Hockey LEVELED BOOK • R

A Reading A–Z Level R Leveled Book

Word Count: 1,019

Writing
Connections

What do you think is the most difficult

Hockey
aspect of playing hockey and why? Write
a paragraph including information from the
book to support your answer.
Math
Research to find the Stanley Cup winners
from the beginning of the competition to
today. Work with a partner to collect and
organize the data in a graph to show which
teams have won the most Stanley Cups.

Written by Louanne Silver

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 Glossary
crease (n.) a marked area immediately in front
of or surrounding the goal in certain
sports, such as hockey or lacrosse
(p . 10)
Hockey
dangerous (adj.) able or likely to cause harm (p . 7)

defense (n.) the action of attempting to keep an

opposing team from scoring; players
who attempt to keep an opposing
team from scoring (p . 9)

neutral (adj.) not supporting or connected with

either side in a conflict or contest
(p . 10)

offense (n.) the action of attempting to score

against an opposing team; players
who attempt to help their team score
against an opposing team (p . 9)

penalties (n.) punishments for breaking rules

(p . 12)

puck (n.) a hard rubber disk used in hockey

Written by Louanne Silver
(p . 7)
www.readinga-z.com
referee (n.) a judge of a game or match who
makes sure the rules are followed Focus Question
(p . 12)
What is hockey, and what makes it a unique
zones (n.) areas with special purposes or sets
of rules (p . 10) sport?

16
 Getting Involved
Words to Know
Would you like to play hockey? Find out
crease penalties
if your city or town has a youth hockey league .
dangerous puck
It’s great if you already have some hockey
defense referee
skills, but if you’ve never played before, that’s
neutral zones
fine, too . Most leagues have programs for all
offense
ages and skill levels . Once you’re ready, you
Front cover, back cover: The Boston Bruins play the Detroit Red Wings. can join a team . A coach will help you learn
Title page: A Los Angeles Kings goalie keeps his eyes on the puck during the rules, and you’ll build skills and make
the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2014.
friends along the way .
Page 3: Children play hockey at a community rink.

Photo Credits: Hockey is an action-packed sport that

Front cover, back cover: © Jerry Coli/Dreamstime.com; title page: © Chris
Williams/Icon Sportswire/AP Images; page 3: © Radius Images/Alamy Stock involves speed, skill, quick thinking, and
Photo; page 4: © AP Images; page 5: © Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/Landov;
page 7: © Bygone Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; page 8: © Elvira teamwork . What’s the best way to describe
Gomolach/123RF; page 9: © Shingo Ito/AFLO/Nippon News/Corbis; page 10:
© Luca Santilli/Dreamstime.com; page 11: © Rainer Lesniewski/123RF; page 12: hockey in only two words? Nonstop fun!
© Laszlo Szirtesi/123RF; page 13: © Photodisc/Photodisc/Thinkstock; page 14 (left):
© Bettmann/Corbis; page 14 (right): © Christopher Morris/Corbis; page 15:
© Tim Clayton/30153460A/Corbis

Hockey
Spectacular Sports
Level R Leveled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL R
Written by Louanne Silver
Fountas & Pinnell N
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 30
A coach instructs his junior hockey
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 30 team during a match in Connecticut.

Hockey • Level R 15
Wayne Hayley
Gretzky Wickenheiser

Hockey Greats
Wayne Gretzky is perhaps the best hockey
player of all time . His amazing hockey talents
Table of Contents
earned him the nickname “The Great One .”
He started playing in 1979 and led the Miracle on Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Edmonton Oilers to Stanley Cup wins
Playing to Win . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988 . He set many
records during his hockey career . Hockey Around the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Hayley Wickenheiser joined Canada’s The Dawn of Hockey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

National Women’s Team in 1994, when
Playing the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
she was fifteen . She has led the team to
seven medals at the Women’s World Hockey Hockey Greats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
matches and five Olympic medals . She
Getting Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
has also helped women’s hockey become
more popular . Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

14 Hockey • Level R 3
 Hockey can be a rough sport, and penalties
are given for bad behavior, including fighting
or jabbing a player with a stick . Penalties are
also given for elbowing, kneeing, and stopping
another player with a stick or body part .

Team USA is overjoyed after unexpectedly beating the Soviet team When a penalty is called, the player must
in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
leave the ice and sit in the penalty box . The
Miracle on Ice team plays with fewer players until a certain
amount of time has passed .
The date is February 22, 1980 . The location
is Lake Placid, New York, at the Winter Clothing and Equipment
Olympic Games . The U .S . national hockey shoulder
helmet with a
pads
team faces the Soviet Union national team, face mask and
a mouth guard
which has won gold in six of the last seven
elbow
Olympic Games . Everyone thinks the Soviet Hockey players wear pads
team will win . The U .S . team is ahead 4-3 with protective equipment
only ten minutes left in the game . As television to avoid injuries.

newsman Al Michaels counts down the last padded

pants/shorts
seconds on the clock, he says, “Do you believe
in miracles? YES!” Team USA beats the Soviets gloves
and then beats Finland to win Olympic gold . shin
pads
The energy of these types of exciting wins, hockey
stick skates with steel
the speed of the game, and the talent of its blades and stiff
players are what make hockey a thrilling boots to protect
the feet and
puck
global sport . support the ankles

