Aquanauts - Underwater Hockey

Underwater Hockey is a breath-hold, team sport played on the bottom of a swimming pool. Opposing teams compete to move a brass puck to the opposing teams goal line. Each player is equipped with mask, fins, underwater hockey stick and various bathing apparel. There are a bunch of official organizations which issue tons of detailed rules on the number of allowed players, size of sticks and pools, but we just jump in and play.

Okay, so we have a few rules to play by. The Aquanauts play in the lap pool of the MTU SDC. Normally, a lane marker is used to designate one boundary while walls identify the three other, approximately four lanes wide. The two teams begin at opposing lane ends, with the puck in the bottom of the trough. Occasionally, the game has been played diagonally in the lap pool (which is insane), or in the diving well (hope your ears are quick to equalize)! Play begins when someone yells out "READY?" and then smacks their stick on the water.

Play continues until someone scores a goal (runs the puck into the opposing teams goal line) or the puck goes out of bounds (past the lane marker). If a goal is scored, teams return to their respective goal lines and the puck is returned to the trough. If the puck went out of bounds, it is thrown back in even with where it had gone out, play resumes when someone yells "GO!" The game ends when pool time is over (approximately 1 hour total).

Basically this is a non-contact sport. So, no grabbing, blocking, checking or otherwise touching another player. However, the occasional block or nudge is often overlooked. The puck is to be played with the stick and not with any body part or other equipment. If you feel the urge to advance the puck with your hand be ready to have some sore knuckles because they become fair game.

If a player feels something is unfair, just say so. This game is for fun.
If one team is slaughtering the other, it is time to make player trades. No one keeps score anyway.

If everything starts to go black, come up for air.
Play nice but remember "No blood, no foul."

The Aquanauts would love to have you join us for a game! We play every Tuesday night from 9-10pm during the Fall and Spring semesters at the Student Development Complex on the Michigan Tech campus. Bring a bathing suit and towel and we will provide everything else for having a great time.

Join the Underwater Hockey E-mail List

To subscribe to our email list, email majordomo@mtu.edu. Leave the subject line of the email blank, and simply put "subscribe underwaterhockey-l" in the body of the message. Leave out the quotation marks, and it is a lowercase letter "L" that follows the dash.