How Long Are Hockey Games?
How long are hockey games? NHL games typically have an intermission of approximately 18 minutes. Minor league games are typically 15 minutes, while high school and kid’s games have much shorter intermissions. In addition to intermissions, NHL games feature commercial breaks every five, two, and one minutes. In general, hockey games can last anywhere from two to five hours, depending on the length of the game. However, there are exceptions to this rule, such as a game being televised.
The average length of a game in the NHL is two and a half hours. That includes three periods of 20 minutes each. Of course, a hockey game can stretch out longer than that if there are injuries, stoppages, or fights. However, the standard game will probably last no more than two and a half hours. If you have a particularly large group of hockey enthusiasts, you can expect to spend about three hours watching a NHL game.
In addition to the two-and-a-half hour television broadcast, NHL games often run much longer than planned. Periods are twenty minutes long, but in real-time, they may last forty or fifty minutes. That’s because a game is often stopped during the third period or during a third period because of heavy snowfall. The game ends after the final period, so there is always a chance of a shootout.
