Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/7

 II. INTRODUCTION. ☘

ITH the natural modesty becoming to a player who is still in the game, the author feels that he should assure his friends that, in his present undertaking, he has been prompted more by the demand&mdash;in fact, the necessity of a book on hockey&mdash;than by any impression of confidence in his ability to do justice to the subject.

That a book on our national winter sport has not yet appeared in Canada is a marvel. If hockey were a novelty to us, then we might not reproach ourselves for our tardiness in this respect, but it is our most popular winter game, long established, thoroughly appreciated, and it certainly deserves a place with the other athletic pastimes that boast of a hand-book.

To realize the necessity of a book that explains rules and the intricacies of the play of our glorious sport, one has but to travel to some town where the game is just developing from its infancy, where the players are scarcely able to appreciate its scientific points, and he will readily perceive that it is a long-felt want. Situated at a distance from the hockey centres,