Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/12

 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