In addition to hitting and scoring, there are other ways to defend your team and try to regain possession of the puck. Checking is a tactic used to regain control of the game by aggressively pursuing players and trying to steal the puck back.

Bodycheck: A bodycheck is only a legal move if a player uses his/her hips or shoulder to physically move a player who has the puck or last touched it. Players can only check others above the knees and below the neck, otherwise it's a foul.

Backcheck: Another type of check that is done as a player is going back to his defensive position in an attempt to get the puck back from the opposing team.

Poke Check: A less aggressive, but more difficult way to check is to use one's stick to push the puck away from the other opponent's stick.

Forechecking: This maneuver is similar to a body check, without using the full physical force. When a player tried to regain possession of the puck in the neutral or defensive zone, that is considered forechecking.

Hook Check: When an opponent wants to take the puck from another player, hooking one stick with another, allows him/her to steal the puck.

Sweep Check: If a player extends his stick to steal the puck from an opponent with one hand, then lowers one knee almost to the ground while doing this, it's called a sweep check.