Ice Hockey

An NHL rink is laid out from its two goal lines, set 11 ft (3.35 m) in from each end so the net has room to sit clear of the boards. Everything else follows from there: the blue lines stand 64 ft (19.51 m) further out, the corners round off to a 28 ft (8.53 m) radius, and nine face-off spots fix where every stoppage restarts play. The IIHF rink most of the world plays on has a different shape: 60 m long against the NHL’s 200 ft (60.96 m), and up to 30 m wide against the NHL’s 85 ft (25.91 m). It is a different rink, not the NHL one converted to metric. The figures on this page come from both rule books, each labeled as a rule or as something derived from one.

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Dimensions and layouts

NHL Rule 1.2 fixes the rink at 200 ft (60.96 m) long and 85 ft (25.91 m) wide, corners rounded to a 28 ft (8.53 m) radius. IIHF Rule 1.2 sets a real range rather than one number: 60 m (196 ft 10 in) long and 26 m to 30 m (85 ft 4 in to 98 ft 5 in) wide, with a 7.0 m to 8.5 m corner radius, and any deviation needs IIHF approval. Most major international rinks are built to the wide end of that range.

The goal line sits 11 ft (3.35 m) in from the boards under NHL rules and 4.00 m (13 ft 1 in) in under IIHF’s, leaving room behind it for the net. NHL Rule 1.5 states the blue lines outright: 64 ft (19.51 m) further out from each goal line. IIHF Rule 1.5 gives no distance at all. It only says the ice between the two goal lines splits into three equal zones, which works out to 17.33 m (56 ft 10 in) each. The full table, with every face-off circle, the goal crease and the goalkeeper’s restricted area, is in the ice hockey rink dimensions, markings and layout guide.

Equipment

The goal is one of the few figures the two rule books agree on almost exactly: posts 6 ft (1.83 m) apart and 4 ft (1.22 m) tall under both NHL Rule 2.1 and IIHF Rule 2.1. Net depth is where they differ. The NHL rink diagram dimensions it at a flat 40 in (1.02 m), while IIHF Rule 2.1 sets a range, 0.60 m to 1.12 m, and leaves the exact figure to the manufacturer. NHL rules mark a crease with a 6 ft (1.83 m) radius in front of each goal. The IIHF Rule Book also gives every goal a crease, but its free text publishes no radius for it.

Overhead plan

The same surface seen from straight above, drawn to scale. Nothing is foreshortened here, so every figure can be read off the drawing the way a tape measure would take it.

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Detail sheet

A rule book fixes more than the shape of the surface, and the rest of it is too small to draw at court scale: a mark a few centimeters long, a post standing a meter off the sideline, the clearance around the whole thing. Each one here has its own frame and its own scale.

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Official sources

Two governing bodies are cited on this page. The NHL publishes its Official Rules with the rink laid out in Section 1, Rules 1 and 2; the IIHF publishes its Official Rule Book with the equivalent rules in Section 01.

• National Hockey League, Official Rules 2025-2026, Section 1, Rule 1 (Rink) and Rule 2 (Goal Posts and Nets).
• International Ice Hockey Federation, IIHF Official Rule Book 2026/27, Section 01, Rule 1 (Rink) and Rule 2 (Goal Posts and Nets).

Every figure was checked against these two documents on 10 September 2026. How each one is dated and marked as a rule or a derivation is set out on the methodology page. If a number here looks wrong, report it through corrections.