Every world has it’s own jargon that outsiders don’t understand. Gamers have their own words that don’t even look like English when spelled out. The business world uses $10 words to sound smart. In the hockey world, it seems that everything needs to be given a nickname. A lot of the time, it’s to simplify describing something. Sometimes it’s to make something sound a lot cooler than it is. Another frequent use for the hockey slang is to describe someone’s skill, or lack there of.
We frequently tweet hockey lingo that we fond on various sources online, so we can share this language with you all. As the collection grows, we figure it would be great to put up a master list of everything in one spot. We’ll keep adding to this post (weekly), so bookmark this and check back for new stuff. You can also follow us on twitter to get the latest slang that we come across. http://twitter.com/#!/hotshotshockey
Apple – An assist
Beauty – A player who is well liked by his teammates. Sometimes also used to describe a great hockey play
Breezers - Ice hockey pants
Bucket – slang term for a hockey players helmet
Celly – The act of celebrating a goal http://youtu.be/gUyPlvJ-d5M
Chirp – to trash talk on the ice, with the intention of getting under the skin on your opponent to throw off their game
Chopping Wood – When a player with lesser skill than his peers is trying to dangle, it usually sounds like he is chopping wood
Coast to Coast – When a player carries the puck from around their own net, all the way to the opponents net, and scores a goal
Dangle – same thing as a deke, but on a higher level of skill and showmanship
Deke – A fake-out move to get past an opposing player, while carrying the puck. A word derived from ‘decoy’
Duster - A player who spends so much time on the bench, he or she collects dust while sitting there.
Enforcer – A player whose role is essentially to protect his teammates, by offering physical harm to opposing players that cross the line
Flow – Hair that sticks out of a hockey helmet, and ‘flows’ as the player skates. Hockey hair.
Five hole – Goalies have 5 ‘holes’ to cover. Stick side high & low, glove side high & low. Between the legs is # 5
Gino – A goal
Goon - A player whose primary role is to rough up the opposition. Usually referred to as the enforcer, tough guy or fighter.
Gordie Howe Hat Trick – When a player gets a goal, assist & a fight, all in one game
Grocery Stick – Player who sits for most of the game, dividing the forwards and defencemen on the bench. (source: @BizNasty2point0)
Hero – Selfish player. Tries to do everything by them self, and usually messes it up. Usually not well liked by teammates
Lit up – A goalie is ‘lit up’ from the goal light behind him/her, when a large number of goals are scored on them
One-Timer – Shooting a pass at the net, without stopping to receive the puck
Plug – hockey player who isn’t very good, gets pushed around and plugs up the ice
Puck Bunny – A woman who is more interested in hockey players, than the game itself
Pop The Bottle – Scoring a ‘top shelf’ goal that hits the goalies water bottle sending it flying, or makes it explode
Ringer – illicit practice of using a clearly superior competitor in order to gain an unfair advantage
Sauce - Short for ‘saucer pass’. When you send the puck to a teammate or down the rink, off the ice into the air. Like a flying saucer
Sieve – The type of goalie you always want to face. Has a lot of holes and lets pretty much anything pass through.
Sin Bin – The penalty box. Aka: The Box
Shinny – A pick-up hockey game, typically played on a frozen pond.
Slot – The area in front of the net, between the face-off circle hash-marks.
Sniper – Someone who shoots the puck with amazing precision, from any distance
Top Shelf - A goal in which the puck enters the net at the uppermost part. Bonus points if you ‘Pop The Bottle’!
Twig – Slang term referring to a hockey stick
Wheelhouse – The perfect spot to send a pass, for a player to take their best possible shot. The shooters sweet spot
Yardsale – When someone gets dummied so hard, that all their gear is scattered on the ice. Also seen in bench-brawls & championship wins
Have something to add to the list? Got a favorite? Drop a comment, and we’ll be sure to include it in our list!
