Hockey stick

“ The modern hockey stick is to some extent an artificial contrivance after the style of the driver or play club of golf. Indeed, to golf it bears some little semblance, and strangers frequently confound the two pastimes. The Scottish school-boy, when hockey comes on in its turn with other recreations of the playground, sets out for the woodlands with a strong, sharp pocket-knife. He examines carefully all the hedge-rows to see if there is any young plant which has a natural turn at the end. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The shape and dimensions of the hockey-stick are entirely arbitrary, being left to the peculiar taste of the owners. Some like their hockeys to be sharply hooked, while others prefer them merely bent over at the end. ”

“ Alf said he wanted the fellows to put in every moment possible during the Christmas recess on skates.
“Play hockey if you can. If you can’t, take a hockey stick with you and learn to use it with both hands. Buy a puck and try shooting, too. Put a couple of sticks or stones on the ice and try to shoot the puck between them. You ought all of you to have a fair idea of hockey by the time you get back to school. We have a few dollars in the treasury already, but we are going to use that to build a rink on the meadow. So every fellow will have to buy his own sticks this year. ”

“ Every fellow seemed to start up as if on springs, and it was indeed a pretty sight to see all those colored jerseys beginning to flit hither and thither over the ice, each young athlete ready to exert himself to the limit in order to accomplish the task falling to his hand.
Hockey sticks circled through the air, or were held in readiness for a stroke, as those whose hands gripped the same darted down toward the inoffensive puck, with hostile intent.
Frank had found himself opposed to Coots in the start as the puck was "faced," with the shoe of a hockey stick on either side. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is not an individual but eleven individuals welded together that form a team. Every girl should consider—when playing hockey—that her stick is her best friend; therefore it should be chosen carefully and with due consideration. There are three important qualities a stick should have: balance, weight and length. The balance should be even, not in the handle, but more in the curved head of stick; not too heavy there however. The weight of the stick should be 21 or 22 ounces for a forward, 23 or 24 for a halfback, 24 or 25 for a fullback or goal keeper. Never carry a stick that is too heavy. ”

“ The more you play the sooner you will become an adept in the art, and the better you can handle your stick the more effective a player you will be, because stick-handling is one of the essentials of the game. ”

“ The right hand should hold it firmly at the end of handle, and the left lower down, according to the reach of the player, because, even if most plays are made with both hands on the stick, there are times when it is necessary to use only one, in which case, holding the stick as above, the right hand, is already in place without any change.
The stick should be held in both hands, because in that position a man is always ready to shoot for the goals or to pass the puck. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It should be made of second growth ash, which is the most serviceable wood, because it combines strength with lightness, and does not, like most other woods, absorb the water which frequently appears on the ice. When a player gets a stick that suits him, he should carefully note its particular points, so that when that one breaks, he may secure others of the same shape. A player should use the stick that he himself prefers, and should not be guided by the choice of others, although, of course, he should always look for an improvement on his own. ”

“ Of all the games that developed from the old Roman sport the British hockey alone shaped the destiny of ours. There can be but little doubt, but that "shinny," the forerunner of our scientific hockey, is the Canadian interpretation of the game played across the water, adapted in its application to the climate of the country. Hockey in England is played in the winter on the frozen ground. It consists in driving a ball from one point to another by means of a hooked stick. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The hockey games were like those played by men and boys in civilised lands, only here everybody who wished to play was paired with somebody else, so as to keep the sides even. Everybody not otherwise engaged enthusiastically took a hand in it, and the fun was very great. Mr Hurlburt, Mr Ross, Hudson Bay officers, as well as all down to the smallest Indian lad who could handle a crooked stick, had a share in this game. The day was so cold, and the smooth ice expanse so great, that the vigorous exercise did everybody good. ”

“ Ring Hockey may be played on the floor of any gymnasium or large room by teams of six, comprising a goal-keeper, a quarter, three 556 forwards and a centre. The goals consist of two uprights 3 ft. high and 4 ft. apart. The ring, which takes the place of the ball or puck, is made of flexible rubber, and is 5 in. in diameter with a 3-in. opening through the centre. It weighs between 12 and 16 oz. The stick is a wand of light but tough wood, between 36 and 40 in. ”

