CHARLIE TILSTRA
The Ubyssey (University of British Columbia)

What? They don’t look like hockey players to you?

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Hockey has a rabid following in Canada. For anyone who needed convincing, fans across the country spent the NHL lockout pining for the return of bloody fights and top-corner goals. But while that was all going on, there was another type of hockey being played right under the surface — namely, under the water’s surface.

Underwater hockey isn’t quite the same as ice hockey. It’s played at the bottom of a pool, not the top of a frozen pond. And the players are athletic men and women who opt for skin-tight bathing suits to glide through the water rather than loose jerseys and skate blades to glide across the ice.

Underwater hockey is a relatively new sport. It was created in 1954 in the United Kingdom by Alan Blake. His idea, a game called “Octopush,” began to spread. The name eventually changed to underwater hockey, and in 1962 it was brought to Vancouver.

Now, universities across Canada have formed underwater hockey clubs, and there are world championships held once every two years.

The rules of the sport are simple. “Hold your breath, get to the bottom and hit the puck,” said Jordan Fryers, a University of British Columbia student who is training for Team Canada.

Underwater hockey teams are usually co-ed. Players are equipped with a snorkel, mask, fins, a curved stick a little bigger than a ruler, a swim cap or helmet and gloves to protect their hands. Using their sticks, players must maneuver a puck into the opponent’s goal, but unlike ice hockey, there’s the added complication of not being able to breathe while playing. Plus, since it is a non-contact sport, any holding, obstructing, de-masking, de-finning or injuring other players results in a foul.

The best underwater hockey players are strong swimmers who can hold their breath for long periods of time, but the game is ultimately a team sport that requires cooperation. In order to score a goal, teams must strategize on when and which players visit the surface to catch their breath.

Six players from each team are in play at once, and up to four other players substitute in on the fly when players come up for air. The games are usually composed of two 15-minute periods, and the goal posts are usually 50 metres apart. The depth of the pool can vary.

Watching from the surface is something like watching a group of dolphins surfacing for air; players dive into the depths of the pool, resurfacing only when they run out of breath and diving back down when they’ve caught it.

None of the real action can be seen from above the water, giving sideline spectators trying to follow the play a hard time. This is why in some cases, particularly the world championships, multiple underwater cameras capture the action and stream it live on the Internet.

UBC’s Fryers has competed in the past as part of Team Canada, and says the sport has given him the opportunity to travel around the world to places like South Africa, England and Australia competing and meeting people. He’ll get another shot at the end of August when he will travel to Eger, Hungary with Team Canada to compete against Argentina, Australia, Germany, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa and the U.S. in the 2013 World Championships.