The only time you shouldn't play music is during the actual play. You can start the music as soon as there is a whistle to stop the play, and stop it when the puck drops again. One exception would be maybe be when you announce a goal, after you annonce the name of the scorer, I usually drop a little organ sting.
Depending on the league, though, it might be frowned upon to play music when a player is injured. In pro hockey, they usually keep playing music, but in minor hockey, you usually don't play anything. For one, it allows the trainer to communicate properly with the player. Secondly, it's more respectful for the player. "Walk" by Pantera while a player blew out his knee is kinda rude. In higher levels, though, I've heard music guys play "Help" by the Beatles when a player from the visiting team is injured.
As for your other question, there are no quarters of halves, hockey is played in 3 periods. Each leagues have their own period length, along with their break lengths. Most high level leagues play 3 20-minutes period, with breaks ranging between 12 and 17 minutes. In lower level, it differs. One league I announced in played 15-20-20, with a 1 minute break between the first and second, and another break between the second and third just to flood the ice, so around 10 minutes. Check with the league or the team you do music for, and they'll tell you how it works.
--- In Sports-Music_Programming@yahoogroups.com, "terangihuata" <terangihuata@...> wrote:
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> I would appreciate some guidelines please on playing music during an ice hockey game or are there times in the game you are not allowed to play music.
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> How long are the quarter time and halftime breaks?
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> I play music for basketball, extreme multisports, rodeo, street parades and rugby but have not done ice hocke. The opportunity comes up in a month.
>
