How long is the average hockey shift?

Answer 1

The fastest on record skater was Scott neidemyer at the 1998 skills contest. He clocked in at 45k/h however the average hockey player does not skate this fast during a game. Average speed can reach 30k/h.

Answer 2

During even strength for forwards, shifts are usually no more than a minute, and rarely do they exceed two. However, on the power play shifts can span the length of the whole power play. Penalty kill shifts are usually 45 seconds to a minute.

Answer 3

It is possible to estimate the amount by examining what each player is expected to accomplish in each shift.

Goaltenders skate the least. However they are on the ice the whole game (with a couple of exceptions which bear little on the answer). Basically, a goalie will skate from the players' bench to the net at the start and end of each period. This averages out to about 185/2 feet. The official NHL rink is 185 long. Each team's players' bench is usually placed between the centre red line and the blue line. The neutral zone is typically 60 feet long as are the end zones (in theory but they can and are shorter in some rinks). Goalies usually occupy the end of the players' bench closest to the home end of the rink (ie really close to the blue line). The rink is typically 85 feet wide. Using simple geometry, the distance from the end of the bench to the goal line is a little over 60 feet (for two of the three periods) and a little under 120 feet for the middle period. The middle of the net is 2/85 feet from the boards. Therefore the goalie skates 125 feet both ways in the second period and 75 feet both ways in the first and third periods. Goalies may skate out as high as the centre line to assist in the play but this is rare. Some NHL goalies will regularly skate out to the tops of the endzone face off dots to play the puck while others are "stay at home" goalies who rarely venture out of their crease except perhaps to set up the puck behind the net for such plays. An active goalie might skate out and back to the tops of the faceoff dot half a dozen times a game and half that distance another half dozen times. This might add up to 30'x6 times x 2ways + 15' x6 x2 ways = 480 feet which seems an awful lot... The behind the net action might account for another half dozen trips back there for maybe 10 feet each way for another 120 feet. Bored goalies sometimes wander around... that is harder to estimate because it depends on how much action they are getting - or not.

If the coach pulls the goalie for an extra attacker, either to earn a tie, or take advantage of a delayed penalty, and given there could no penalties or as many as a dozen delayed penalties in a rough game, the goalie (assuming equal distribution per period) skate an additional say 300 feet per game. Therefore, one estimate of how far a goalie might skate in an NHL game is in the order of 606 feet per game, not counting warm-up which could be several laps around the end zone (85 feet wide x 60 feet deep, allowance for not touching the boards, two laps... = ((80*2)+(55*2))*2laps = 540 feet. All in all, a busy goalie might skate 1536 feet in a game.

Stay tuned for my analysis of how far a defenseman and a forward might skate...

And my referee and linesmen assessments are revealing...

Answer 4

on average, for a first liner or top 2 defenceman, a shift can last about a minute.

Answer 5

Depends if they are a forward or defenceman

Answer 6

Shifts average from between 30-60 seconds depending on the player/position. Sometimes shifts can be just a few seconds long, and other times they will stretch into multiple minutes.