Underwater Hockey Makes a Splash Around the World

In a Cambridge, Mass., arena, the action is quick and intense as hockey players try to score against their opponents. But this is not your traditional street or ice hockey game. Sure, there are familiar elements like pucks, sticks and nets, and the usual strategies like passing and defensive maneuvers. However, a quick smell of strong chlorine and the warm, humid surroundings serve as a reminder that this is no traditional hockey match, but rather underwater hockey, where a swimming pool replaces customary playing surfaces of asphalt or ice.

By definition, underwater hockey consists of two teams of six players who compete at the bottom of a swimming pool. Players are equipped with a snorkel, mask, fins and protective gloves and headgear. The game is played in two, 15-minute halves. Since holding one's breath underwater is limited, part of the strategy of the game is to use teamwork for above water breathing breaks. The rules also allow for four player substitutions at any time.

As with traditional hockey, the object of the game is to use a hockey stick (in underwater hockey, it's about one-foot long) to score a puck (a three-pound plastic coated lead disc is used in underwater hockey) in the goal (which for the underwater sport is nine-feet long). But unlike most hockey games, underwater hockey is a no-contact sport that utilizes zone strategies similar to basketball. Some popular zone formations in underwater hockey are the 3-3, which features three forward offensive players covering front and center and three defensive players in the back, and the 2-3-1, which involves two forwards, three midfielders and a defensive back. Players combine strategy with teamwork to make moves towards their opponent's goal, while at the same time, alternating out team members for trips to the surface for air.