Hockey is about skating, not blocking
In 1886 when the world’s first hockey league (the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada) was formed, one of its 15 rules stated: “The goal keeper must not, during the play, lie, kneel or sit up-on the ice, but must maintain a standing position.” The rules said nothing about the other six on the ice (there was a rover then). That’s because the rule makers assumed players would not deliberately flop around on the ice. They were skaters and were supposed to skate.
The goalkeeper rule stayed in effect in all leagues until Jan. 9, 1918 when Frank Calder, president of the National Hockey League, decreed that henceforth the net guardian would not be required to remain standing. “They can fall on their knees, or stand on their heads,” he said. This rule change was due to the antics of Ottawa Senators goalie Clint Benedict, who perfected the ruse of pretending he had fallen down or was knocked down. He was dubbed “Praying Benny.” Other goalies copied the tactic, and referees finally threw up their hands and asked Calder to wipe the rule off the books.
In this year’s NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, we have had what some say was epidemic of players clogging up the shooting area by leaving their feet to block shots. Isn’t that what goalies are supposed to do? critics ask.
In 1899, Arthur Farrell, a great player with the Montreal Sham-rocks, wrote the world’s first instructional book on hockey. He quoted Frank Stocking of the Quebec team saying of the goalie, “He should never rely upon his assistants to stop any shot.” Old-time Ottawa Senators goalie Percy LeSueur, however, advised defencemen in his 1909 book How to Play Hockey, “stop all you can — don’t depend too much upon ‘the men behind,’ always try and make sure yourself.” Bob Goldham, the esteemed Detroit Red Wings defenceman of the 1950s, certainly took that advice to heart. He was renowned for dropping to his knees to thwart the shooter. As The Hockey News quipped at the time, “There’s Goldham in them thar spills.”
Opposite points of view on the manoeuvre are held by two Hall of Famers. Former Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey suggested a few years ago that a player should be penalized for leaving his feet to block a shot. Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman begs to differ. Quoted in the Ottawa Citizen, he recently said: “I think shot blocking is a skill and talent that shouldn’t be taken out of the game.”
A third point of view is truly bizarre: adopting a variation of basketball’s three-in-the-key rule, perhaps whereby defensive players would be prohibited from collapsing in a defined area in front of the goal beyond a set number of seconds. Referees with stop watches?
In supporting his view, Yzerman says “defence wins.” In other words, so the argument goes, when a sprawling player blocks a shot there is no goal. With no goal his team has a better chance of winning. But wouldn’t it be wise to contemplate that what happens at one end of the ice also happens at the other? So, there is a neutralizing effect and the team with the better skaters, stickhandlers and shooters will win the game. There is no doubt that shot blocking is a “skill and a talent.” So is treeclimbing, but perhaps many would ask “Who wants to watch that?”
In case readers have not already discerned it, I’m in the Gainey camp, as is, I believe, Hall of Famer Larry Robinson. In my opinion, deliberately collapsing on one’s belly or back-side goes against the very idea of hockey. The originators of the 1886 rules were right in not even imagining that players would think of doing that. Skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting, and meting out stiff bodychecks are what hockey is all about. As for the goalies, most would prefer to do the puck stopping themselves.
To prevent a goal, the goalie has to know where the puck is, and here’s what Percy LeSueur has to say: “Have your defence play what is known as the open game — as that gives the goalkeeper a much better chance to see the puck and follow its movements.”
PAUL KITCHEN IS AN OTTAWA HOCKEY HISTORIAN.