Ice Hockey is a popular sport, and is as celebrated for its on-pitch fisty-cuffs as it is for its actual sporting merits. The sports antics have been immortalised on the silver screen in Slapshot, The Mighty Ducks and aspiringly at least, in Happy Gilmore. It is a game of passion, skill and ten tonnes of testosterone. Considering the history of ice skates, I consider ice hockey to be at odds with its past. A dichotomy is created between the graceful nature of gliding on ice and full on thunderous act of hitting a puck in someone’s face.
The dictionary definition of puck, interestingly enough, is a disc of vulcanised rubber to be aimed at a goal in the game of ice hockey. I think this should read as a disk of vulcanised rubber aimed at the goal keeper’s face in the game of ice hockey. Such nuances are of utmost importance in understanding the rules of a game. Should it transpire that Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is in fact a factual account of an actual guide book, such information being erroneously acted upon could lead to prosecution by Zargob the Great, resulting in a slow and painful death by data entry.
Coming back to the issue at hand, the origins of ice skates come back to a need to be able to traverse icy landscapes safely and swiftly. Some of the earliest information about the use of skates to cross icy lakes and ’scapes can be dated to the early twelfth century; bones were strapped to feet to provide a skating platform. Judging by the length of the bones it can be deduced that the skates were more of a ski, and probably used to glide over ice as opposed to skate as we know it.
During the evolution of ice skates, various styles were tried, with alternative strappings and blade lengths. In a collection of pictures that depict the history of ice skating, it can be seen that bones gives way to metal blade, and wooden platforms become shoes then boots. At some point in this development, there was a style of ice skate that looks very much like the shoes of an elf. Could it be that Santa’s elves in the heart of Lapland are portrayed with upturned toes on their shoes to mimic the early form of ice skate? These were ornate wooden platforms with a metal blade that that was punctuated by a bullet shaped tip, a bit like the bells or pom poms on as seen on elf boots. Enough of the digression; apart from to pontificate the point regarding the humble beginnings of the ice skate and its present application on an ice hockey rink.
Continuing with the fashion theme however, it can be noted that maybe there is an inkling of style and sophistication that can be attributed to the game of ice hockey. The clothes worn by the players have often played a large part in the fashion choice of hockey loving Americans and, Ice hockey mad Canadians. Oversized shirts, branded bags and boots all lend themselves to a certain fashionably conscious aesthetic. Maybe the game isn’t as full of cave-man testosterone as the players like to portray; maybe gliding on the ice in carefully chosen attire is a display of masculinity and the graceful nature of the ice skate is being used to balance the aggression of wielding a hockey stick as a weapon.
About the author of this article:
dominic donaldson is an expert in the sports industry.
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