In ice hockey, play is said to be offside if a player on the attacking team enters the attacking zone before the puck itself enters the zone, whether it is being carried by a teammate or sent into the attacking zone by an attacking player. If a defending player carries, passes, or otherwise intentionally sends the puck into his defensive zone, any attacking player in the zone is not offside. However, if an attacking player is attempting to shoot the puck into the attacking zone and it deflects off a defending player, an offside violation can still occur. This is unlike the icing rule, where an unintentional deflection by the other team will negate an icing call. When an offside violation occurs, the linesman blows the play dead, and a faceoff is conducted in the neutral zone closest to where the offside was. There are two determining factors in an offside violation: 1. Attacking players' skate position: One of a player's skates is not in contact with or behind the blue line of the attacking zone before the puck enters that zone. 2. Puck position: The puck must completely cross the outer edge of the blue line to be considered inside the attacking zone for the purposes of offsides. Note that the puck must enter the attacking zone for an offside call to be made; a player being over the line does not result in an offside call until the puck crosses the line, and that a player cannot put himself offside, such as by carrying the puck in while skating backwards. Though the basic offside rule is always the same, there are different rules for the situation when the puck is shot in while a player is offside, but the defending team gains control of the puck.
