The Iceman Goeth for new sports event: underwater hockey
by Paul D. Matson, sports editor

    Sports freaks looking for another way to enjoy a new kind of thrill might explore underwater hockey.

    That’s right.

    Underwater hockey is just what it sounds like.

Instead of playing hockey on ice with pads and a long stick, this game is obviously played underwater with masks, fins, snorkels and short sticks.

    Underwater hockey, a continuing education class, meets Thursday evenings on SE Campus so players can hone their skills for a couple of hours.

    The puck, weighing three and a one-half pounds is coated in plastic, and the sticks are approximately a foot in length, having a curved hook on one end.

     The only requirements for the stick—it must be made of wood or plastic and must float and either be painted black or white.

    Similarities between regular ice and underwater hockey exist. Some penalties are the same: obstruction or interference is enforced, but icing is not a problem.

    In tournaments, a penalty box is used.

    Because of water resistance, a good pass of the puck is 10-15 feet.

    Underwater hockey is much more team oriented than ice hockey.
    “There is no ‘puck-hogging.’ Each member usually spends 10-15 seconds underwater,” Kevin Barnes, first introduced to underwater hockey at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1983, said.

    “If you spend 30 seconds on the bottom, you’re down too long, out of air and no good to anyone. The game goes fast, and when you come up (for air), a teammate should already be taking your place,” he said.

    In tournaments, referees officiate, but during practice, the honor system comes into play.

    These contestants take this game seriously, and in a true sportsmanship sense, emotions become very heated. Afterwards, everyone meets up for refreshments.

    In competition, the team calls itself the Dallas/Fort Worth Puck Pirates.

    Underwater hockey has a much larger fan-base in countries other than America. In Australia, for example, scholarships are awarded to the top athletes in the sport.

    A few of the participants on SE Campus plan to try out for the Underwater Hockey World League. Competing in the sport across the United States, as well as around the world, 50-60 percent of the team members travel regularly.

    Tim Griffin, a criminal justice professor at the University of North Texas and member of the Puck Pirates, will try out for the United States World Men’s Elite Team.

    Sharon Flynn, another team member, has been playing underwater hockey for five years and is trying out for the women’s World’s Master Team.