Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/47

 But the skate that seems to have found more favour among hockey players than any other, is one manufactured by a Montreal machinist, Lunn. It has more good points and is altogether more satisfactory, than any skate yet introduced for the game. Built at the heel as at the toe, it affords equal facility for backward, as well as for forward skating, an excellent point, and being forged and hammered, it is stronger and more reliable than the ordinary skate that is only cast. Unfortunately for players living outside of Montreal, many inferior skates built almost in the shape of the Lunn's, have been forced upon them in their ignorance of the genuine article.

The hockey skate should be just high enough to prevent the plate or the sole of the boot from touching the ice when turning or cutting corners, because a low skate is not so straining on the ankle as a high one. The blade should be long enough and sufficiently flat on the ice to admit of great speed, but should not project at the toe or heel so much as to trip the skater on any occasion, and should be curved slightly in front and behind, in order to allow of quick turning. Although it should be so pointed as to enable a player to begin a rush by running on the toes, these should not have a distinct, projecting point, but should be so shaped that they will admit of this start, because