That hockey is played in its own world insulated by boards and plexiglass is one reason given for the bottled-up emotions that lead to fights. The boards and glass - and helmets, pads and ice - also tend to mask nuances of the game from even long-time fans.
Perhaps the most-asked question of hockey fans is simply, "How do they change lines?"In basketball, the coach gets up and points to a player, who rushes to the scorers' table, peeling off his sweats.
In hockey, the coach stands on the bench with arms folded watching the play as skaters change on the fly with no visible command. It looks spontaneous, except to fans seated right behind the bench. They saw the coach tell a line and defense pair they're on deck 30 or 40 seconds earlier.
When a right wing comes off, the next-up right wing replaces him.
"It looks automatic, but it isn't," says Eagle Coach Bob Francis, who admits it can be intricate for a coach when numerous players are serving penalties. The coach must realize who's fresh and who needs a rest and fit in the proper personnel relative to the opponent. "If you allow that to confuse you, you won't last too long. That's your job," Francis says.
Mostly, Francis keeps a defensive pair with a particular line so all five go out and come off together. Other coaches do it differently.
Francis played for a coach who always put in the players seated closest to him. He always had a lot of company. Eagle assistant Jamie Hislop played for one who put in the players who asked him who was up next. There was lots of talking on that bench.
There are two reasons to change lines. One, the line that's out gets tired. It tries to come off together. The average shift is 45 seconds. The other reason is to match opponent lines; players know to follow their matchup onto the ice.
Some other frequently asked hockey questions:
Are the fights real? Kids ask this a lot. Yes. And players often get hurt. Men standing on skates, however, sometimes don't punch as hard as those in a barroom brawl because the skates slide, taking away some momentum.
Why do they wear those silly looking shorts? They call them pants, not shorts. It's tradition. Hislop says teams that tried full-length pants, like the Philadelphia Flyers, found them too hot. Defenseman Rick Lessard says they were slippery, and players who fell couldn't stop sliding. Forward Rick Hayward says padding for the long pants is right up next to the leg and uncomfortable for some, though he didn't mind it when he wore them in juniors. The padding for the short pants is in the pant itself, away from the leg, allowing freer movement, although winger Stu Grimson wears the up-close pads under his short pants.
What do they wear underneath? The strangest thing, says trainer Brian Patafie, is a garter belt. (This is why they fight.) The garter belt holds up knee-high socks that cover shin and knee pads. Tape secures the socks, too, and suspenders or waistbelts hold up the shorts, uh, pants. Some shin pads bend around to cover the calf. Defensem*n wear pads covering the abdomen because they block shots; forwards wear shorter chest pads. They wear shoulder, thigh and elbow pads and jocks with cups. Some Eagles - Grimson, center Marc Bureau, defenseman Darryl Olsen - wear high-impact football shoulder pads. "The best part," says Patafie, "is that underneath it all, they wear ski pajamas." Some cut off the underwear's sleeves or legs while others wear two or three shirts for warmth. Hayward and center Randy Bucyk change tops every period.
What does all that weigh? Goalie stuff weighs about 45 pounds, skaters' equipment about 10 pounds to start and 18 to finish because of sweat. Patafie says the Eagles leave for trips with 1,900 pounds of equipment. Return-trip wet weight is 2,600 pounds.
What makes a good faceoff man? "The best cheater wins," says Francis. Says Bucyk, "It's the way you position your body and how you come into the circle. If you're still gliding, it helps because you can push the other guy or spin around." Bucyk is good at drawing the puck back to his trigger man for a quick shot. Bureau, who became a center a year ago, is still learning and is more apt to tie up the opponent's stick and kick the puck out. Bureau's a big center who relies on strength. Francis, 5-foot-9, gets low for leverage and so the opponent couldn't see the puck. "I got lower every year," he says. "That's how I got all these scars," he added, pointing to his chin, where stickblades sliced him. "I used to get the puck dropped on the back of my head a lot, too," he says.
