Six players are allowed on the rink for each team. Substitutions can occur at any time in a line shift manner. Games consist of three periods, each lasting nine minutes. Checking is not a part of the floor hockey game but contact may occur. The equipment needed to play in floor hockey is much less expensive than ice hockey equipment and is fairly easy to find.
Athletes use wood or fiberglass poles without blades for their sticks.
The puck is donut shaped and made of felt. Goal nets, standard ice hockey helmets, along with knee and elbow pads are also needed. The game of floor hockey has also been adapted for wheelchair users, and is especially popular in Canada. Poly hockey is like floor hockey in many ways. In fact when most people think of floor hockey, they are thinking of the game of poly hockey.