Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game

Front matter

HOCKEY: CANADA'S ROYAL WINTER GAME. HAND-BOOK CONTAINING A SHORT HISTORY OF THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME, ITS RULES, HINTS ON TRAINING, PRACTICE AND SCIENTIFIC PLAYS WITH SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF LEADING TEAMS AND OPINIONS OF EXPERT PLAYERS. By ARTHUR FARRELL Shamrock Hockey Team, Montreal, Quebec.

Montreal: C.R. CORNEIL, PRINTER 1899

Index

INDEX.

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I. | — | Dedication.

II. | — | Introduction.

III. | — | Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.

The Stanley Cup.

Chapter | I. | — | Origin and Development of Hockey.

As played in other lands.

Chapter | II. | — | Hockey as a Game.

|1. Mental and physical development.

|2. Men who play.

|3. Fascination of the Game.

|4. Dangers.

Chapter | III. | — | Necessaries and attributes of a player.

Chapter | IV. | — | The Science of Hockey.

Chapter | V. | — | Rules—Quebec, Ontario, American.

List of Illustrations and Sketches of Teams

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND SKETCHES OF TEAMS.

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Cover—A Hockey Player.

Frontispiece—A Match in Victoria Rink

The Victorias of Montreal in 1881

VICTORIAS OF MONTREAL

TAKEN IN QUEBEC IN 1881.

Dedication

Dedication. ☘ TO LOVERS OF HOCKEY THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

Introduction

II.

INTRODUCTION.

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WITH the natural modesty becoming to a player who is still in the game, the author feels that he should assure his friends that, in his present undertaking, he has been prompted more by the demand—in fact, the necessity of a book on hockey—than by any impression of confidence in his ability to do justice to the subject.

That a book on our national winter sport has not yet appeared in Canada is a marvel. If hockey were a novelty to us, then we might not reproach ourselves for our tardiness in this respect, but it is our most popular winter game, long established, thoroughly appreciated, and it certainly deserves a place with the other athletic pastimes that boast of a hand-book.

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. Situated at a distance from the hockey centres, a young team cannot, by their own interpretation of the rules—without hints or instruction, without seeing the more practiced men at play—arrive at a thorough appreciation of these rules, or grasp with sufficient clearness the idea, the objective point of our noble sport, until they are grown old and stiff.

Besides, our younger enthusiasts, even in cities where they enjoy every advantage of learning the game, are deficient in their knowledge of the rules and the fine points of the game, because, perhaps, they have never had a clear explanation of the same. They need, too, a guide to help them to the more quickly perfect themselves in their favorite pastime, and to avoid the dangers to which every player, however careful, is exposed.

A few random hints on the essential requisites of the game, on practice and scientific plays, should prove of some value to a careful reader.

To fill this necessity, to supply a demand that increases as the love of hockey spreads, to help educate the younger players, and to endeavor to make our exhilirating sport even more popular, the author assumes the pleasant task of writing this little essay, sincerely hoping that it may prove instructive to those who have not yet figured in senior ranks, and not uninteresting to those who have.

The Author.

The Royal Game of Hockey

III.

THE ROYAL GAME OF HOCKEY.

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HOCKEY! Fast, furious, brilliant, it is our popular winter sport. Verily it is the game of games. Offspring of "Our Lady of the Snows," hockey is, among her many, varied games, the most fascinating, the most exciting, the most scientific.

Played in every city, town, village, hamlet, it has aroused more public interest, more enthusiasm, than any athletic pastime that the votaries of sport have yet enjoyed, and as each succeeding year glides by, it grows in popular favor.

Rinks are springing up everywhere, and even their greatest capacity cannot accommodate the enthusiastic crowds of spectators who rush to witness an exciting match.

Like the Klondyke gold fever, the love of hockey spreads. A few years ago, the sport was known only in a few cities of the Dominion—now, from far east Halifax to frigid Winnipeg the glorious game is played; most of our neighboring American cities boast of a hockey club, and even in distant Europe, teams have been organized in Glasgow, London and Paris. It is a regular occurrence for clubs to send their representatives thousands of miles to meet their adversaries in a friendly match. Teams from Manitoba and Nova Scotia have repeatedly visited Montreal, and clubs from the latter place have returned the compliment. Nearly all of Canada's leading sevens have delighted audiences in different cities of the United States, and we have had American players cross the border to chase the puck with us. Indeed, it will not be surprising if, some day, an enterprising Canadian team sails the broad Atlantic to cross sticks with an English or Parisian aggregation.

