In ice hockey, an offside pass or two-line pass is a pass from inside a team's defending zone that crosses the red line. When such a pass occurs, play is stopped and a faceoff is conducted in the defending zone of the team that committed the infraction.
There are two determining factors in an offside pass violation:
- Puck position when pass is released. Since the blue line is considered part of the zone the puck is in, if the puck is behind or in contact with the blue line when the pass is released, the pass may be an offside pass.
- Skate position of receiver. If the receiver has skate contact with the red line at the instant the puck completely crosses it, the pass is legal regardless of where the puck actually makes contact with his stick. Both of his skates must be completely on the far side of the red line when the puck crosses it for the pass to be offside.
A two-line pass from one side of the red line into the attacking zone is governed by the offside rule.
The offside pass rule is not observed by all leagues. The National Hockey League and other North American professional leagues use this rule, but it is not used in most amateur leagues and professional leagues in the rest of the world. Recently, the NHL has considered removing the rule in order to allow longer breakout passes. Proponents of this change believe it will increase the flow of the game, resulting in more scoring opportunities.
Last updated: 06-06-2005 07:05:08