Inline Hockey, Inline Hockey

Inline hockey is most popular in areas with indoor artificial inline hockey rinks which make it a year-round sport at the amateur, scholastic, and professional levels. It is a North American professional sport, and is represented by the Professional Inline Hockey Association and Major League Roller Hockey at the highest level.

For the Junior "A" equivalent, see the Professional Inline Hockey Association and American Inline Hockey League minor divisions.

The two most important codes are those of the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) inline hockey rulebooks [1] . The Professional Inline Hockey Association and Major League Roller Hockey rulebooks are derived from these.

The forward positions usually consist of a center and one or two wingers . Usually in inline hockey, forwards and defensemen stay together as units or lines unlike ice hockey where forwards and defensemen are separate units. A substitution of an entire unit at once is called a line change . Teams typically employ alternate sets of forward line and defensive pairings when shorthanded or on a power play . Substitutions are permitted at any time during the course of the game, although during a stoppage of play the home team is permitted the final change. When players are substituted during play, it is called changing on the fly.

While converted roller rinks may use wooden floors, dedicated inline hockey facilities use Sport court or similar surface, which allows maximum traction to inline hockey wheels whilst providing a smooth, unbroken gliding surface for the puck. The playing area should be surrounded by full boards similar to ice hockey with glass or fencing to a height of around 2m. Often, especially in European countries, the game is played in indoor sports halls, on wooden floors. Therefore, there will be no standardized boards but instead the perimeter of the playing surface will be brick walls. In such cases, the corners of the hall are rounded off with added curved boards.

Worldwide inline hockey is governed by International Ice Hockey Federation, which organizes IIHF Inline Hockey World Championships and International Roller Sports Federation which organizes FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships.

Source: Wikipedia > Inline Hockey