SSC
In ice hockey, how many players does each team have on the ice during normal play?
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Answer: Option C — Six
Detailed Solution
In ice hockey, each team has six players on the ice during normal play: one goaltender (goalie) and five skaters, usually two defencemen and three forwards (a centre and two wingers).
Key features of ice hockey:
It is played on an ice rink with rounded corners, surrounded by boards about 1.2 m high with glass above them. A standard NHL rink is about 61 m (200 ft) long and 26 m (85 ft) wide.
Players use a stick with a curved blade to hit a hard, flat rubber disc called a "puck" into the opponent's goal.
A game is played in three periods of 20 minutes each.
Players change very often ("line changes"), sometimes every 45 seconds to a minute, because the game is very fast and tiring. Substitutions are allowed while play continues ("on the fly").
Teams play with fewer players when one is sent to the penalty box for a foul. This creates a "power play" for the other team.
Important terms include "blue line" (the lines that divide the rink into zones), "icing", "offside", "face-off" and "hat-trick".
History and organisation:
Modern ice hockey developed in Canada in the 19th century. The first organised indoor game was played in Montreal in 1875.
Ice hockey is Canada's official national winter sport (lacrosse is the national summer sport).
The world governing body is the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), founded in 1908, with its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
The National Hockey League (NHL), founded in 1917, is the top professional league, and its champions win the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America (1893).
It has been part of the Winter Olympics since 1924 (it was first played at the 1920 Summer Olympics).
In India, ice hockey is played mainly in Ladakh, which hosts Khelo India Winter Games events.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Five players per side are used in basketball.
- ✗Seven players per side are used in kabaddi.
- ✗Eleven players per side are used in field hockey and football.
Quick tip
Remember: Ice hockey = 6 players (1 goalie + 5 skaters), 3 periods of 20 minutes, puck, blue line; Stanley Cup (NHL); IIHF HQ = Zurich; Canada's national winter sport.
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Sports — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.