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Onside and Forward Pass

Pond Hockey - Nesbitt Street "the Island", Windsor, N.S. 1940s
Pond Hockey – Nesbitt Street “the Island”, Windsor, N.S. 1940s

Pond Hockey – Irregular boundaries of a pond made “off side” calls by referees difficult .

Keeping ‘on-side’, or, back of the advancing puck as a player skates toward the opposing team’s territory is sometimes a difficult thing to do, still it is necessary and has been a rule of Ice Hockey ever since the game originated. The ‘off-side’ call was difficult for referees in the early days of the game but was facilitated with the introduction of lines across the ice which were introduced once indoor games became possible with the building of covered rinks at the turn of the century.

Dartmouth Chebuctos 1888
Dartmouth Chebuctos 1888

Dartmouth Chebuctos

Players in Nova Scotia were allowed to pass the puck forward to a team mate as the game developed. However, the Montreal players prohibited forward passing as they took up the game in 1875. Then in 1889, an Ice Hockey team called the Chebuctos of Dartmouth, N.S. travelled by train to Quebec City for a tournament. They played a game using the Montreal Rules (1877) and a game using the Halifax Rules. That was the first time that Quebec players had the opportunity to begin using the forward pass. However, it did not become accepted there or elsewhere outside of Nova Scotia until