wow you got yourself a hell of a boy if he’s played with the u18s. and the red wings… they’re like eh. they’re ok. i tolerate them but there’s nothing wrong with wings fans they’re pretty chill. 

sticks break all the time and the trainers on the bench have replacements for every players. as far as stoppage goes, if a stick breaks on the ice, players skate around it until the play is over for other reasons. stick on the ice is not a reason for stoppage of play. some players will pick up the pieces and toss em back to the bench in the middle of the play or the ref might but for the most part, players work around them. and i KNOW like??? you’re a defender not a defenseman (and oh your boy plays defense. i have a soft spot for defenders in all sports. i wuv them uwu)

my favorite team is the colorado avalanche (the avs for short) and i also like the caps (washington capitals) and the bruins (boston bruins) but as far as a favorite player (charlie mcavoy)? i don’t have one (it’s charlie mcavoy)! there are too many to choose from (did i mention charlie mcavoy? it’s charlie mcavoy) you’ll realize through watching hockey that all teams have some great players (charlie plays defense for the bruins) and they’re great guys (charlie is the best) so i hope that answers your question PLEASE hmu if you have anymore i love talking hockey 

ok so as for identifying fouls. they’re really obvious when you see them but if you’re watching in live time you probably won’t catch them. but on the replay, it’s obvious. it’s like watching a penalty get called in soccer and you’re like “that wasn’t a pen” but then you watch the replay and you’re like. oh. yeah. that’s… you can’t do that. it’s like watching american football and there’s holding in the back field while a play is moving forward and that’s just not where your attention is so you miss it. there’s a lot of bodies moving at once in hockey and you aren’t gonna catch many penalties until watch during the replay but here are the main ones to watch for:

• roughing: this is the easiest. it’s excessive violence, a shove, a thrown elbow, a hit to the face. whatever it is, it just seems like too much. or, when a guy can’t get up, then you know. (but also sometimes you’re like… wimp that wasn’t roughing ref ur dumb)
• hooking: this is when someone is using their stick to block an opponent moving forward. it usually involves the end of someone’s stick quite literally hooking around an arm or someone’s torso. but, this is not to be confused with…
• tripping: tripping can involve a stick causing someone to fall over. it also just involves knocking an opponent’s skate with your skate or sweeping their legs from under them (depending how rough the sweep it, it could be considered roughing)
• holding: that’s easy too. you can’t hold someone’s jersey or their arm.
• high sticking (yes this is a thing): it’s when your stick moves up beyond the normal height of your opponent’s shoulders and hits them in the face or ear or whatever.. it happens a lot more than you probably think it would bc it’s very accidental. but yeah
• fighting: if you see two dudes (or two entire teams) absolutely whaling on each other then you got yourself a fight

things like grabbing and elbowing are very obvious. so is boarding. apparently those are official penalties according to the internet but. i’ve never seen them called bc most anything penalty worthy can be classified in any of these categories.