Arthur Farrell

“ EVERY game, any game, aids considerably in developing a player's mind, and for hockey, a follower of the game may claim all the good effects in mental training that any other branch of sport provides, and more. The very adhering to the rules, the spirit of fair play that characterizes a manly game, the overcoming of all fears and all difficulties, the modest victory, the frank acknowledgement of defeat, all tend to build up, to educate, the mental faculties, just as the long practice, the swift race, and the hard check help to develope the physical man. ”

“ It is singular, but remarkably true that a forward who could not win even a "green" skating race, can excel as a lightning hockey player. It is one of the ingenious paradoxes of the game, that cannot be explained. A man who can beat another in a race is not necessarily a faster forward than that man. Examples on every team prove the contention. Perhaps the possession of the puck, the excitement of the game, the attraction that an assistant has when skating near him, gives to the man who may not claim distinction as a racer, a power, a speed, that a simple race cannot make him exercise ”

“ Pluck is an essential to a man who aspires to perfection in the game, and is as indispensable to him as it is to a footballer or a soldier. The calculating player often saves himself by avoiding unnecessary dangers, but occasion demands, at times, a fast rush through a "bunch" of fighting players, through swinging, smashing sticks that, in noise and movements, resemble a threshing machine,—a desperate jump, or a block of the puck, at the expense of a sore punishment, to score or save a single goal, and the risk must be run. ”

“ Like the fabled Greek who used to give his time so undividedly to his work that he forgot his meals, these enthusiasts of an infant game forgot their meals, forgot their schools, forgot everything, save the game itself, but when darkness came on and their shadows grew longer, they returned home, with fresh air in their expanded lungs, strength in their limbs, and with a keen, bright eye, "seeking what they might devour." ”

“ A blow from the stick or the puck, is, perhaps, the most frequent cause of injury to a player, unless he be singularly unfortunate, but this never, or scarcely ever, amounts to anything serious. Our rules have been carried to such perfection, that, with rare exceptions, this accident of being struck with the stick occurs only in games between inexperienced men, because referees are so strict in enforcing the rule that forbids a man to raise his stick above the shoulder, that players who are up in the game, and respect the decision of the latter, are chary about erring in this manner. ”

“ The proof that in a game of hockey every muscle receives its due exercise, is this, that after the first few practices, before he is "in condition," a player feels sore and stiff in every muscle of his body.
Being practically an out-door sport it is exhilarating and healthy, and productive of an absorbing appetite, which latter is borne out by the statement of an hotel keeper who once said that "a hockey team can eat more in a limited time than a team of footballers, or a lacrosse twelve with all their spares and coaches." ”

“ It is so hard to stop a strong, well-directed shot, and so many of them pour in during the course of a match, that in the exercise of his work, even though it occurs only periodically, the goaler is called upon to use the greatest skill and coolness. A forward may miss a good chance to score, and the effect is only negative; a point or cover-point man may make a mistake, but there is usually an assistant around to help him; but when the goal-minder makes a blunder, the whistle is blown and a point is placed to the credit of his opponents. ”

“ The pure air, the bright lights, the merry, laughing girls, the noisy enthusiastic boys, and age that's not too old to still enjoy the pleasure of a fascinating game, all combine, with the keen ice and the fast play, to make hockey the king of infatuating sports. ”

“ It is a grievous mistake for a wing man to leave his position and play in the centre of the ice or on the side to which he does not belong, or for a centre player or rover to wander to the wings, because as each man has a cover, a check, on whom, in turn he should bestow his attention, he gives his opponent, when he leaves his place, an opening that the latter should not, and would not have if he were properly watched, besides, the forwards and the defence men of an experienced team ought to be able to know where their assistants are or, rather, should he by judging from their own positions. ”

“ Coolness, in hockey parlance, is the power and practice of taking time to think out a move. A player must be cool-headed to a degree that verges on slowness, because, so fast a game is hockey, that an expert player, an experienced team, should take advantage of every opportunity that the changing plays present, and this to do, even in the quickest rushes, the swiftest combinations, the fierest "mix-ups," it is necessary that one should remain as cool as the proverbial cucumber. ”

“ A team that goes on the ice thinking that defeat is probable, is already beaten; a player who fears that he cannot elude certain of his opponents, is a factor of success for the opposing team. Care should be taken, however, that confidence may not be exaggerated. Over-confidence is a greater fault than confidence is a virtue. While each team should feel that it can probably defeat its opponents, it should also bear in mind that until the game is ended, its own goals are in danger, and act accordingly. ”

“ It certainly is a feat, difficult of accomplishment, to stop a man who is rushing towards you with the speed of an express train, and upset him without the slightest injury to yourself, but is this the fairest way of defending your flags? It savors too much of roughness, and can be the cause of a serious accident, because a fall on the ice, at any time is usually painful and dangerous enough, without any additional impetus from without. If it is allowable, it is most unfair to "body" a man into the side of the rink. ”

“ It is in the attack on goals that a forward's coolness will assist him. For a man to know what to do, when he is near his opponents' defence, requires thought. The ever-varying changes in conditions and positions prevents a man from having any set line of action in an attack. Every rush is confronted by a different combination of circumstances, and a forward must know, on each separate occasion, the play that is best calculated to effect the desired result. This knowledge is the attribute of an experienced player and must go hand in hand with coolness. ”

