Let’s take a look at the picture. A typical game situation. The puck was heading towards the goal and came to rest on the goal line, pinned against the goal by the defending player’s goalkeeper. What should be done?

Players who have been playing table hockey for a long time and aren’t interested in changes to the Game Rules might give one answer. Newcomers, however, will be surprised by what they hear.

In fact, it’s quite simple. For a very long time, Rule 7.1 read as follows:
“7.1. If the puck is in full rest on the goal line and not touching the goalie, the defending player may call “block” and a new face-off is made.”
Under this rule, in this situation, a player could not call ‘block’ and take the face-off.

However, following the ITHF Delegates’ Conference held in May 2021, Rule 7.1 was amended to read:
“7.1. If the puck is stopped on the goal line, the defending player may call “block” and a new face-off is made.”
Thus, as things stand today, one can call ‘block’ and take a face-off regardless of whether the goalkeeper touches the puck on the goal line or not.

Some players (including the author of this article) say ‘stop’ instead of ‘block’ in this situation. Let’s learn together. We’ll talk about ‘stops’ in the next article.