Originally Posted by Jman

Hockey is a fast paced game while the play is going. So why does the average NHL game last two hours and twenty minutes. This NHL average game length is the second quickest among the four major professional sports. The only professional sport that completes their games quicker is the National Basketball Association. The NBA game length average is just 5 minutes less than that of the NHL. The National Football League and Major League Baseball are over the three-hour average.

So why are sixty minute regulation games taking over two hours. Here are some very interesting facts that determine the length of the game.
The average number of stoppages in an NHL game is 81.

Averages per NHL game:

Off-sides: 16

Icings: 9

Goals: 5

Penalties: 5

TV Time-outs: 12

incidental stoppages 34 ? (non-penalized skirmishes, puck leaving rink, puck frozen, etc).