“ One of the most successful, and, perhaps, the most neglected of combination plays is the following: when a player secures the puck behind or to the side of his opponents' goals, he should, if he has time, slide it to his assistant who is in the best position to receive it, or, if not, to the side where he knows that one of his men, by a preconcerted, practiced arrangement, awaits it, but he should never send it, with a blind, trust-to-luck shot directly in front of the goals, because the point and cover point should be, and usually are, stationed there. ”

“ The fancy play, the grand stand play, is a waste of energy, childish, worthless. The play that counts, the play that shows the science of the man who makes it, is the immediate execution, in the simplest manner, of the plan that a player conceives, when he considers the object of his playing. In other, geometrical words, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and applied to the science of hockey, it means that a player should take the shortest and quickest way of obtaining the desired effect, which, by analysis, is often times the most scientific. ”

“ A hockey player must necessarily be strong physically and constitutionally. If his muscles be well developed, well trained, and his constitution weak, so violent a game as this will do him an irreparable injury. Hockey is so fast, so trying on a forward player, who is rushing continually, from the opening to the closing of a match, that, in order to play without out hurting himself, he must be in perfect condition. ”

“ When it is said that every player of a team should strain nerve and muscle to score a goal, the meaning is not that each individual member should strive to do the act himself, but that he should use every effort to assist him to score who is in the most advantageous position to do so. The selfish desire on the part of even one man, to make the point, often times entails the loss of a match. ”

“ The cringer, the man who waits outside of a scrimmage until by chance the puck slides to him, the man who fears an opponent, is not a hockey player. It is, of course, scientific play on certain occasions, to wait until the puck is shoved out of a crowd, or from the side, but reference is made, above, to the time when a "dive" is needed. Even if a man knows that an opponent is mean, unfair, this should be but a poor excuse to fear him, because the referee is on the ice for the protection of all the players. ”

“ During all this time, after our American cousins had awakened to the wonderful possibilities of hockey, the game made rapid strides in popularity. Colleges and schools took an interest in the game, and organized teams, schedules were drawn up, the public flocked to the rinks to see the games, and now it bids fair to be, in time, as popular a winter sport among the Americans as it is among ourselves. Artificial rinks are being built in the principal cities of the union, and they afford to the young players even a greater advantage than we enjoy in Canada. ”

“ When advancing towards a man who, he knows, is going to body-check him, a player should, on meeting him, slide the puck forward to such a place, and in such a manner, that after the encounter, he may have a better chance of recovering it. I think, however, that a clever forward can nearly always avoid a body-check, because, advancing at a high rate of speed, he has the advantage over an opponent who awaits him. The forward should never body-check, because this exhausts his strength.
"The most successful shot for the goals is a lift which raises the puck only as high as the goal-minder's knee. ”

“ The rule that is applied to other things, stands good in hockey.
It is wrong to imagine that a great deal of practice will make a perfect player out of any man, but careful, assiduous work will enable a person to approach the degree of perfection to which his powers, as a physical and a thinking athlete, will allow him to attain and will make perfect that man who has the qualities necessary to a perfect athlete. ”

“ The prettiest spectacle afforded by a good hockey match, is the rush down the ice, four abreast, of the forwards. This play to a man of sporting instincts, verges on the beautiful.
When four men in a line, racing at lightning speed, approach the defence of their opponents, it is then that the goal-keeper of the attacked party sees danger signals floating in the air, because the assistance he will receive from his defence men, is, on these occasions, problematical. ”

“ The secret of a team's success is combination play, in other words, unselfishness. It means the giving of the puck to a player of one's own side, who is in a better position to use it than the man who first secures the rubber. ”

“ To realize the necessity of a book that explains rules and the intricacies of the play of our glorious sport, one has but to travel to some town where the game is just developing from its infancy, where the players are scarcely able to appreciate its scientific points, and he will readily perceive that it is a long-felt want. ”

“ The effect of a body-check is not so "striking" when the object of it steadies himself in as low a position as possible, while the man who is using the play attains his end better by catching his opponent, as stated above, in the centre of his weight, or higher, when the latter is not steadily placed. This practice of body-checking is permissible, and, to a certain degree, scientific, but it is questionable whether it be not a less noble way of overcoming a dangerous opponent, than by expert stick handling, or by some gentler means. ”

“ There seems to be a growing tendency now-a-days to resort to football tactics in hockey. Among some of the senior teams the practice of interference is becoming prominent, and should be severely checked, because it is an unfailing cause of unnecessary roughness. No player, however mild, who is rushing down the ice to secure an advantageous position, will allow himself to be deliberately interrupted, stopped by an opponent who has not, and should not have the right to oppose his course, without picking a bone or two with him. ”

“ A player who intends to aspire to senior ranks, should, in justice to himself, consult a physician and have his heart examined. If the advice that he receives is to abandon the game, let him do so at once before it is too late, because, so fast, so intensely exciting is the play that, if long continued, it may easily be the cause, to a forward with a weak heart, of the enlargement of that organ. This serious danger, however, should scarcely be mentioned, because it seldom happens that a man who is strong enough to play hockey the least bit well, is liable to contract this formidable disease. ”