Full strength in ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 refers to when both teams have five skaters and one goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

 on the ice. The official term used by the National Hockey League (NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

) is at even strength — abbreviated EV on official scoresheets and goaltenders' individual stats. All games start with both teams at full strength. Teams that take a penalty

Penalty (ice hockey)

A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for inappropriate behavior. Most penalties are enforced by detaining the offending player within a penalty box for a set number of minutes, during which, the player can not participate in play. The offending team usually may not replace the player on the ice,...

, go on the power play, or pull the goalie

Extra attacker

An extra attacker in ice hockey is a forward or, less commonly, a defenceman who has been substituted in place of the goaltender. The purpose of this substitution is to gain an offensive advantage to score a goal...

 are no longer at full strength.

If a team is shorthanded, and its penalties expire, or it is scored on so that its penalized players return, it returns to full strength. Likewise, if a team on a power play scores so that the opposing penalized players all leave the penalty box

Penalty box

The penalty box is the area in ice hockey, rugby league, rugby union and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offense not severe enough to merit outright expulsion from the contest...

, the team also returns to full strength.

Full strength is slightly different from "even strength", which means that each team has the same number of skaters on the ice.

Another related reference is that of "equal strength". This is not an official term used by the NHL but is commonly used to describe 'full strength'.