The year 1899 saw hockey the most universally popular game in Canada. With the erection in Montreal, of the Arena rink, of whose interior an excellent picture is given on the opposite page, new blood was infused into the old clubs, and young ones sprang into life like rabbits in California.

The infatuating influence of the game drew together in this vast auditorium the largest crowds that ever assembled to witness a hockey match, and the wildest. Reports from every city in Canada told encouraging tales of the growth of the game, and of the strides that it had made in popularity. Science in play developed apace with the interest that the sport evoked, and as the season came to a close the perfection aimed at by the teams of long ago was satisfactorily attained.

It is not difficult to speculate on the probable future of our noble game. One can see "Arenas" in every town in the Dominion, crowded to the doors with enthusiastic spectators, and whereas we now have only a few first-class teams, we will soon have a hundred, because hockey is a game that fascinates the player and thrills the spectator.

Snowshoeing had its days, but the shoes that trod the snow now lie buried deep beneath it, lost, forgotten, save by the lonesome Indian in the far north, who plods his weary way in search of game.

Tobogganing touched the fancy of our fastidious public, but it slid itself into insensibility, and unless promptly revived will fade, like the memory of a pleasure enjoyed, into regions of the past.

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.

"Batavia rushes forth; and, as they sweep On sounding skates, a thousand different ways In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, The then gay land is maddened all to joy."

2. In this part of the book it is but meet that attention should be drawn to the fact that our Governors-General, ever since the time that hockey obtained as a popular, scientific game have, in a most significant manner, auspiciously lent their names and aid in furthering the interests of this favorite sport.

The cup donated by the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Derby (Lord Stanley) has given birth to the keenest competition among our leading clubs, jealous of its possession. It has brought together teams that have travelled thousands of miles for the encounter, and has placed the game of hockey, through these important matches, more prominently before the public than anything that any other man has ever done for it.

Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby, took a great interest in hockey when he was Governor-General of Canada, and when about to leave for England, in 1893, he announced his desire to give a perpetual challenge cup to be emblematic of the championship of the Dominion.

This was made known at a dinner tendered the Ottawa Hockey team, of which His Excellency was patron, when Lord Kilcoursie, who represented Lord Stanley, read a letter in which the latter said, "I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup which would be held, from year to year, by the leading hockey club in Canada. There does not appear to be any such outward or visible sign of the championship at present, and considering the interest that hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the games fairly played under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup that shall be held from year to year by the winning club."

The cup was subsequently entrusted to Sheriff Sweetland and Mr. P. D. Ross, of Ottawa, who were instructed to hand it over to the Montreal A.A.A. Hockey Club, as winners of the Amateur Hockey Association championship.

In view of the fact that there were several hockey associations in Canada, Lord Stanley asked the trustees to suggest some means of making the competitions for the cup open to all, and thus, as representative as possible of the championship of Canada. This was done by allowing to any team that would win the championship of its respective league (recognized as such by the trustees), the privilege of challenging the holders of the cup.

The following is a record of the competitions that have taken place for the possession of the trophy:—

1893. Awarded to M.A.A.A. Hockey Club as champions of the A.H.A. of Canada.

1894. Montrealers challenged by Osgoode Hall, Toronto. No game on account of unfavorable weather.

1895. Montrealers defeated Queen's College, Kingston,in Montreal, by 5—1. Referee, F.C. Chittick. Ottawa. Gave over the cup to Victoria H.C. of Montreal, winners of A.H.A. of Canada championship.

1896. Victorias of Winnipeg defeated Victorias of Montreal, in Montreal, score 5—2. Referee, A.F. Martin, Toronto.

1896. Victorias of Montreal defeated Victorias of Winnipeg, in Winnipeg, by 6—5. Referee, W.C. Young, Ottawa.

1897. Victorias of Montreal defeated Capitals of Ottawa, in Montreal, by 15 goals to 2. Referee, J. Findlay, Montreal.

1899. Victorias of Montreal defeated Victorias of Winnipeg, in Montreal. Referee, J. Findlay, Montreal. Feb. 16th, score 2—1; Feb. 18th, score 3—2 (match unfinished.)

