During every game played in the National Hockey League there is always plenty of NHL team players on the ice as well as referees and linesmen throughout the course of any game. Since there are 39 referees on staff in the National Hockey League and 34 linesmen, some people might be curious as to how Officials learn to do what they do, and how they make all of their decisions known to everyone in the game.



Some inexperienced fans might ask how these people communicate with each other when they are on different ends of the rink. There is certainly enough banging, jostling and high-speed chases occurring on the ice at any given time, and communicating a penalty is very important if the offending players does not want to take a life while on the ice battling it out with the other side.

Regular fans might offer their thoughts and say that they are surprised that anyone can convey any message during a National Hockey League game because the noise levels do tend to get deafening at times. True, the NHL players might tend to get a little noisy during a game, but the Officials should still have a battle plan in advance for ensuring that they are heard or at least understood over the din of the crowds too.

NHL Officials have well-established forms of communicating with each other and many fans think it is a positively brilliant system that they have worked out. Every NHL Official uses hand signals to convey their thoughts while the action is in full flavor on the ice. These hand signals are but one part of the training that each Official must receive before they are considered totally Official for NHL purposes.

The Officials use their hand signals to convey that a player has exhibited unsportsmanlike conduct on the ice. They also have a treasure trove of signals that relay other infractions as well. If a NHL player decides to trip a member of the opposing team, then the referee or linesman would convey tripping in the hand signals by leaning forward and using their right hand in a chopping motion to the mid level of the calf area.

There are many other signals that might be used several times during an NHL game. Some of the hand signals are used to penalize a player for elbowing, spearing, holding or providing some sort of interference to another player or quite possibly an Official in the performance of their duties. There will definitely be some time spent by a player in the Penalty Box if the NHL players are caught hooking, high-sticking or slashing another player during the course of a game of hockey.