's stick pressed against that of their opponent, 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.

A faceoff-like event has been attempted in at least one league 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, the event has not (as of 2008) gained mainstream popularity in any other football league, and the coin toss remains the method of choice for determining possession at the beginning of a game.

History

The puck has just been dropped and the centres are fighting for puck control.

A typical faceoff at centre ice

Historical alignment

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

Historical naming

Faceoffs were first called "faces" of the puck or a "puck-off".

See also

• Scrum