1899, Shamrocks of Montreal awarded the cup as winners of the C.A.H. League championship.

1899. Shamrocks of Montreal defeated Queen's College, Kingston, in Montreal, 6—2. Referee, H. Pulford, Ottawa.

The Arena Rink in Montreal

ARENA HOCKEY RINK, MONTREAL.

BUILT IN 1898, CAPACITY, 10,000.

Chapter I

CHAPTER I.

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"How entrancing the sight! what life is around! The air so bracing! the snow on the ground! The glimmering steel in its flash on the eye, Marks out the line, as the skater goes by."

DANIEL WEBSTER'S definition of hockey reads as follows: "A game in which two parties of players, armed with sticks or clubs, curved or hooked at the end, attempt to drive any small object (as a ball or a bit of wood) towards opposite goals."

The learned lexicographer must, of course, refer to the game of hockey as played in England, or to the game as played in Canada in the good old days when anything from a broom handle to a shilalah was used as a hockey stick, and a tin can rendered service as a puck.

"O list, the mystic lore sublime, The fairy tales of modern time."

To trace back the sport to its very birth is not within the province of this little work, besides, its earliest history seems lost in a background of Egyptian darkness.

Truly it is a fact, though, that the foundation of our glorious scientific game was laid on "any small object and a curved stick," for the remotest recollections of the oldest players bring them back to the time when these formed the materials of the sport.

A few words, however, on the probable origin of "shinny" will not be amiss in this chapter, as few, very few, know the source from which the game developed.

It is difficult to precisely say from which particular sport "shinny" and hockey are directly sprung. The warlike Romans enjoyed a peculiar game that is most likely the precursor of hockey in England, "hurley" in Ireland, and "shinty" in Scotland, which, in point of fact, are now one and the same. A leather ball stuffed with feathers, and a bat or a club, were the essential requisities of the game, and the object was to knock the ball to a certain boundary line, and thereby score a point.

The original Scotch "shinty" resembled it more closely than did "hurley" or English hockey, but savored a trifle more of Canada's wínter sport, although, in the mildest of sarcasm, it is not probable that the votaries of the former sport would find anything of excitement in ours. It was played on the hard, sandy seabeach, with two or three hundred on each side, and their materials, or, rather, weapons, consisted of roots of trees, with a hard wood knob for a ball. History does not relate the number of casualties that occurred in these matches, of which the most important took place on New Year's Day, but if our imagination be given scope the effect is anything but pleasant.

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. The players are divided into two teams, each of which has its goals, which are fixed towards either end of a tolerably spacious ground. The goals are two upright posts, about six feet apart, with a cross pole placed at the height of four feet. Through these the ball must be driven in order to score a point. As regards the playing of the game, it is unnecessary further to speak, because it bears but little reference to hockey as played in Canada. Suffice it to say that in the shape of the sticks, not limited in their proportions, in the nature of the object that was used as a ball, in the unlimited numbers of the players, and in its principles, it is the parent of "shinny on the ice."

Shinny, so called, perhaps, on account of the frequent danger to which a player's shins were exposed, was a grand exhilirating sport. It had a hold upon us that the chilly atmosphere, or "the love we bore for learning," could not unfasten. Boys swarmed to the lakes in batallions and rattled along on old iron or wooden skates tied to their feet with rope. A few broken bones, a few frozen fingers, but, never mind, there were plenty of men to replace the dead. What a sight did a shinny match present! Hundreds on the same sheet of glare black ice, all eagerly engaged in one glorious game. What laughing, calling, cheering and chasing, there was to be sure! With their bright eyes and rosy cheeks they dart now in one direction, now in another till the great congealed bay roars and cracks with its living weight. The ball is in all directions in seconds of time, till finally the vast struggling crowd surges towards the goals, surrounds them, and a fierce lucky swipe knocks it through, while a hundred lusty voices cry their loudest Game! Game!!

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."

As time wore on, the gradual development of rules and regulations wrought, in this warlike pastime, the important changes, that were, in time, to give birth to the science that characterizes hockey as the peer of clean, exciting, fascinating games.

