Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/29

 CHAPTER II. ☘ HOCKEY AS A GAME. ☘

VERY 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