Hockey Crossword Puzzles Printable

Print a criss-cross hockey crossword of rink, player, gear, play and penalty words, with its answer key.

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Hockey Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Answer key: Hockey Crossword

1ICIN2GO3P4SAVEUL5CA6PTAINKEE7FN8RO9FACEOFFR10SLF11WHISTLEAXY12RINKRBEDOEX

Across 1 ICING · 4 SAVE · 5 CAPTAIN · 9 FACEOFF · 11 WHISTLE · 12 RINK

Down 2 GOALIE · 3 PUCK · 6 PENALTYBOX · 7 FORWARD · 8 REFEREE · 10 SIX

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All 112 clues

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The Rink 20

  • Arena Enclosed place where sports events are held
  • Bench Seating beside the ice for those not in the game right now
  • Boards Low wall all the way around the ice
  • Circle Ring painted on the ice around a dot where play restarts
  • Crease The goaltender's special patch of ice, in front of the goal
  • Crossbar Top bar of the frame that holds a net
  • Dasher Top of the wall around the ice
  • Face-off It starts play: an official lets the disk fall between two rivals' sticks
  • Light Red ___: it comes on behind a net when a team scores
  • Neutral ___ zone: the central one of the three zones, between the blue lines
  • Penalty box Area off the ice where a rule-breaker must sit and wait
  • Point Spot just inside the attacking blue line, near the wall
  • Pond Natural body of water that freezes into a place to play
  • Post Upright side of a goal frame; the disk must cross between the two to count
  • Resurfacer Ice ___: machine that cleans and smooths the surface
  • Rink Sheet of ice the game is played on, about 200 feet long in North America
  • Shinny Informal pickup hockey
  • Slot Stretch of ice directly in front of the goaltender
  • Top shelf Nickname for the high part of the net, just beneath the bar
  • Trapezoid Zone behind the net that limits where a goaltender may handle the disk, in some leagues

Players and Officials 19

  • Alternate Player who wears the letter A
  • Blueliner Nickname for a player on defense, from the stripe he or she guards
  • Captain Player who wears the letter C
  • Center Position that works the middle of the ice, far from the side walls
  • Coach The team's instructor
  • Defenseman One of two players who mainly guard their own end
  • Forward One of a team's three attacking players on the ice
  • Goalie Common short name for the goaltender
  • Grinder Player with few scoring skills who earns a place by effort and checking
  • Judge Goal ___: official seated behind a net who watches for the disk to cross the line
  • Linesman Official whose main job is to watch the blue lines
  • Netminder Goaltender, in other words
  • Referee Official who calls the penalties and wears an armband
  • Rookie Athlete new to the sport or to the team
  • Scorer Official ___: keeper of the written account of the game
  • Six Players a team has on the ice at full strength, counting the goaltender
  • Timekeeper The one whose job is running the clock
  • Winger Attacker who plays along the left or right wall
  • Zebra Slang for an official in a striped shirt

Gear 21

  • Biscuit Slang for the disk that players shoot
  • Blade Flat lower end of a stick, which strikes the disk
  • Blocker Rectangular pad worn on the hand that holds the goaltender's stick
  • Cage Wire face guard
  • Edge Sharp side of the steel that bites into the ice
  • Frozen Game disks are kept this way before play so that they bounce less
  • Gloves Padded pair that protects the hands
  • Helmet Head protection worn for flying disks and falls
  • Inch A standard disk is one ___ thick
  • Jersey Outer top that shows the team's logo in front
  • Mask Face protection worn by a goaltender
  • Mouthguard It protects the teeth
  • Pads Thick leg guards worn by the goaltender
  • Puck Black disk that everyone chases
  • Rubber What the disk is made of
  • Shaft Handle of a stick, above the flat end
  • Skates Boots with metal runners for moving on ice
  • Sweater Word for the team top that recalls warm knits worn outdoors in winter
  • Trapper The goaltender's catching mitt
  • Visor See-through shield that covers the upper half of a player's face
  • Wood Traditional material of a stick, before aluminum and composites