Twenty-five years ago, hockey, as played to-day, was an unknown sport. Shinny was played on the lakes, rivers and canals throughout the country, but only a discerning eye could discover in this crude, but infatuating amusement, the grand possibilities that a refined game could offer. Without restrictions as to the proportions of the stick, the nature or quality of the puck, the size of the playing space on the ice, or the number of the players, the sport could not develope into a scientific game, until such time as it would be discussed and regulated, by those who sought its advancement.

To the McGill College and Victoria Hockey teams of Montreal the game of hockey owes its present state. These two were the first regularly organized hockey clubs in the world, the former preceding the latter by a very short time. Previous to the formation of the above organizations about 1881, teams existed in Montreal and Quebec, but the only rule that was well defined was the one which demanded that every man should "shinny on his own side." Do what you might, play on what you liked or with what you liked—and as long as you shinnied on your own side, you were within the law.

All kinds of sticks were used, long knotted roots, broom handles, clubs, and all kinds of skates were employed, from long, dangerous reachers to short wooden rockers. On each particular occasion the captains agreed, before the game, upon the rules that they would abide by or disregard, so that, the rules that governed one match, might be null and void for another. The puck was a square block of wood, about two cubic inches in size, on which a later improvement was the bung of a barrel, tightly tied round with cord. Body checking was prohibited, so was lifting the puck; if the puck went behind the goal line it had to be faced; the referee kept time and decided the games; the goal posts, placed, at times, like ours, facing one another, were also fastened in the ice in a row, facing the sides, so that a game might be scored from either road, the forward shooting in the direction of the side of the rink, instead of towards the end, as we do.

As soon as the Montreal Victorias were organized, the secretary of that club wrote to every city in Canada for information regarding the rules of hockey, but the result was unsatisfactory, because he could get none, When, shortly after, the Crystals and M.A.A.A. had formed teams, and the Ottawas and Quebecs had come into existence, the first successful matches, played under a code of rules that had been drawn up and accepted, were brought about by the challenge system. The first series of games took place during the first winter carnival, in 1884, and was played on the cold river rink, and the second, during the second carnival, in the Victoria rink, "when," as history relates, "the players were slightly interfered with by the erection of a large ice-grotto in the rink."

In 1887, the challenge system was done away with, and the Victorias, Crystals, Montrealers, Quebecs and Ottawas formed the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada, which, in the good effects that it has produced, constitutes the second epoch in the history of the game, because from this date, hockey made rapid strides in its advancement as a popular, scientific sport.

The record of the winning teams is as follows:—

|1887 | —Crystal of Montreal.

|1898–94 | —Montrealers of Montreal.

|1894–98 | —Victorias of Montreal.

|1899 | —Shamrocks of Montreal, who in 1894, obtained the Crystals' franchise.

2.—Hockey skated up into Ontario from the city of Montreal. Kingston was the first western town, excepting, of course, Ottawa, to play the game as it should be played. Some of the Royal Military College cadets who hailed from Quebec, brought to the old garrison town, the principles of the new born sport, and with their foot-ball rivals, Queen's college, materially assisted the progress of the game in the west.

In Toronto, the game was introduced by Mr. T. L. Paton, for many years a member of the champion M. A. A. A. team, who chanced to be travelling in the Royal City. Mentioning to some friends that hockey was the winter game par excellence in Montreal, he was induced to write for a puck and some sticks, and teach them the sport. This was in 1887, and in a few years the game that electrified the people of the east, was destined to secure a fast hold upon the sporting instincts of those in the west. From Toronto to Winnipeg, Hockey was received with great éclat. Clubs were formed in every city that boasted of the name, and unions and associations sprang up to regulate the games and to draw up schedules.

In the season '90–91, the Ontario Hockey Association was organized with its head centre in Toronto.

It is difficult to form any conception of the invaluable work that this association has done for the game in Ontario. Caring for the senior clubs and fostering the interests of the juniors, it has placed hockey on as solid a basis in the west, as the original association has done for Quebec.

The record of the results of each year's championship is as follows:

|Goals.

