Shinny Shinny ( also shinney ) is an informal type of hockey played on ice or the street . There are no formal rules or specific positions , and generally , there are no goaltenders . The goal areas at each end may be marked by nets , or simply by objects , such as blocks of snow , stones , etc . Bodychecking and lifting or " roofing / reefing / raising the puck " ( shooting the puck or ball so it rises above the ice ) are often forbidden because the players are not wearing protective equipment . It may also be called pick - up hockey , pond hockey , street hockey , road hockey , or " outdoor puck " . Shinny is a game that all levels of hockey enthusiasts can play because it requires no rink , requires no skills except ability to hold a stick and at the very least to try to touch the puck or ball when it goes by . Shinny may be completely non - competitive and recreational - scoring irrelevant - or competitive and scores kept . Team formation . There is a common ritual for choosing teams , which has each player " throwing " their hockey stick into a pile at centre ice , or the middle area between two nets . If there are enough people on the rink who are not playing an organized game , one player may approach another player and ask , " Wanna get a game going ? " , or simply toss his own stick into the middle . Once people follow suit and enough sticks are in the pile , someone divides the pile into two smaller piles , perhaps strategically assigning sticks to one side or another . Players then pick up their own sticks , the teams having been formed . If there are too many players for the size of playing area , three teams may be created , with one team waiting to play the winner . Very often teams are formed with intent to divide the group into approximately equal levels of skills among the players . Players joining after play has started are usually told " which way they are going " ( which net they should shoot towards ) based upon the score of the game and their skill level . Some games continue for many hours with a variety of players participating for as long as they want . History and name origin . Shinny , generally believed to be a pre - cursor to ice hockey , was informal enough in its formative years that the pucks and sticks were often makeshift . During the Great Depression , for example , northern boys used tree branches or broomhandles as sticks , a tin can , a piece of wood , and even a frozen road apple ( farm animal dropping ) as a puck . Any object about the right size might serve as a puck . The name is derived from the Scottish game shinty and indeed shinny was a common name for one of shinty ' s many regional variations in Scotland . Shinny , a primarily Canadian term , is usually called scrimmage , pick - up hockey or RAT Hockey in the United States . Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien famously played an impromptu game of shinny on the Rideau Canal with school children during his time in office . Institutionalized Usage . In some municipalities around the world where the climate permits , part of a city ' s taxes may go to the formal set - up and maintenance of skating rinks designed specifically for shinny . In some cities , such as Montreal , Quebec , Canada , numerous rinks are erected around the metropolis and are maintained by civil servants throughout the winter as long as the weather allows their usage to continue .