offside rule Under the immediate offside rule, an infraction occurs when a play is offside, even if the attacking team does not control the puck. Some levels of hockey use this rule and stop play instead of starting a delayed offside. At some levels, such as younger divisions of minor hockey sanctioned by USA Hockey, the delayed offside rule is replaced by the immediate offside rule in which the linesman will stop play as soon as a play goes offside, regardless of whether or not the attacking team is in possession of the puck. Exceptions Under both NHL (Rules 83.1 and 83.2) and IIHF (Rule 7) rules, there is one condition (two under NHL rules) under which an offside can be waved off even with players in the attacking zone ahead of the puck. A defending player has legally carried the puck out of their own zone, and then passes the puck back into their own zone only for the puck to be intercepted by an attacking player. (NHL only) A defending player clears the puck out of their own zone, but the puck then bounces off another defending player in neutral ice back into their own zone. (Under IIHF rules, this results in a delayed offside being signaled.) During a faceoff, a player may be judged to be in an offside position if they are lined up within 15 feet of the centres before the puck is dropped. This may result in a faceoff violation, at which point the official dropping the puck will wave the centre out of the faceoff spot and require that another player take their place. If one team commits two violations during the same attempt to restart play, it will be assessed a minor penalty for delay of game. Offside pass An offside pass occurs when a pass from inside a team's defending zone crosses the red line. When such a pass occurs, play is stopped and a faceoff is conducted in the defending zone of the team that committed the infraction. There are two determining factors in an offside pass violation: Puck position when pass is released. Since the blue line is considered part of the zone the puck is in, if the puck is behind or in contact with the blue line when the pass is released, the pass may be an offside pass. Skate position of the receiver. If the receiver