1891 | Ottawa H.C. | defeated | Queen's College | | 4 – 1

1892 | " " | |" | Osgood Hall | | 10 – 4

1893 | " " | |" | Queen's College | | 6 – 3

1894 | Osgoode Hall | |" | Queen's College | |3 – 2

1895 | Queen's College | |" | Trinity College | |17 – 3

1896 | " " | |" | Stratford H. C. | |12 – 3

1897 | " " | |" | Toronto Varsity | |12 – 7

1898 | Osgoode Hall | |" | Queen's College | |7 – 3

1899 | Queen's College

Manitoba has produced in the Winnipeg Victorias, a team that can compare most favorably with any seven that ever chased the rubber disc. 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.

Besides the Victorias, there are the "Winnipegs" of Winnipeg, who deserve honorable mention as a clever, practiced aggregation.

In the Maritime Provinces hockey has been introduced to stay. It is obtaining a firm hold on the younger generations, and is fast approaching the high degree of excellence that marks the game in Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario; in fact, the senior teams of Halifax and St. John, in virtue of their showing against sevens that have visited them from Montreal, are eligible to compete for the Stanley Cup.

2. The game was first introduced into the United States some years ago, by a Montrealer, Mr. C. Shearer, who was studying in the John Hopkins University, Baltimore.

He formed a team among the students of the college, and was successful in inducing the Quebec team, which was the first Canadian seven to play across the border, to travel to the Oriole city for a series of games. In 1895 the Shamrocks and Montrealers, of Montreal, delighted audiences in New York, Washington and Baltimore. Since that time the Queen's College team has played in Pittsburg, and nearly all of Canada's leading clubs have sent their representatives to play in the different American rinks.

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. They are opened long before ours, and remain open for skating for weeks later, besides, being comparatively warm, spectators are not kept away from them, however inclement the weather may be. A short time ago, almost any Canadian team could defeat, with comparative ease, the best seven that our friends could get together. But, last year, a different complexion colored the comparison between the clubs, because the senior New York teams had arrived at such a high degree of science in the game, that the excellence of their playing made them eligible to honorably compete with the peers of the game in Canada. Indeed, it seems that the day is not far distant when the holders of the highest honors in hockey matters will have to look to themselves if they wish to successfully defend their laurels against a worthy opponent.

3. Hockey was first played in Europe, by another Montrealer, Mr. Geo. A. Meagher, World's Champion Figure Skater, and author of "Lesson's in Skating."

In Paris, the first European team was formed, and the gay Parisiens took most enthusiastically to it. The Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, who was one time Governor General of Canada, attended the first game played in this city, in the Pole Nord artificial skating rink. London, boasted of the second club in Europe, and in less than one season, more than five teams chased the rubber disc in that city.

Scotland was the next country to enjoy the game. In the artificial ice palace, Sauchiehall street, the first practices were held, and so proficient did the canny Scotchmen become, that a game with the team of the Palais de Glace in Paris, was arranged. A series of six matches was played in one week, with the French seven, and the crowds that witnessed the game fairly raised the roof with their clamorous applause. The Figaro, the leading newspaper in France, described hockey as a game that promised to excel all other sports in Paris, in point of popularity and "scientific possibilities."

Chapter II

CHAPTER II.

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HOCKEY AS A GAME.

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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.

At a dinner once tendered to a champion team, a prominent banker, in speaking of the effects of sport in general and hockey in particular, said "that a good, clean sportsman was an acquisition to any commercial house," and his statement is correct.

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. Surrounded so closely by thousands of inquisitive eyes, the hockey player is almost prevented, through the reasonable fear of being promptly called to order, from indulging in any unbecoming work, of which, perhaps, in other games he might be guilty. Besides, the referee of a hockey match is so strongly backed by a clear code of rules, and has such an unobstructed view of the game, that the strict and continued observance of his omnipotence developes a certain character in a player, that has its good effects in after life.

"A sound mind in a healthy body."

As a muscular developer it stands without an equal, which to doubt would be a confession of one's ignorance of the game. The act of skating frontwards and backwards, not to mention the numerous times when occasion demands that we should go sideways, too, developes the muscles of the legs and back and expands the lungs, and the rush down the ice, twisting and turning, and being twisted and turned, exercises the muscles in the neck, the sides and the stomach.

The multiplex movements required in manipulating the stick, call into play, by shooting in the different ways, in checking, and in dodging, nearly every other muscle in the human frame, and, as in other games of great dexterity, the eye is quickened, brightened to a degree of judgment.

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."