Let the Ice Answer
The XHL has supplied its first answer. Novel rules deserve a hearing; winning still requires the work.
CLEVELAND, January 2.—The free-agent draft is concluded, the clubs have their men, and the XHL has begun the useful business of contradicting predictions. Our Ironclads have beaten the Cincinnati Sabercats, six scoring points to four. That is a respectable opening entry. It is not yet a warrant for ordering a championship banner.
The league’s two-point goal will offend some gentlemen on principle. I advise them to examine the bargain before condemning the price. A club must choose its opportunity; the extra point is not bestowed upon every handsome shot. One puck entering the net remains one goal in the scorer’s account, even when it adds two points to his club’s score. Let the scorekeeper keep both books honestly, and the public can follow them.
The preliminary shooting contest is stranger still: it settles who shall prevail if the subsequent game finishes level. It adds nothing to the scoring ledger. I rather admire a rule which announces its terms before the argument begins. Whether we shall admire it equally after our own club loses by it is a separate inquiry.
Nor is the ice the whole American sporting world. Cleveland’s football side has opened its Fury campaign with a 27–12 victory over Denver. Two successful beginnings in one city will tempt even sober men into extravagant forecasts. I shall settle for this: Cleveland has given its neighbours something to discuss, and its own clubs something to defend.
On the turf, New Orleans has put all five races into the book. Silver Coin took the New Year’s Handicap; Uhler closed the card. In the ring, Kid McCoy stopped Peter Maher in the eighth. These are different occupations, but they submit to the same final examiner. Promises matter little when the bell sounds or the field moves.
Mr. Pembroke, writing from London, will doubtless recommend that we approach novelty with restraint. An excellent prescription for an editor; less useful to a forward with a chance at goal. Let the new league make its case upon the ice. My affection belongs to Cleveland. My column, if it is to be worth the ink, must occasionally belong to the visitor.