“ Holders, for a season, of the Stanley Cup, they are past masters in the art of skating and stick handling, and because of the high perfection which the game has attained in Manitoba, they will ever be dangerous rivals for any team in the east that captures the coveted trophy. ”

“ The stick of a cover-point player should be somewhat heavier than a forward's. It should belong in the handle, in order to increase a man`s reach, and the blade should taper, becoming thinner towards the end, which aids in raising the puck. His dress and skates are the same as used by the forwards. ”

“ The puck may be stopped by any part of the person but not carried or knocked except with the stick. No stick may be raised above the shoulder except when actually striking the puck. When the puck is driven off the rink or behind the goal, or a foul has been made behind the goal, it is faced 5 yds. inside the rink. The goal-keeper must maintain a standing position.
There are a number of Hockey organizations in America, all under the jurisdiction of the “American Amateur Hockey League” in the United States and the “Canadian Amateur Athletic League” in Canada. ”

“ Ice Hockey in its simplest form of driving a ball across a given limit with a stick or club has been played for centuries in northern Europe, attaining its greatest popularity in the Low Countries, and there are many 16th- and 17th-century paintings extant which represent games of Bandy, the players using an implement formed much like a golf club. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of course, I am not regretting the fact that the country is too well drained for skating. I am merely noting the fact that this change has taken place, and I am afraid that skating is not the only sport that is lost to us. Baseball also seems to have retreated to the cities and towns, and hockey has taken the place of shinny, and is played almost entirely on the town rinks. But there may be another reason for this. Where could a boy find a shinny stick nowadays? The average woodlot in which cattle have been pasturing hasn't a stick left in it that is under thirty or forty years old. ”

“ Now pretty much all these games, when you come to think of it, baseball, cricket, hockey, tennis, golf, I don’t know how many more, all involve hitting a ball with a stick. If we like to throw balls with our hands because our wild forebears threw javelins and spears with theirs, can you not guess at once that the reason why we like to strike balls with sticks is that these same wild forebears had for so many ages been striking things with clubs and swords? We like what our ancestors had to do. ”

“ And all have skates and hockey sticks and enter without price.
And seats are round for those who rest—the idle and the old;
But those who are not in the game are apt to find it cold.
Some play defence, some forward, with terrific speed and stress.
The puck keeps flying 'twixt the goals of failure and success,
Now up, now down, across and back, here, there, and everywhere.
The grit of skates, the crack of sticks, the shouting, fill the air.
Some slip and fall a thousand times and spring up in a trice;
Some go to pieces on their feet and have to leave the ice ”

“ Prue nodded eagerly.
"Suppose we were to take all their hockey sticks and hide them," was Monica's suggestion. "Think what a stew they would all be in! If the sticks didn't turn up before match day we could promise to find them on condition that Pam played in the netball match, instead of the hockey match. It is quite easy to get hold of the sticks. They are all kept in the gym room." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Basket-balls, baseballs, footballs, hockey sticks, bats, golf clubs, boxing gloves, and everything else for the athlete had been boosted and knocked by each side. And here the two competitors glowered at each other less than a stone’s throw apart. To Vern, who all his life had read their advertising and used their goods, it seemed like coming suddenly upon the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte.
The job hunter meditated. “Let’s see. The year we had the big championship team we used the Bloss basket-ball; the year after that we used the Landon. ”

“ Lacrosse and canoeing for the warm bright days of summer, snow-shoeing and tobogganing for the crisp cold nights of winter, these make up a quartette of healthy, hearty sports, the superiors of which, in their appropriate season, any other country might safely be challenged to show. But apparently this ambitious colony is not content with the laurels already won, and in the bringing of the game of rink hockey to perfection would add another to her garland; for this fine game, as played in the Canadian cities to-day, is, without question, a distinctly home product. ”