ICE HOCKEY.
By Edward J. Jeremiah '30.Revised Edition. New York: Ronald PressCompany, 1958. 150pp. $3.50.
The man who has produced more U. S. Olympic hockey players than any other college coach, Eddie Jeremiah, has come up with a new book on the ice game that warrants wide attention.
Published as part of the Coaches Series of the Barnes Sports Library, this book is a revised edition of Jeremiah's original editorial endeavor, and with his pertinent facts concerning the game are excellent illustrations by Roger McAllister '51.
Anyone who has ever set a cold foot inside Davis Rink knows that Jeremiah stresses "heads up" play all the way, and this book is a "heads up" production. It is aimed at the teen-ager who is seeking to master the fundamental skills of the game, and at the same time it serves as a guide for high school, prep and even college coaches. For this reason the book is divided into two parts, Development of Individual Skills and Coaching Methods.
Points stressed in the 150-page volume are selection of equipment, skating tips, stickhandling fundamentals and developing of shooting accuracy, all under the introductory section. This moves right along, with comments by Jeremiah and the fine drawings by McAllister, into the techniques and tricks of advanced play plus a full explanation of the duties of the goal tender and the many things he must master to be a value to the team.
In the section devoted to coaching methods, Jeremiah puts across such points as teaching the boy to have the proper lie of his stick on the ice, ice-conditioning, ice-shooting conditioning, and the key call system for setting up offensive and defensive plays.
The key call is a personal command by the player to himself - telling himself the proper move at the proper time. Development of this system of Jeremiah's goes back several years, and was hit upon when the veteran Dartmouth coach noted that players frequently got into good playmaking situations, but failed to sense it, respond to it, or capitalize on it by making the right play.
In the key call system, Jeremiah designates the three forwards by the terms feeder, receiver, rebounder in each of the team's seven basic plays, and there is a key point for each of the forwards and each has a key call which he yells out during the play. The key call is brief and actually describes the player's action on the play.
All ill all, the book adds to the game of hockey, with Jeremiah's apt comments and special sections devoted to defensive maneuvers as well as an outline of basic offensive plays: The publication concludes with a set of hockey terms, which should be a blessing to any sportswriter newly assigned to the ice sport after following the round-ball around in previous winters.
