ICE-HOCKEY
Many of the Swiss winter-resorts can put into the field a very strong
ice-hockey team, and fine teams from other countries often make winter
tours there; but the ice-hockey which the ordinary winter visitor will
be apt to join in will probably be of the most elementary and
unscientific kind indulged in, when the skating day is drawing to a
close, by picked-up sides. 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.
And in most places hockey is not taken very seriously: it is a charming
and heat-producing scramble to take part in when the out-door day is
drawing to a close and the chill of the evening beginning to set in;
there is a vast quantity of falling down in its componence and not very
many goals, and a general ignorance about rules. But since a game,
especially such a wholly admirable and delightful game as ice-hockey,
may just as well be played on the lines laid down for its conduct as
not, I append at the end of this short section a copy of the latest
edition of the rules as issued by Prince’s Club, London.
For the rest, everybody knows the “sort of thing” hockey is, and quite
rightly supposes that ice-hockey is the same “sort of thing” played on a
field of ice by performers shod in skates. 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. 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. But though hockey is good for the skater, he will certainly
find that he will not skate well or accurately immediately after playing
hockey, any more than he will skate well the moment he has taken off his
skis. But the feeling that to play hockey unfits the skater for that
which he may regard as his more artistic job, is, as far as can be seen,
unfounded.
It is a wonderful and delightful sight to watch the speed and accuracy
of a first-rate team, each member of which knows the play of the other
five players. The finer the team, as is always the case, the greater is
their interdependence on each other, and the less there is of individual
play. Brilliant running and dribbling, indeed, you will see; but as
distinguished from a side composed of individuals, however good, who are
yet not a team, these brilliant episodes are always part of a plan, and
end not in some wild shot but in a pass or a succession of passes,
designed to lead to a good opening for scoring. There is, indeed, no
game at which team play outwits individual brilliance so completely.
But such is not the aspect of the game that will strike the observer who
watches the usual pick-up or inter-hotel match on the rink, which
generally begins as soon as skaters hear the curfew of the tea-bell.
Here will be found the individualist who, sooner than pass when he has
once got the puck, would infinitely prefer to fall and be trampled on;
and you will see him, while still sitting on the ice, hacking wildly at
the beloved india-rubber, in flat contravention of the rule. Common,
too, are the “non-stops” (like Wimbledon trains) who, once having got up
speed, are practically brakeless. Indeed, it was in connection with
non-stops that the present writer saw the most ludicrously comic
incident that it has ever been his good luck to encounter in these
winter places, where so many funny things happen. And it was in this
manner. A round dozen of these delightful nonstops had made up a hockey
match. The rink where they played bounded on three sides by snow-banks;
on the fourth, at the edge of which was one of their goals, an extremely
steep descent (caused by the levelling up of the ground to make the
rink), about 15 feet in height, plunged into the snow-covered field below. It
was a very cold afternoon, and (so rightly) the two gentlemen who were
deputed to keep goal preferred to plunge into the fray and go for the
puck whenever they could catch sight of it. In general, there were some
four or five out of the twelve players on their feet simultaneously: the
rest were momentarily prone. All this was delightful enough, but I had
no conception how funny they were all going to be.
It so happened that the puck was in the neighbourhood of the goal away
from the steep bank down into the field: it so happened, also, that all
the twelve were on their feet. Somebody in the mélêe near the goal hit
the puck with such amazing violence that it flew half-way down the rink.
The whole field, with ever-increasing velocity, poured after it,
spreading out on both sides of it. Another whack brought it close to the
goal at the edge of the steep bank, and again at top-speed every player
on the field was in pursuit. Faster and ever faster they neared the
goal: somebody, with stick high uplifted in the manner of a
three-quarter swing at golf, made a prodigious hit at it, but completely
missed it. The next moment every single one of those players had poured
like a resistless cataract down the steep snow-slope into the field
below, leaving the rink completely untenanted except for a small
innocent-looking puck, which lay a few yards in front of a yawning
goal.
