A few questions about hockey...

Well glad you decided to pick a great sport to like.....to mme its the second greatest sport in the world (behind american football of coures) but still great. So to answer your question.....
Hockey season- Yes there is a hockey season its starts in october...matter a fact i think the regular season starts in like 9 days...right now they are playing presason which are like practice games that dont count. it will go into i think like march and then after that the playoffs start. playoffs are great and they can continue into the very begining of june at times if they go to seven games (each playoff series is a seven game possible seires the first team to win four games between moves on and the team that lost the four games is out so playoffs are long)

Picking a team- well for me it was my home town team the buffalo sabres simple as that....if you wanna be able to go watch games try n pick a team near you....or you can look for teams with history like detriot who wins a lot of games but many of there stanley cups came before the salary cap era.but my advice would be to try and pick a team near you because most likely your gna eventually wanna go watch a game in person at the area...( its so much fun i have gone to alot of games)

Protection- well the refs for the most point avoid the areas where the puck is at that current moment because thats where a majority of the hits occure. plus the refs dont stand in front of the net where pucks are being shot....sometimes refs get hit with pucks or get in the way but that doesnt happen often. Hockey players need the protection trust me just go to youtube and look up hockey hits or campbell hits umburger...or paul kariya knocked out....hockey players get hit!!!!its part of the game and the excitement

Basics-yes i would google it there is probably a site like how to site or something....maybe even NHL.com

anyway good luck hope this advice was helpful and HAVE A GREAT SEASON

I would google "hockey rules" to get more details.

Essentially the goal is to get the puck into the other team's goal. Some of the rules are pretty basic and definite, but some of the other rules are subject to change under the organization the game is played under. Like in NHL the goalie cannot play the puck behind the goal except within the trapazoid....etc.

The whole regular season is just a ritual to determine which half of the league are eligible to go to the playoff and their seeding.

Usually most people support their home team because they are more exposed to their play, their strengths, their weaknesses, it also a common thread with the community that they live in, on the other hand, you can also pick a team that has tradition, your friends like...etc.

Hopefully, most hockey fan just appreciates a well played game between two teams and hope the victor is the team they support.

By the way, a fan may criticize the way their team performs, the coaches strategy, the team's trades, but a true fan will always support their team. You can always cheer for my team. Go Av's.