h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

what is a power play???????

A power play is when a team gains an advantage of 1 to 2 players due to infractions perpetrated by the opposition. When a team is penalized with a player going to the sin bin for a crime he committed, or for one committed by the much resented net minder, that team is short handed. The team not commiting the penalty is not short handed, so there for has more players on the ice to mock the guilty party and attempt to throttle the opposition and put the pcuk in the net. This advantage is known as a power play, and ends in one of 3 ways...
1) the penalty time expires and the guilty party returns to the playing surface.
2) the innocent team scores, thus allowing the guilty party to return to the playing surface.
3) the innocent team seeks revenge and is caught commiting an infraction of their own, thusly sending one of their own players to the sin bin.