Why do players' sticks look different? They spend a lot of time customizing even after personal-pattern sticks come from the factories. There are rules for length of shaft and for the blade's curve, width and length, but players can saw off the ends and still be legal. They tape to taste. Grimson wads a whole roll of tape around his stickhandle. "I have a fairly wide hand," he explains. "I take flak from my teammates for using too much tape." Grimson started using red tape on the blade, hoping to heat up his scoring. Olsen's the opposite. He uses no tape on the handle, save for a 1/2-inch knob at the top that's required. Defenseman Chris Biotti uses one layer of tape at the top, and he misses a width every revolution so it looks like a candy cane. Others, like winger Mark Holmes, roll a piece of tape into a long string and wind that along the shaft to form fingerholds. There are individual blade styles, too, from almost no tape to gobs of it. It's for feel, not reinforcement. Bureau needs tape from toe to heel for control. Lessard tried using less and didn't like the difference.
How do you know when it's time to fight? Sometimes it's verbally agreed upon, but winger Martin Simard says it's eye contact, "an instinct. The best fighters don't talk; they just go for it." He says, despite the heat of the moment, "You have to think if it's going to hurt the team." Says Hayward, "There are unwritten laws on the ice." Cheap shots to unpadded areas and picking on a goalie or smaller opponent always draws retaliation.
How do you know when to come out of the penalty box? The IHL employs penalty-box aides to keep track. It can be confusing with three or four minors at a time. Players don't complain about the monitors' accuracy, and they don't try to get out early. "There's no need," says Simard. "If you're caught, it's another two minutes."
How do you know where to go from the box? If the puck's in your defensive zone, you jump into the play. If it's in the offensive zone, the coach will have made a signal, by hand or vocally, whether to come to the bench.
Why do coaches wear slippery shoes? Many do wear dress shoes, preferring to look good or not to change. Francis and Hislop wear turf/coaching shoes that provide traction and don't get cut up by skateblades. Patafie wears running shoes and has only fallen once in 14 years making his trademark dashes to aid injured players.
How do you avoid smashing your face into the glass or dashers? It's an acquired ability. Turn your shoulder into the glass and don't turn your back on an opponent, says Bureau. Hayward says players just out of college, where facemasks are mandatory, get cut up in training camp until they learn to avoid glass, boards and flashing sticks.
How do they get the lines in the ice? Lines and circles are painted on, logos are paper cutouts. A thin layer of water is covered by a layer of whitewash, and this - totaling about 1/16th inch - is where the lines are placed. Another 5/8 inch of water is frozen on top for the skating surface.
Where does the ice go during Jazz games and concerts? Nowhere. It's covered by insulation board, hom*osote, about 1 1/2 inches thick. The glass is removed. For Jazz games, the hockey dashers are left in place. For concerts, the endboards come out. The changeover from hockey to basketball takes eight hours; from basketball to hockey takes 12 because the pieces of the wood floor have to be stacked in order in storage. The ice is bulldozed out two or three times a season for events requiring dirt surfaces like mud bogs and rodeos.
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
A few words about those guys with the most thankless jobs
How can a player go to the goal judge and threaten him with bodily harm, or jostle a linesman, without penalty?
Mostly, they can't. Even if they don't receive an on-ice penalty, says IHL commissioner Tom Berry, it will be written up in the officials' postgame report, and a fine will follow. The idea, says Berry, is "not to rub salt in the wound, not to have instant prairie justice" when the player's already frustrated but to still let him know it's not tolerated. Many times when a linesman's shoved, says Berry, he feels it's his own fault for improper positioning, and he won't report it.
Why do some referees and linesmen wear helmets while others don't?
"Personal choice," says Berry, who thinks 100 percent of officials will wear helmets within the next two years. He won't rule it mandatory. "Not from this boy; I'm of the old school. It's a great idea for the safety aspect, though," he says. Berry laughs at one example last year in Peoria where two linesmen butted heads separating players in a fight. The linesman wearing the helmet "was knocked loony," says Berry, and wound up in the hospital. Berry finished the game for him. The linesman without the helmet was fine.
Why do linesmen fake-drop the puck and otherwise take so long?
"It's a matter of the linesman taking charge," says Berry. Uncooperatives should be tossed from the circle right away, he says. "I don't find it a pervasive thing throughout the league," Berry adds, defending officials who have "a totally thankless job."
