Editorial- Norwood Messenger
Hockey is becoming a major sport through the northeastern and central parts of the country. Dedham high has enjoyed great success during the past three years; Walpole has made a definite niche in hockey fame; Needham is fast gaining recognition in the sport.
Norwood is well bordered with enthusiastic hockey towns. The question is, “When is Norwood going to have hockey as part of its athletic program?”
The expense of the sport can be discounted because a popular coach of an Eastern Massachusetts league team says that the sport can be run on a small amount of money. Approximately $15 would be necessary for a goalie’s outfit of heavy pads and hockey stick. Football shoulder pads are more than ample protection for the shoulders and chest, and the football jerseys can be used as part of the uniform. Already much of the initial cost has been cut. Special padded hockey stockings are necessary, and figuring on a fully uniformed squad of 12 players, the stockings would cost approximately $18 at $1.50 a pair. Twelve hockey pants would come to about $30. The players would provide their own hockey sticks and skates, as varying heights and foot measures of the necessary equipment would place too great a burden on coaches and managers.
This mentor says that the school spirit and interest in the ice sport at his school is so great that the matter of transportation is a negligible matter, for plenty of it is available in the school. Norwood students are no pikers either.
There is little or no entrance fee necessary to enter any of the leagues. The league committees provide free practice facilities at the Boston Arena one day a week. The other practice sessions could be held on the numerous natural ice ponds in and around Norwood.
As it stands now, the necessary appropriation for a well equipped 12‑man squad would be about $70, and that is small in comparison with the initial expense necessary to finance a baseball or football team. If the above mentioned appropriation is considered too burdensome, expenses could be cut to $50, thereby maintaining a smaller uniformed squad. Our mentioning uniformed squads doesn’t mean that hockey candidates would be limited, for this school has picked many of their finest stars from the ranks of the unequipped.
A coach for the team is definitely a problem. There’s no doubt that a good coach would be a distinct asset, but if the matter comes to a crisis, remember that a coachless Lexington team, a decided underdog on the schedule, gave a highly touted team a neat shellacking last week at the Boston Garden. Surely, there must be someone around the town who would be willing to give a small part of his time until the project was well organized.
Hockey material is plentiful in rural country towns such as ours, for the natural ice facilities are available to a greater degree for students of rural high schools than they are for students of congested city areas. This coach urges all youngsters of from 12 years or more to learn how to skate with a smooth flowing rhythm by practice and more practice. If a young candidate can skate with rhythm and control, 65 percent of a coach’s cares are over. A good skater with complete control of his body movements can learn the other rudiments of hockey easily enough.
The coach advises starting a small organization, and refraining from participating in league competition for at least two years, in the meantime playing against small independent teams.
The publicity value of hockey is a big factor. Dedham could have five consecutive undefeated football teams, and I doubt whether they could receive the large amount of good, unbiased publicity that a hockey team could command. High school hockey can command large space, for though it’s fast developing, it has yet to equal football in scope.
Winter sports are the rage these days. New Hampshire and Vermont are converting their hillsides and flowing slopes into a second Switzerland. Sonja Henie is the pioneer in instilling a genuine interest in figure skating and various other types of winter sports. Clothing firms have revolutionized winter modes of clothing to conform to the new era of winter recreation. Railroads report that their week‑end snow trains are a distinct success, and still the popular vogue is much in its embryo stage. Hockey will have to be part of the Norwood athletic system sooner or later. Why not make it sooner?