Page:Hockey, Canada's Royal Winter Game.djvu/9

 III. THE ROYAL GAME OF HOCKEY. ☘

OCKEY! Fast, furious, brilliant, it is our popular winter sport. Verily it is the game of games. Offspring of "Our Lady of the Snows," hockey is, among her many, varied games, the most fascinating, the most exciting, the most scientific.

Played in every city, town, village, hamlet, it has aroused more public interest, more enthusiasm, than any athletic pastime that the votaries of sport have yet enjoyed, and as each succeeding year glides by, it grows in popular favor.

Rinks are springing up everywhere, and even their greatest capacity cannot accommodate the enthusiastic crowds of spectators who rush to witness an exciting match.

Like the Klondyke gold fever, the love of hockey spreads. A few years ago, the sport was known only in a few cities of the Dominion&mdash;now, from far east Halifax to frigid