Line (ice hockey) of players for different situations. Because of the use of lines in hockey, ice hockey rosters have relatively large rosters compared to the number of players on the ice (23 for a typical NHL team, with 20 active on game day and six on the ice at any given time). Only gridiron football has a larger relative roster size (the NFL has 53 players, 46 active on gameday, 11 on the field). Line (ice hockey) In ice hockey, a line is a group of forwards that play in a group, or "shift", during a game. A complete forward line consists
Fighting in ice hockey Fighting in ice hockey Fighting in ice hockey is an established tradition of the sport in North America, with a long history that involves many levels of amateur and professional play and includes some notable individual fights. Fighting is usually performed by enforcers, or "goons"—players whose role is to fight and intimidate—on a given team, and is governed by a complex system of unwritten rules that players, coaches, officials, and the media refer to as "the code". Some fights are spontaneous, while others are premeditated by the participants. While officials tolerate fighting during hockey games, they impose a variety of