Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1927-01-27
COACH TELLS OF
ART OF SKATING
Nothing Can Beat a Bump as
Teacher, Says Smythe.

'No book can beat bump for teach
ing you how to skate" says Connie
Smythe, coach of Toronto university's
international college hockey cham
pions, writing in the American Boy
Magazine.
The way to become whirlwind
hockey player, a world-beating speed
merchant or breath-taking fancy
skater, Smythe says, is to get out and
play shiny, or tag.
For the beginner who is trying to
select a pair of skates, Smythe recon-
mends the hockey type, which curves
slightly at the front and back, and is
short so as to permit quick turning.
The man who finds that his ankles
are weak will do well to support them
with strips of canvas about two inches
wide and two yards long. Start wrap
ping well above the ankle, bringing the
strip clockwise around the leg and
overlapping about half. Wrap down
over the ankle and bring the strip
around the instep twice. Then con-
tinue 1t up around the leg and tuck
1t under the top strip, making sure
that 1t is not too tight.
1t isn't hard for the beginner to
learn the racing start. The way to
do 1t Is to stand crouched over with
your left side pointing in the direc-
ton you are going. Jump sideways,
throwing your left foot out and bring
ing the right foot up. Follow this
with several side steps, using the
edge of the skate for traction, until
you have gained enough speed for a
| forward stride.
The quick stop takes more practice.
Imagine yourself coming full tilt down
| the ice and headed straight for the
| shore. At 10 yards from the shore
you're still going at top speed. Now
what? A wild sprawl and skinned
nose? Not at all. Turn sideways, dig
the edges of your skates into the ice
and lean backwards and you'll come
to stop with yards to spare.
The man who wishes to become an
expert hockey player should never
skate without a stick and puck, even
If the puck is piece of wood and the
stick is borrowed from nearby tree.
Skating with hockey stick requires
slightly different sense of balances
and a different set of muscles from
that demanded by ordinary skating.
AS an example of the dash and pres.
ence of mind required by hockey,
Smythe tells of an incident that oc-
Cured in the fourth game of the series
between Toronto university and Port
Arthur for the Canadian champion
ship. The third game-the one that
should have decided the title-went 80
minutes overtime to tie.
Early in the fourth game, Red Por-
ter, Toronto defense man, obtained the
puck and started racing for the OPP
ponents' goal. With terrific burst of
speed he took the puck the length of
the rink, eluding the opposing center
and two defense men. Squarely in
front of the goal he tripped, pitched
forward and skidded ahead on his
chest, with his stick out in front of
him. The Port Arthur goal keeper
took single step out to get the puck
from the fallen man, but Red, al
though he was prone on the ice, had
managed to keep control of the rub
Der.
AS the goal keeper reached for 1t.
Porter pulled it closer to him, and
when the goalie took another step out.
Red showed the puck between his op-
ponent's skates for the goal. 1t was
such magnificent example of cool
ness in crisis that the 5000 specta-
tors went frantic.