Goal (ice hockey)

“ If the new goal scheme, advocated by the Quebec Hockey Club, be accepted, the usefulness of the goal-minder will be increased, and his science will be more frequently called into play, because the position of the goals, flush with the end of the ice, makes them amenable to attack from whatever place in which the puck may be, whereas, nowadays, the danger is not immediate when the puck is behind the poles. ”

“ The object of the game is very simple, being to drive the ball between your opponents’ goals. The ordinary ice hockey stick will be satisfactory to play with. The principal thing to remember in lawn hockey is not to commit a “foul,” the penalty for which is a “free hit” at the ball by your opponents. It is a foul to raise the stick above the shoulders in making a stroke, to kick the ball (except for the goal tender) , to play with the back of the stick, to hit the ball other than from right to left, and any form of rough play such as tripping, pushing, kicking, or striking. ”

“ A rubber-covered ball is used and the stick is heavier than that used in Ice Hockey. The radical difference between the two games is that, in Ice Polo, there is no strict off-side rule, so that passes and shots at goal may come from any and often the most unexpected direction. Five men constitute a team: a goal-tend, a half-back, a centre and two rushers. The rushers must be rapid skaters, adepts in dribbling and passing and good goal shots. The centre supports the rushers, passing the ball to them or trying for goal himself. The half-back is the first defence and the goal-tend the last. ”

“ Perhaps it is this quality of the disk over the ball which has made it necessary in the Canadian game to allow the defensive players to stop the puck in any way they choose, instead of as in ice polo, where the ball may only be stopped by the sticks, the feet, or the body.
The space demanded for Canadian hockey is 112 feet by 58 feet, although the game is possible in a more restricted area. The goal is placed at the middle point of the two shorter lines; it consists of two upright posts four feet high placed six feet apart, and to score a goal the puck has to be driven between the posts. ”

“ Nearer and nearer to the goal drew Alexander, and now he prepared to drive the puck behind it. The Marston people were wild with delight and threw their caps into the air in a frenzy of excitement. But suddenly, with a burst of speed, a mighty lunge forward, and a quick thrust of his hockey-stick, Dutchy caught up with Alexander, and secured the puck. In the tussle for it, however, both players tripped or stunbled and sprawled along the ice, and the Conrad goal-tender drove the puck out of danger. ”

“ Space [Pg 323] will not allow of a very lengthy description of the game, but in a few words a rough idea of the sport may be given, and a book of the rules with fuller information can doubtless be obtained of any dealer in sporting goods.
A Canadian Hockey team consists of seven players, who are known as Goal, Point, Cover Point, Centre Forward, Centre, Left Wing, and Right Wing, arranged on the field, or rather on the ice, in the following positions:
Instead of the ball which we use in ice polo, the Canadians play with a rubber disk about an inch thick and some three inches in diameter. ”

“ The game shall be started and renewed by the Referee calling "play" after having placed the puck on its larger surface on the ice, between the sticks of two of the players, one from each team, who are to face it. After a goal has been scored the puck shall be played on the centre of the ice.
off-side.
7. A player shall always be on his side of the puck. ”

“ The baseball candidates and the track and field fellows were, perhaps, not over-enthusiastic about it, and those who played golf made derogatory remarks anent it, but some seventy boys who swung hockey sticks each afternoon asked nothing better. The river was frozen five inches deep and provided even better ice than the first team had on shore. Two rinks were established opposite the boat house and on those the four class teams skated and slashed and shouted every afternoon in preparation for the three or four games which would later decide the school championship. ”

“ ALONZO JONES SPEAKS When they were back at school Joe proceeded enthusiastically with his skating education. Fortunately there was cold weather from New Year’s Day on and plenty of hard ice. Confidence begets confidence, and Joe progressed, but he would never have thought of trying for hockey if Hal hadn’t suggested it. Hal was on the school team, and so was Bert Madden, and although Bert was rather less insistent than Hal, between them they finally persuaded Joe to try for the position of goal tend with the second team. ”

“ The defensive men on a hockey team should not by any strategy or coaxing on the part of their opponents allow themselves to leave their own goal unprotected.
The forwards have most of the work of shooting goals and advancing the puck. Of course such a man must be very active and a good all round player. Hockey is a poor game in which to display grand-stand playing. The player’s whole idea should be to shoot the puck so that either he or some member of his team may score a goal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It should not be played too freely by men in from of their own goals, and as it is merely a means to an end, an over indulgence in it is a loss of lime, of which hockey is too fast a game to allow.
In close quarters, the puck should be passed to a man's stick, and not in a line with his skates. A scientific player rushing down the ice with a partner will give the puck to the latter, not in a direct line with him, unless they are very close together, but to a point somewhat in advance, so that he will have to skate up to get it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Essentially an exciting game, hockey thrills the player and fascinates the spectator. The swift race up and down the ice. the dodging, the quick passing and fast skating, make it an infatuating game. From the time that the whistle blows for the face-off until the exciting moment when the gong announces the end of the match, the players are rushing, struggling, and the spectators straining their eyes to catch every glimpse of the play. ”

