 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
 A small pond hockey field | |
| Nicknames | Ice hockey, Shinny, Pick-up hockey |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Type | Primarily outdoors |
| Equipment | Required: A ball or a puck (most players use a puck if ice conditions allow, but a ball can be used if the ice has a rough surface), a hockey stick, a net. Optional: Shin pads, gloves, helmet. |
Pond hockey is a form of ice hockey similar in its object and appearance to traditional ice hockey, but simplified and designed to be played on part of a natural frozen body of water. The rink is 50 to 80 percent the size of a standard NHL-specification rink, and has no boards or glass surrounding it; usually only a barrier of snow keeps the puck in play. In addition, because there are no protective barriers behind the goal to contain high errant shots, the top of the goal is lower, in fact only slightly taller than the width of a puck, and the game does not have a formal goalie. Because of these differences, pond hockey places more emphasis on skating and puckhandling ability and less on shooting and checking. Non-competitive pond hockey is played with improvised goals, rinks of a variety of sizes, and no boards or snow barriers. There can only be 4 players playing per team at a time but have many subs to sub in.
There exists a World Pond Hockey Championship and several other events for players to aspire to.
The term "pond hockey" is often used, especially in Canada, as a synonym to shinny. In that context, it is meant to describe any form of disorganized ice hockey that is played outdoors, typically on a naturally frozen body of water.