underwater hockey

[Bubble Boy]

Two of the Ottawa area dive clubs play U/W hockey every Thursday night in the winter months. There is a group from Gatineau Quebec that plays every Monday night and a group in Brockville as well. Last year one of the LDS in Newmarket was playing as well. Cornwall also has a team. Cornwall and Gatineau seem to be more competive than the others that just seem to do it for fun.

 

[stiebs]

scuberd once bubbled...
one of my favorite pastimes, besides scuba, is underwater hockey. We play informal games in the pool here usually about once a week. I have been told that it is played all over, but I have never encountered it anywhere else?

do any of you play too, or know someone who plays or something?

I think you need to look a little bit harder there scuberd.. I play here in Melbourne, Australia three times a week. We had a local competition which has died off over the last year or so, but is starting up again in a couple of weeks.

There is also a regular inter-state competition held once a year, as well as a Southern Hemisphere comp between New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

Last year the world champs were held in Canada, but I'm not sure where it is this year.

Just google for underwater hockey and you will find heaps of information on various web sites. Search for 'HockeyNet' and you will find reference to a US-based UWH mailing list.

 

[stiebs]

benncool once bubbled...
Is this sport played with scuba gear? What is used as a puck? What are the teams ? What are the rules? Is there a website?

For those of you who don't want to look elsewhere for the basic rules..

No, it is played with mask/fins/snorkel only.
The puck is a 3-4lb lead disk, about 1" thick and 3" diameter, generally coated with a hard plastic to protect the floor bottom.

Teams consist of 10 people, only 6 of which are allowed in the water at a time. One team is "white", and the other "black". (White wears light coloured swimmers, a white water polo cap and uses a white stick. Black wears dark coloured swimmers, a blue water polo cap (you can't buy black easily) and uses a black stick)

The court is about 75'x36' and 8' deep, or the width of an olympic swimming pool, preferably with walls all around.

The game starts with all players holding onto their end wall, and the puck in the middle. When given the signal, teams race to gain possession of the puck, and then aim to score by getting it into a steel or aluminium tray 10' wide and 6" deep at the opposite end of the pool, using shaped wooden sticks about 1' long.

Halves go for 15 minutes each, with a 3 minute break in between.

According to the rules, it is a non-contact sport, but due to the close proximety of play, players wear thickly padded latex gloves on their playing hand, and have to be on the ball to get out of the way of a kick to the stomach by a powerful pair of fins.

One of the big challenges in underwater hockey that you find in few other sports, is that most of your effort is spent at times when you cannot draw deep breathes (like running the length of a football field).

It also promotes great team work, as you generally can't yell "Hey, over here, I'm free!" to your team mates as you wait for a pass..

 

[D.C.Beltway Bottom Feeder]

you should check the links on website UnderwaterHockey Tourist to find which states(Ca,Fl,Va.Mass,MN,Tx,etc) and countries (canada,England,Australia N.Z. ,Germany, etc.) . I play it in Fairfax Va. George Mason University and previously played UWRugby .