To: doomcom@Athena.MIT.EDU
Subject: Power Hockey!  
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 92 13:25:00 EDT


For those of you not familiar with the grueling sport of power hockey
this posting may come as quite a surprise.  It certainly shocked me to
hear that there was in fact a power hockey ``c'' team gearing up to
hit the campus athletic scene.

Power Hockey is a sport of fairly modern roots, though it draws a
great deal fom the traditions of ice hockey and housing construction.
I'll present a brief summary of the rules for those of you not
familiar with them, as well as the team contact person should any of
you be interesting in signing up.

The game is played in an oblong, rounded arena surrounded by one meter
high partitions on all sides.  The surface mst be covered with a 3
centimeter layer of fine sawdust laid over about six inches of wet
sand in order to provide the optimal playing surface.  Actually,
compromises can be made; for instance the alley between buildings 9
and 17 will do nicely.  At either end of the playing field a goal
section is delineated by two cement construction blocks set up three
meters apart and fastened to the ground with four-foot iron spikes to
prevent slippage.  The blocks are colored dark red to facilitate easy
recognition and cleaning.  <the dimensions of the field are, ideally,
20 meters by 40 meters, though deviations by up to 20 meters either
way won't affect the game mush.

Teams consist of four chargers, three blockers and one goalie (or
``sucker'') each.  The different positions carry with them very
different responsibilities which are reflected by highly
individualized equipment and uniforms.

Chargers, or offensive players, have the responsibility of attempting
to score points against the other team.  This is achieved by
maneuvering the puck (usually a steel 6" cannonball --- though nerf is
often substituted at the professional level of competition) past the
opposing teams defense between the cement blocks delineating their
goal.  However, certain rules control how this may be done.  At no
point may a charger physically touch the puck.  Contact may only be
made via some metal part of his uniform or equipment.  For this
purpose most chargers carry a Stick --- essentially a five foot long
lethal rod with an 8" ``T'' at the end --- and helmet, though the
latter is far more used as a defense against opposing players' sticks.
For locomotion, chargers also strap Black and Decker variable-speed
circular saws to the bottoms of their feet, their large toes remaining
exposed in such a way as to control the blade speed and thus velocity.
While stick, helmet and B&D's are the only REQUIRED gear, many
chargers choose voluntarily to deck themselves in several dozen pounds
of heavy padding strongly resembling football armor --- only thicker.
This is purely a matter of personal taste however.

Defensemen, or ``speed bumps'' as they are often called by opposing
chargers, are not permitted to cross the centerline of the field, and
thus do not have the use of Black and Decker circular saws, relying
instead on extremely heavy, steel-shod boots, greaves and thigh-pads.
Defensemen are not allowed to touch the puck in any way, and can
impede it's progress down the field only by distracting the chargers
doing the pushing.  To aid them in this each carries a full sized
aluminum baseball bat.  While chargers tend to have the advantage in
speed and range, charger sticks tend to weigh upwards of twenty pounds
and cannot be swung nearly as quickly and accurately as the
defensemens' bats.

Finally, the last line of defense is the goalie, who carries no
padding, has no stick or bat, and is, in fact, chained naked to his
goal-blocks.  His only tool is a small caliber handgun with which he
may attempt to deflect any opposing chargers with the puck on his half
of the field.  Note that the goalie is limited to ten rounds of
ammunition per game.

The game of Power Hockey is divided into three quarters each
consisting of a randomly determined number of minutes between 5 and
20.  If any players remain standing at the end of the last quarter,
their team is immediately awarded one additional bonus goal, whereupon
the winning team is determined by simple goal majority.  (odd thing
--- despite the fast paced nature of power hockey, the vast majority
of games tend to end up 1:0...)

So, MIT is getting up a team.  Anyone interested should send me mail
as soon as possible so we can have your feet measured for Black and
Deckers.

Thanks.

				Mark -- First charger, MIT Power Hockey