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How does an offside occur in hockey?

An offside infraction occurs when an attacking player crosses the opponent’s blueline ahead of the puck. The offside is hockey’s most commonly called infraction and is intended to prevent a player from camping out in the attacking zone without the puck. The position of the player’s skates, not the stick, determines an offside. For the player to be offside, both skates must be completely over the blueline when the puck fully crosses it. After an offside is called, a faceoff occurs outside the blueline where the infraction took place. Until the 2005–06 season a two-line pass (crossing the centre redline and the opponent’s blueline) to a teammate was also considered an offside. However, the NHL legalized such passes, hoping they would open up the game, create more breakaways, and lead to more frequent scoring chances. Critics of the rule change, though, feel that the opposite has occurred and that the lack of a viable redline promotes greater use of the neutral-zone trap and more defensive hockey. A delayed offside occurs when an attacking player has preceded the puck across his opponent’s blueline and is offside but the defensive team takes possession of the puck at or near the blueline. Play is allowed to continue as the defensive team moves the puck out of its zone (and, therefore, nullifies the offside), or if an attacking player touches the puck inside the blueline.