Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/60

 one's own side, who is in a better position to use it than the man who first secures the rubber. It is the science of mutual help. As in lacrosse and football, it is a “sine qua non." The team that indulges most in this scientific play, has the less hard work to do, and is necessarily the freshest when the trying end of the match comes round, because combination play minimizes the Work in this arduous game.

As soon as a player secures the puck, he should first look for an opening, and then size up, at a glance, the position of his confreres. It is, indeed, a question whether it be not more scientific, more successful, to first look for a good opportunity to pass the puck to a partner, and then, if none such presents itself, to force a clearing.

It happens that a fast forward can by his own personal efforts, score one, two, or perhaps, three goals, but towards the close of the game, he is no longer able to do effective work, because his selfish exertions have played him out, and when necessity demands that, because of poor assistance from his partners, a good man should indulge in individual work, such may be permissible, but the team thus handicapped cannot expect to win from a well~balanced aggregation.

Combination in hockey is the scientific means to the end at which the players aim,