What are the differences between ice hockey and field hockey?

1.Passing: In ice hockey, the puck can move much faster than every player can skate, so you can pass the puck to someone at nearly any distance or angle. In field hockey, the ball moves much slower than every players can run, so you must pass only vertically and horizontally, and mostly at shorter distances to ensure that the opposing team does not intercept the pass.

2.Puck/Ball Possession: In ice hockey, skating with a puck on your stick is not much harder than skating without a puck. You can still achieve the same speeds whether you are in possession of the puck or not, so when you get a breakaway or are skating up ice and someone i from the opposing team is chasing you, the naturally faster skater will win the race 99% of the time. In field hockey, it is incredibly difficult to run at full speed while maintaining control and possession of the ball. Field hockey sticks are rather short, so you have to bend over, which slows you down. All of the opposing players will be chasing you by running normally, which is much faster than running while being bent over.

3.Speed: This one is simple: ice hockey is played on ice, and field hockey is played on grass or turf. The fact that ice hockey takes place on ice allows the game to be incredibly fast. A field hockey ball can be shot up to 90mph (at pro level) and once again, running is not nearly as fast as skating. The main difference here is that even high school ice hockey players can achieve shot speeds of around 80mph on a regular basis, while in field hockey most high school players I’ve seen, even some players who went D1, can not hit the ball much faster than around 30mph.

4.Penalties and Rules: Ice hockey is a far more physical sport than field hockey. There are no rules as to how you can make contact with another player, as long as it does not involve their head, injure them, or have malicious intent. In field hockey, you will be penalized for simply boxing someone out. You can not play the ball in a “potentially dangerous” way, whereas in ice hockey you can shoot the puck wherever and at whoever you choose. In field hockey you can not play the ball with anything other than the front part of your stick, which means no body parts, no feet, no hands, and no backhand. In ice hockey, you literally can play the puck with any part of your body or your stick, you just can’t use your body to score a goal and you can’t use your hand to make a pass. In ice hockey you can score a goal from any place on the entire ice surface, yet in field hockey you can only score if you are within the striking circle.