“ A poor skater who is a good goal-minder would be a better goal-minder if he were a good skater. His skates should be made in such a manner, or fastened with straps in such a way, that the puck may not pass between the plate and the blade, and his stick should be short in the handle so that he may manage it easily when the puck is near his skates. ”

“ Many a goal is scored by an easy, lazy, slide, or by a long lift, when the goaler is not expecting danger, therefore the man in this position should be careful to follow the movements of the puck even when it is at the other end of the rink, and cautious in stopping the easiest shots, because "there's many a slip." Nothing should fluster a goal keeper, nothing discourage him. ”

“ To guard against this play the defence men and forwards of the attacked goals should see that, when the puck is around the goal line, each of their opposing forwards is carefully checked.
Each player should be careful to remain in his own position, and in order to acquire the habit of so doing, every man should make it a point in each practice, however unimportant, to cling to the particular position on the team which he is intended to fill. ”

“ When a forward, rushing down the ice, is well followed by another of his side, he should not try to dodge the cover point, but should draw out that man by inclining to the side, and pass the puck to his partner, taking care to then place himself in the best possible position to receive it back, if the latter cannot shoot. ”

“ The cool, collected, calculating player is worth more to a team than two or three of the class whose main object seems to he the possession of the puck for a "big" rush down the ice.
If any man among your opponents is to be feared, let it be the one who thinks out each move, who makes no useless plays, who shoots for the goals only when there is an opening, because "such men are dangerous." Many a game is lost, many a chance is missed by the man who will not, cannot take time enough to think out a play. ”

“ But Hugh had been wise to this fact, and posted Mr. Leonard, the coach; who, meanwhile, taught them a few new little wrinkles that were calculated to disturb the calculations of Belleville when the time came for the meeting. As in football, ice hockey presents a fruitful field for diplomacy and clever tactics; and the wisest general usually manages to carry his team to victory over those who may be much more nimble skaters and even smarter with their sticks, but not so able in the line of strategy. ”

“ Half the time he will shoot badly just because so much depends on his shooting well. It seems in hockey that the better your chance the [220] poorer your shot. Don’t let any one draw you out from goal, Tucker, ever. It’s a good plan to go out once in a blue moon, maybe, but do it when the other fellow isn’t expecting you to. Don’t let him plan it. If the man with the puck is past your point and there’s no one near to engage him, it’s sometimes a mighty good play to rush out on him. But do it before he can get the puck away and keep your body between the puck and the net. ”

“ As an individualist, I’m impressed with the fact that, in hockey, skating is secondary to the game and I get no particular thrill out of chasing a puck and banging at it with a stick. Neither can I see any necessity for letting myself be bumped to the ice if I can possibly help it. ”

“ In striking it the stick must not be raised above the shoulder. The object of this rule is to check violence, and the effect of it is to make the stroke move of a push than a blow, insuring greater accuracy in shooting for goal or a fellow-player, and adding greatly to the grace of the game. A practised player will, with wonderfully little manifest effort, send the puck from end to end of the rink if the ice is at all in good condition. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is essential that the two centre men and the right wing should be able to shoot the puck as well from the right side as from the left, because the chances of scoring in either ways are about equal. As for the left wing, he is called upon so seldom to shoot from the right, that is presuming that he holds his stick correctly, with the blade to his left side, that it is not so important for him.
The most dangerous, successful lift for the goal, is raising the puck about to the level of the knee. ”

“ When a forward skates down the rink near the side, his easiest way of dodging an opponent is by caroming the puck against the boards, which act as a cushion, passing his man on the outside, and recovering the puck which bounces out to meet him. In this play the puck should invariably be lifted, because the dodge is expected, and if the puck slides along the ice to the side it may often be easily stopped. ”

“ When the puck has been lifted down the ice it is the duty of every forward towards whose goals the rubber has been sent, to follow immediately and quickly, in order to place himself in play, and not lag in the middle of the rink until his defence men shall have returned it. The practice of "lagging" off-side is indulged in in order to gain a rest, but it renders the game slow and uninteresting and fosters off-side play. ”

“ A fast game like hockey, when the scoring of a goal, the winning of a match often depends upon the immediate execution of an idea that a player has scarcely the time to grasp, accustoms a man to think quickly and act promptly. ”

“ Leave that rubber alone, will you?" howled some one, when the defender of the Columbia goal met the flying puck with a well-aimed crack that ended the suspense temporarily, and hurled it back toward the centre of the ice.
Like spokes leading toward the hub of a wheel, flitting figures shot toward the object of interest. A stick was thrust out to intercept its progress, and again a furious fight for the possession of the coveted puck was on. ”

“ Combination in hockey is the scientific means to the end at which the players aim, viz., the placing of a man of the team that makes the play, in the best obtainable position to shoot a goal, and should be carried on only until that position is attained. ”