Drawing on over five years of experience in the financial sector, Timothy "Tim" Maleck is a Certified Public Accountant based in New York City. When he isn't working, Timothy Maleck enjoys playing and watching a variety of sports, including hockey.
The concept of hockey is quite simple in that two opposing teams are attempting to score as many goals as possible to win the game. However, there are some rules that new fans might find confusing, one of which is offside. To understand the rule, it's important to see the ice surface as three separate zones: the defending zone, the offensive zone, and the neutral zone, which takes up the middle third of the ice and separates the two opposing zones.
In simplest terms, the puck must enter the offensive zone before any of the players on the attacking team. For instance, if an attacking player carried the puck into the offensive zone while one of his teammates was already in the zone, the play would be whistled offside by the linesman. However, the player must have both skates inside the zone for the play to be offside. One of the easiest ways to avoid an offside call is to chip the puck over the blue line and allow your teammates to chase it instead of trying to make a move around a defender that might cause your teammates to enter the zone before you.