4 Hockey • Level R 13
 Playing to Win
The National Hockey League (NHL) began
in 1917 with five Canadian teams . It now has
thirty teams, with about one-fourth based
in Canada . Hockey is the sixth most popular
team sport in North America . Teams in the
NHL compete for a chance to win the highest
award in men’s hockey—the Stanley Cup .
Players use many different techniques to win face-offs.
Women have their own leagues . Since
A hockey game has three periods, each 2007, Canada has had the Canadian Women’s
one twenty minutes long . (Youth hockey Hockey League . The United States formed the
has shorter periods .) If the score is tied at the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015 .
end of the third period, one or more overtime
periods are added . The first team that scores
during overtime is the winner .

Each period starts with a face-off inside the

center circle . The referee, along with one player
from each team, stands inside the circle . The
referee drops the puck, and the two players
battle for control of it . Face-offs also happen at
other times during the game, including after
goals are scored or penalties are given . Those
face-offs can happen at any of the nine face-off
The Los Angeles Kings with the Stanley Cup after defeating the New York
dots on the ice . Rangers in 2014.

12 Hockey • Level R 5
 Where Hockey Is Played
The other five players move all over the
ice . The center and two wings mainly try to
score, and the two defensive players mainly
NORTH EUROPE try to keep the other team from scoring . All
AMERICA ASIA
ATLANTIC
OCEAN five players try to gain control of the puck
AFRICA
if the other team has it . They switch back
PACIFIC INDIAN Equator
SOUTH
OCEAN AMERICA OCEAN and forth between offense and defense,
AUSTRALIA depending on which team has the puck .

Hockey Positions
Countries in both hot and cold parts of the world play hockey.
Goalie

Hockey Around the Globe

Hockey is played in over seventy countries .
As of 2013, there were over a million and a half Right Left
hockey players around the world . Canada and Defenseman Defenseman

the United States have by far the most hockey Center

players . Right Wing Left Wing

Hockey is usually played indoors so the Left Wing Right Wing

ice can stay frozen all year long . However, in Center

cold parts of the world, it can also be played Left Right

outdoors on frozen ponds and lakes . Defenseman Defenseman

Men’s hockey has been part of the Olympic

Winter Games since 1924 . Women’s hockey
was added in 1998 . Goalie

6 Hockey • Level R 11
 The Dawn of Hockey
Modern hockey is played on ice with a hard
rubber puck, but the game didn’t start out that
way . Long ago, the sport was played with a
ball, which was dangerous because the ball
was hard to control on ice .

The first hockey rules were created in

eastern Canada . On March 3, 1875, the first
Goalies wear special leg pads and gloves. They wear a blocker on the hand
hockey game with a puck was played in the
that holds the stick and a catching glove for catching fast-moving pucks. city of Montreal . Hockey soon became popular
Pucks can travel more than 100 miles per hour (161 kmph)!
across Canada . The game later spread south
Two blue lines on the ice divide the playing into the United States .
area into three zones . The middle section is
the neutral zone . There are two defending
zones, one for each team, at opposite ends of
the rink . An offensive player cannot enter the
other team’s defending zone unless the puck
has crossed the blue line .

A hockey team usually has six players

on the ice at a time . The goalie guards the net
and is the main player in charge of keeping
the other team from scoring . The goalie is the
only player allowed to use his or her hands or
Early hockey games using a puck were played at Victoria Skating Rink
other body parts to stop the puck in the crease . in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

10 Hockey • Level R 7
 Hockey Rink
Playing the Game
85 feet (26 m) goal line
(at each end Hockey is a fast and exciting team sport
of the rink)
played on a smooth ice rink with a rubber
boards:
42 inches (1 m) puck and a long, thin stick . Players use their
high, plus strong sticks to stickhandle (control), pass, and shoot
plastic 5 to 8 feet
(1.5–2.4 m) the puck . Imagine doing that while skating at
above that
20 miles per hour (32 kmph) or more! Players
attacking zone (offensive zone):
where a team is trying to score; score goals by getting the puck into the other
blue lines:
contains two face-off circles
divide the
team’s net . The team with more goals at the
center
playing area end of the game wins .
into three
face-off
zones
Each team is always trying to gain control
200 feet (61 m)

neutral zone: contains circle

the center face-off center line of the puck so they can score goals . The team
circle as well as (red line)
four face-off dots that has the puck is on offense, and the other
center face-off
dot: Play begins team is on defense .
here at the start
of each period
defensive zone: where a team’s goal is; and after a goal Strong stickhandling skills
the area they are trying to protect from the is scored. are an important part of
opposing team; contains two face-off circles playing hockey well.

net (goal): a steel

frame with heavy
nylon mesh
netting that
stretches
goal crease: semicircular area in front of each between the goal
goal; players can only enter their opponent’s goal posts and
crease if the puck is already there crossbar

8 Hockey • Level R 9