Hockey is a way of life. It is an industry, a hobby, a passion, a religion, a career, all rolled into one. There are many experts, pretend experts and varied opinions about stategy and team play on the ice. Conditioning rituals and workout drills are many and debated about as to their  usefullness or uselessness. I will try to write about only the facts and legends of the game, and leave the philisophy to the geniouses. Let's focus on the colourful careers and exciting players who have entertained us since our childhoods, and before we came along, in our Grandparents early years of radio broadcasts and newspaper reports. Since this is our first "column", I'll keep it short-Welcome to Hockey History Hotline!!

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   The early days of hockey featured games on frozen rivers, lakes and ponds. Skates were crude and player's padding as we know it was non-existant, and they used sticks fashioned from tree branches, often from hornbeam trees which is also known as ironwood. Leather skates with  better blades appeared in the 1860's. One of the first games took place on March 3, 1875 in Montreal with nine players per team competing for a wooden puck. No forward passes were allowed and the rules were much similar to rugby, and the game itself resembled the hurling games played in The United Kingdom. By 1883 the generally accepted riule of seven skaters per side was practiced, but still there were still no boards and players usually wore turtleneck sweaters and wool caps. Some players had huge

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