In standard ice hockey, there are three periods in a game, each 20 minutes of stop-time play at most competitive levels like the NHL and Olympics.

Quick Scoop

  • Most organized hockey (NHL, Olympics, major leagues) uses:
    • 3 periods
    • 20 minutes each
    • Total of 60 minutes of game clock.
  • There are 2 intermissions between periods, usually around 15–18 minutes long, which is why a full game takes about 2.5–3 hours in real time.
  • If the game is tied after the third period, leagues often add overtime (and sometimes a shootout) to decide a winner, with specific rules varying by league and competition.

Some recreational or beginner leagues occasionally tweak this (for example, two longer periods instead of three), but three 20‑minute periods is the standard format people mean when they ask “hockey how many periods.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.