[Illustration: ICE HOCKEY
_From the Drawing by Fleming Williams_]
For a little while this impressive stillness and depopulation lasted.
Then the first “strayed reveller” returned, heavily limping. He took his
time, and with a superb, lightning-like shot sent the puck whirling
through the unguarded goal. Simultaneously he sat down. Simultaneously a
second player showed his head over the ice-bank and shouted “Offside!”
Simultaneously also, the puck hit him in the face. It is hard to
believe, I know; but I assure the reader that it was harder to stop
laughing.
At any rate, here are the rules:
RULES OF MATCH PLAY
1. The puck shall be made of india-rubber, 3 inches in diameter, 1 inch
thick, and shall weigh 1¼ lbs., or shall be of such other size or
shape as shall from time to time be decided.
The stick shall be so made that it can pass through a ring 3 inches in
diameter.
2. The goal-posts at each end of the ice shall be 4 feet high and 4 feet
apart.
3. The team shall consist of six players.
4. The goal is scored when the puck passes between the goal-posts.
5. The game shall consist of two halves of 20 minutes each. The teams
change goals at half-time.
6. The match is won by the team who scores the greater number of goals.
If, when time is called, the number of goals is the same on both sides,
the match is said to be a tie. Five minutes each way must then be played
until the tie is decided, or the teams may arrange another match.
7. A referee shall be appointed whose duty it shall be to decide all
disputed points, and his decision shall be final.
He shall appoint, if possible, four goal umpires, two at each end.
The referee shall have power to stop the game for any cause and for such
time as he shall think fit.
In the case of unfair or rough play he shall caution the offender, and
if the offence is repeated, he may order the offender off the ice for a
certain interval, or for the rest of the match.
If no referee is appointed, the captains shall arbitrate all disputes.
8. The game shall be started by placing the puck between two opposing
players on the half-way line in the centre of the ice; the sticks of the
two players must meet three times before either may touch the puck.
After a goal the puck shall be placed in the centre of the ring and
restarted as above.
9. When the puck goes off the ice, it shall be restarted as in Rule 8,
and from a point 3 yards from the side where it left the ice. In case
the puck leaves the ice behind the goal line, it shall be restarted at a
point 5 yards from the goal line and 3 yards from the side.
10. No charging, crossing, riding off, pushing or tripping is allowed.
11. The player may not raise his stick above his shoulder.
12. No player may carry, stand on, kick or throw the puck except the
goalkeeper, who may kick it, catch it, or knock it away with his hand or
leg, or stop it with any part of his body.
13. A player having fallen is considered _hors de combat_, and may take
no part in the game until he has regained his feet and his stick.
14. Should the game be stopped by the referee by reason of the
infringement of any of the rules, or because of an accident or change of
players, the puck shall be started at the spot where it was last played
before the infringement, accident or change of players shall have
occurred.
15. No player shall play a forward pass unless at the time of his so
doing there are not less than two of his opponents (including the
goalkeeper) between him and the opponents’ goal line (the goal line for
this purpose being an imaginary line drawn from the goal-posts to the
side). In the event of such forward pass being played by or hitting such
player as aforesaid, or of his interfering with the game in any way, the
puck shall be restarted at the point where such forward pass was made.
16. In the case of one of the players being disabled, the captain of the
opposing team may decide whether he will allow a substitute or take out
one man from his own side.
17. No alteration shall be made in the rules unless it be supported by
at least two-thirds of those present at a Special General Meeting called
for the purpose, of which at least seven days’ notice must be given in
writing to each member, or by seven days’ notice posted on the Club
Notice Board--the suggested alterations to accompany any such notice or
to be affixed to the Club Notice Board. Any amendment to be brought
forward at such Special General Meeting must be signed by the proposer
and sent to the Hon. Secretary at least four days before the date of
such Special Meeting.