Shots, Passes and Plays 32

  • Assist Credit for one of the last two passes before a goal
  • Backcheck Race back toward your own end to defend against an attack
  • Backhand Shot or pass taken from the rear face of the stick
  • Body check Hit with the hip or shoulder on the player who has the disk
  • Breakaway Going in alone on the goaltender with no defender in the way
  • Butterfly Goaltending style of dropping to the knees to close off the low part of the net
  • Deke Fake that fools a defender or the goaltender
  • Dump ___ and chase: send the disk deep, then race after it
  • Empty ___ net: goal left unguarded when the goaltender comes off for an extra attacker
  • Five-hole The gap between a goaltender's legs
  • Forecheck Hunting the disk deep in the attacking zone to get it back
  • Glide Coast across the ice without pushing
  • Hat trick Three-goal game for one player, saluted with a shower of headwear
  • Intermission Pause in the game between two sessions of play
  • One-timer Shot taken straight off a pass, without stopping the disk first
  • Overtime It decides a winner when regulation ends all square
  • Period One of the three 20-minute parts of a game
  • Poke check Jab of the stick that knocks the disk away from an opponent
  • Power play Attack with more players on the ice while a rival sits out a penalty
  • Rebound Loose disk that bounces off the goaltender after a shot
  • Saucer ___ pass: one that lifts just off the ice to clear a defender's stick
  • Save What a goaltender makes by stopping a shot
  • Screen Block the goaltender's view of a shot
  • Shift Stretch of ice time before a player comes off
  • Shootout Tiebreaker in which shooters go one at a time against the goaltender
  • Shorthanded Having fewer players on the ice because of a penalty
  • Shutout Game in which a goaltender lets in nothing
  • Slap shot Powerful strike that starts with a windup to shoulder height
  • Stickhandle Keep control of the disk with quick moves of the stick
  • Tie Result with no winner, such as 2 to 2
  • Wraparound Scoring try from behind the net, made by reaching around its side
  • Wrister Strike powered mostly by the forearm and a snap of the hand

Penalties and Rules 20

  • Boarding Penalty for shoving a player hard into the wall
  • Charging Penalty for taking more than three strides, or leaving the ice, to hit a player
  • Delay ___ of game: penalty for stalling on purpose
  • Diving Penalty for faking a fall to fool the official
  • Elbowing Penalty for hitting a player with the bend of the arm
  • Holding Penalty for grabbing an opponent
  • Hooking Penalty for using a stick to restrain an opponent
  • Icing Shooting the disk from your own half all the way past the far goal line
  • Interference Illegal block on someone who is not in control of the disk
  • Kill Penalty ___: playing one short until the time runs out
  • Major Five-minute penalty
  • Minor Two-minute penalty
  • Misconduct Ten-minute penalty that does not leave the team short a player
  • Offside Entering the attacking zone before the disk does
  • Roughing Penalty for a small scuffle between two players
  • Serve Sit out the minutes of a penalty
  • Signal Hand ___: wordless way an official shows a call
  • Slashing Illegal swing of the stick toward another player
  • Tripping Penalty for using a stick or the body to make an opponent fall
  • Whistle Its sound stops play

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site about ice hockey, in five sets: the rink, players and officials, gear, shots, passes and plays, penalties and rules. Rules and figures were checked in English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 4.0), chiefly its glossary of ice hockey terms, and word meanings in Wiktionary (en.wiktionary.org), in October 2026. No league, team, player, trophy or brand is named, and no clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

These hockey crossword puzzles, printable on Letter or A4, are vocabulary crosswords about ice hockey. The first puzzle has 12 easy words, among them Puck, Rink, Goalie, Face-off and Icing.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the easy one

The Rink has Crease, Slot and Trapezoid. Players and Officials has Defenseman, Linesman and Grinder. Gear has Blocker, Trapper and Visor. Shots, Passes and Plays has Deke, Wraparound and One-timer. Penalties and Rules has Hooking, Boarding and Misconduct.

Why the clues say disk

Puck is an answer, so every other clue calls it the disk, and the player in the net is the goaltender. Figures follow the game as played in three 20-minute periods, with two minutes for a minor penalty and five for a major.

  • A team new to the game can do Penalties and Rules before its first season, so that Tripping, Hooking and Icing are known calls.

Questions and answers

Are these ice hockey crossword puzzles printable with an answer key?

Yes. Print gives the puzzle first and the answer key last, on a sheet of its own. It is free, with no sign-up.

What grade are the hockey crossword puzzles for?

Easy Hockey Words suits grades 2 to 4, with answers such as Puck, Pads and Tie. The five themed sets suit grades 4 and up, and any fan. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What is icing in hockey?

Icing is called when a player shoots the puck from their own half of the ice, over the center red line and past the other team's goal line, and nobody scores. Icing is an answer in Penalties and Rules.

How many players are on the ice in hockey?

Six for each team at full strength: three forwards, two defensemen and a goaltender. Six, Forward and Defenseman are all answers in Players and Officials.

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