Saucer pass

The saucer pass is a term, that means passing the puck to someone else so it flies in the air like a flying saucer. This makes the pass very difficult to intercept by opposing players but will land flat on the ice making it simple to control for the receiving player. The saucer pass is used nowadays widely due to the difficulty of intercepting of it. Under normal conditions it needs a very skilled player to intercept a saucer pass with an ice hockey stick. Usual height of a saucer pass depends on the number of opposing players surrounding the player initiating the pass. If the pass is in front of the goal within a few meters radius, it usually raises a maximum of 30 centimeters above the ice level. In the case of "a torpedo attack", a tens of meters saucer pass from own defense area, the pass can easily rise over 3 meters high from the ice to avoid it being captured by an opposing players's glove (capturing a pass with a stick over ones own shoulder level or goal's height at close range of goal is prohibited).

The inventor of the saucer pass is commonly considered as the Finnish ice hockey legend, Raimo Helminen. According to the book "Raipe - Vaatimattomuuden lyhyt oppimäärä", he invented the pass when he was playing against grown-up men from his neighbourhood when he was young child.