Passing
When one player uses his stick to send the puck to a teammate.
Passout
A pass by an attacking player from behind his opponent’s net or goal line to a teammate in front of the net.
Patrick Division
With the Adams Division made up the Wales Conference until the 1992-93 season; renamed the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference starting with the 1993-94 season.
Penalty
Punishment of a player for a violation of the rules, resulting in suspension from the game for a period of time; 6 types exist: minor, bench, major, misconduct, match and goalkeeper’s penalties.
Penalty box
An area with a bench just off the ice, behind the sideboards outside the playing area where penalized players serve their penalty time.
Penalty killer
A player expert at backchecking and keeping or gaining control of a loose puck under difficult circumstances who is trained to break up a power play when his team is shorthanded.
Penalty shot
A free shot awarded a player who was illegally interfered with, preventing him from a clear scoring opportunity; the shot is taken with only the goalie guarding against it.
Periods
Three 20-minute playing intervals separated by two intermissions.
Points
The left and right positions taken by the defensemen of the attacking team, just inside the blue line of the attacking zone; also the term used to describe the defensemen playing at this location; also an individual statistic for players equal to their goals plus assists; also a team statistic used to determine team standings (2 points for each win and 1 point for each tie or overtime loss during the regular season).
Poke check
A quick jab or thrust to the puck or opponent’s stick to knock the puck away from him.
Power play
An attack by a team at full strength against a team playing one man (or two men) shorthanded because of a penalty (or penalties) which resulted in a player on the opposing team receiving penalty-box time.
Puck
A black, vulcanized rubber disc, 1-inch thick and 3-inches in diameter, weighing between 5 1/2 and 6 ounces used to play hockey; they are frozen to prevent excessive bouncing and changed throughout the game; can travel up to 120 miles per hour on a slap shot.
Pulling the goalie
Taking the goalkeeper off the ice and replacing him with a forward; leaves the goal unguarded so is only used as a last minute attempt to score.
