Ice hockey

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ice Hockey (or Bandy, to give it its original name) is far more popular than ordinary Hockey in countries where there is much ice; in fact in America “Hockey” means Ice Hockey, while the land game is called Field Hockey. 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. ”

“ As is natural, the practice and ability which enable a man to play ordinary hockey with moderate success are a large factor in his success when he woos the more elusive sister-sport; another factor, and one which is not sufficiently appreciated, is the strength of his skating. It is not enough to be able to run very swiftly on the skates: no one is an ice-hockey player of the lowest grade who cannot turn quickly to right or left, start quickly, and above all, stop quickly. ”

“ The boys were getting so much sport out of 129 ice hockey that—as the league approved of that form of exercise—the physical instructor introduced it on the girls’ athletic field. The field could be flooded, and had been; now it was a perfectly smooth piece of ice and upon it those of the older girls who were already good skaters, had a chance to learn the mysteries of hockey. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A challenge was drawn up and delivered to Hammond Academy, was accepted and three games were arranged to settle the ice hockey supremacy. The first was scheduled for January 20th, and although a thaw had set in the evening before and made the skating surface far from perfect, the contest came off at three o'clock on the date set. ”

“ As first played in Canada, hockey went by various names, some of which were apparently merely local—hurley, shinny, rickets, and so forth, It was played only upon the ice in winter-time, and there was not much pretence to rules, each player taking part as best he knew how. No effort toward systematizing the game appears to have been made until the year 1875, when the members of the Montreal Football Club, in search of some lively athletic amusement for the long winter months, recognized in hockey the very thing they wanted. ”

“ In fact, in and about New York hockey is fast superseding ice polo; the latter, purely American game, being played mostly in New England. Hockey is, of course, akin to ice polo, but it has a number of points of difference, and is considered by the Canadians a much better game than our ice polo. Perhaps one of the chief advantages of hockey is that more players can take part in the sport than in ice polo. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ However swift a player may be, he is practically useless to his side unless he can, with moderate suddenness, check his headlong career, turn quickly, and when the time comes again start quickly.
I have often been asked whether ice-hockey is “bad” for skating. Most emphatically it is not: on the other hand, it is extremely good for most skaters, since it gives them strength of ankle and accustoms them to move at a high speed. Strength, as we have seen before, is not the prime need of a skater, but balance: strength, however, is a most useful adjunct. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ice hockey occupied a prominent place in the conversations that were carried on wherever three or more Scranton High fellows clustered, to kick their heels on the pavement, or sun themselves while perched on the top of the campus fence that would go down in history as the peer of the famous one at Yale.
During afternoons the hockey players gathered at the park, and each day saw them engaging in some sort of practice game,—their opponents being such fellows as could be gathered together to constitute a fair Seven. ”

“ Almost at once after the unsuccessful try the puck was at the Beavers’ goal, threatening it—occasion for more shouting. What a fast game hockey is! How exhilarating to watch! How I envied those boys. What excitement, what exhilaration it must be for them! Here was fame spontaneous, overwhelming, real. This was their world, much what the social world would be to me,—I hoped.
Time was called and the cheering fell to a subdued murmur. The players left the ice for their dressing-rooms. ”

“ With the facilities afforded hockey players and beginners in every city in the Dominion, the game will boom. Every athletic club will have its teams, and universities, colleges and schools will buzz on the ice at their favorite sport, while hundreds and thousands, eager to enjoy the sight, will flock to the rinks and cheer their sides to victory. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Why, the Belleville folks sat up and rubbed their eyes. They had never dreamed that any fellow not a professional player could prove himself such a marvelous wizard on steel runners. Nick fairly dazzled them with his speed, his eccentric twistings when hotly pursued, and the clever way in which he kept that rubber disc just in front of his hockey stick, always carrying it along toward the point where he meant to strike for goal. ”

“ The game commonly known as ice hockey is hereby recognized and declared to be the national winter sport of Canada and the game commonly known as lacrosse is hereby recognized and declared to be the national summer sport of Canada. ”

“ 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 large number of deeply interested sympathizers always accompany the team that goes to play away from home—in fact, the enthusiasm and excitement reach quite as high a pitch as they do in England over a successful team of local football players. The great trophy of Canadian ice-hockey is the Stanley Cup, which was first competed for in 1893, and has been competed for every year since, except in 1898. The winning teams have generally been furnished by Montreal or Winnipeg, though sometimes the winners have come from Toronto, Ottawa, and other cities. ”

“ Not that hockey is native to the soil in the same sense as lacrosse. In a simpler form, and under different names, it has long existed in England; but the difference between the game as played there on the green and played in Canada on the ice, is as great as that between an old-fashioned game of rounders and a professional game of base-ball. ”

“ The hockey skate should be just high enough to prevent the plate or the sole of the boot from touching the ice when turning or cutting corners, because a low skate is not so straining on the ankle as a high one. ”

“ As will be readily understood, the ice over which a hockey match has been played is perfectly useless for skaters any more that day until it has been swept, scraped, and sprinkled or flooded; and in consequence, at all Swiss resorts, with the exception of St. Moritz, where there is a rink that has been made for the hockey-player, or when an important match is being played, this sport is supplementary to such others as I have spoken of. Nobody, that is, plays hockey and nothing else, since he cannot play hockey at all till the greedy skaters have finished with the ice. ”

“ 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. ”

“ All the young folk were soon on the ice, the boys starting a hockey game at the far end, and the girls circling around in pairs at the end nearest to the fire.
“That’s what Mrs. Case, our physical instructor, says we ought to learn,” said Laura, watching the boys.
“And it’s jolly good fun, too,” cried Bobby. 79
“But suppose you turned your ankle, or fell down and tore your dress?” suggested Nellie. “I believe hockey on the ice is too rough.”
“No game needs to be rough,” declared Laura. “That isn’t the spirit of athletics. Didn’t we learn how to play basketball without being rough?” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The rivalry between the towns along the river was of the keenest, and plots and counterplots to win the champions, at baseball, at football, at boat racing, at track athletics, and at ice hockey, were without number. ”

“ The greatest symptom of individual progress is a sincere love for the work in hand; advancement follows naturally upon a faithful apprenticeship.
The Speed Game HOCKEY, king of speed games, is Canada’s national sport. The pace of it, the skill and thrill of it appeal to the youth of Canada. No other boys in the world could ever play hockey quite as Canadian youngsters do. Hockey has developed to suit a temperament which expresses itself most completely in this game. It is the spirit of Vimy Ridge and Festubert that crops out strongest in a fast rush down the ice with the puck. ”