Halifax Rules

Halfiax Rules are believed to be the first known rules of ice hockey. They were never wriiten down but are believed to date back to the mid-18th century. Colonel Byron Weston spelled out the rules in an interview with sport reporter James Power after the Montreal or McGill Rules had already been published in "The Gazette",
==The Halifax Rules==
*The game is played with a block of wood for a puck.
*The puck is not allowed to leave the ice.
*The stones marking the place to score goals are placed on the ice (at right angles to those at present), parallel to the sides of the ice surface.
*There is to be no slashing.
*There is to be no lifting the stick above the shoulder.
*When a goal was scored, teams change ends.
*Players must keep ‘on side’ of the puck.
*The ‘forward pass’ is permitted. -This is different from later rules published for as the forward pass was not permitted
*All players play the entire game.
*There is a no-replacement rule for penalized players.
*The game is made up of two thirty-minute periods with a ten-minute break.
*The goal-keeper must stand for the entire game.
*Goals are decided by the goal umpires, who stand at the goal mouth and ring a handbell.
These rules were taken to Montreal by James Creighton who altered the rules in to the McGill or Montreal Rules.
==Links==
hockey history page on "Halifax Rules"
CBC story on the debate of the birthplace of ice hockey rules
Category:Rules
Category:Ice hockey rules