The Slanch Report

It’s a common problem, something that happens to me on a nearly weekly basis, you wanna play hockey but you’re already dressed in your bathing suit, what are you to do? Well, some enterprising students at the University of Colorado-Boulder have created a solution, an underwater hockey club; one of only three such clubs in Colorado, the students of the CU Underwater Hockey Club play weekly games in the on-campus pool.

“I think quirky things fit well in Boulder,” said club president Tyera Eulberg, a graduate student who established the student group in August. Of course the kids like the quirky things, they have celebrations like this and they are in Boulder! It’s either this or street luge, and that requires much more equipment.

The game uses a heavy lead puck on the floor of the pool that is handled with small sticks, with the players wearing only bathing suits, water polo headgear, flippers and a snorkel. Two teams of five battle underwater, 3-dimensionally to try and score at the opposite ends of the pool. Playing in water provides its own set of challenges, not least of which is that you have to hold your breath while handling the puck, which makes breakaways more difficult but does lead to an emphasis on teamwork.

Besides the silly little sticks they use, this game looks like it is pretty damn fun. However, I want to see real sticks being used, or at least something that looks more impressive than a paint smoother. Regardless, I’m glad to see that this game is getting underway because with rapidly advancing global warming we may need to change the whole NHL soon enough…

[Colorado Daily]