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4
foto Polygoon
Hieronder volgt een artikel van de hand van den
Heer Peter R. Griffin, dat speciaal voor „De Bank"
werd geschreven.
At the tender age of five years my father, one
cold winter's day made me put on a pair of
skates and go out on our tennis court, which
we put water on each winter and made into an
ice-rink. This was an entirely new experience
for me at that time, as I had barely finished
learning how to walk. Nevertheless I ap
proached this new problem with a certain
amount of perseverance and it was'nt long
before I found I could stand up together with
my little ice-hockey stick.
The above paragraph illustrates a way in
which thousands of Canadian youngsters first
learn the rudiments of Canada's National
Sport. Later on, at the age of eleven, I was
sent away to boarding school and it was there
that I received my first real coaching in ice-
hockey. I learnt a good deal in those years
preceding my eighteenth birthday, but at the
same time I often think that I picked up more
important points in the Christmas holidays
watching the professionals play than in the
actual playing at school.
It was a great treat to watch these profession
als in action. The Toronto Maple Leafs play
in a marvellous stadium, seating 15.000
people against 7 other teams from Montreal,
Ottawa, Hamilton, New York, Boston, Chi
cago and Detroit in what is called the Na
tional League. When I was twelve years old
I knew the name of every player in this league,
the position he played, and I could tell any
body at any given moment during the winter
the amount of goals each player had scored.
It was my ambition at this age to play one
day in this marvellous stadium, which ambition
was realised the year after I left school. I was
playing for a clubteam and having won our
group, we were to play off against the winner
of another group in the big stadium. We
were beaten in front of 500 people!
I played hockey spasmodically from thereon
until a year and a half ago, when my firm
sent me to Holland to work for them.
On arrival in this country I was asked by the
Amsterdam officials to play for their rink. I
accepted and so began a new phase in ice-
hockey for me. At first I thought the game
was so very little known over here that it
would'nt require any real exertion on my part
at all, but I was soon to discover how wronq
I was.
It was my first game in Europe played in
Brussels against a combined Belgian side. At
the end of the second period we were leading
12 and the game finished 87 in favour of
Belgium.
In writing about European hockey I sometimes
think there is such a great difference between
it and the game we play in Canada. In the
first place we, in Canada, only play against
one another (occasionally against American
teams). Over here the Dutch play the Bel
gians, French, Germans, Czechs, Poles etc.
with the subsequent intense rivalry between
nationalities. This seems to put the game on
an altogether different plane. The Dutch must
beat the Belgians because of traditional rivalry,
the Germans must win to please their leader,
the French must beat the Germans because
they are traditional enemies and so forth.
In the second place I want to go on record
as saying that I have played two seasons on
this side and have yet to see the European
referee who knew how to do his job properly.
This feature has more to do with the spoiling
of an ice-hockey game than the Dutch public
realise.
I believe the best example of bad refereeing
was illustrated last Thursday-evening in the
match AmsterdamThe Hague. Right from
the start this game was allowed to get out of
hand with the result that there was a con
tinual procession of players from the ice to
the penalty bench.
European referees can't seem to realise that
if they start right off by ruling with an iron
hand players will very soon calm down and
stop the tripping and slashing, as every player
realises a game can't be won sitting on the
penalty bench, but it is only when he realises
he can perhaps get away with it, will he keep
it up.
The newspapers in writing about games the
following day are inclined to single out
players for their criticism when, in reality, they
should criticise the referees.
One of the cleanest and most exciting games
