It's the fastest game on ice: Bandy, anyone?

By Jennifer Robertson

The playing field is a frozen sheet of ice. Skate blades cut lines across the surface. Opposing goalkeepers head to nets and remaining players take up positions across the ice. The referee skates to the center of the playing area and raises his whistle to signal the start of the game.

The sub-zero temperature turns cheeks red and little clouds hang near helmets as breath turns to condensation. Spectators fight the cold by dressing in snow gear and clutching bottles of liquor and hot drinks.

It’s “the fastest game on ice,” according to the Canadian team’s website, and it isn’t the game you think.

Bandy anyone?

Most Canadians consider hockey to be the definitive national sport, perhaps even a national obsession. But bandy, which dates back in its modern form to 18th century England, is the sport that spawned the good old game. When bandy crossed over to North America, the rink was shortened, fewer players were put on the ice, the net shrunk and the rules changed. Voila! Ice hockey was born.

Bandy hasn’t disappeared. In fact, some athletes, like Winnipeg’s Costa Cholakis, actually prefer playing bandy. He says freedom from the confines of a regular hockey rink and the speed of the game make bandy the perfect winter sport.

“We use a little longer blade so there is more blade touching ice. So, the guys do skate faster. It’s a great game for speed,” Cholakis said in a telephone interview.

“Less nonsense, less guys worrying about their NHL careers at 30 and 25, playing chippy hockey,” Cholakis said in a phone interview. “It’s just a lot cleaner game. This way I’m on the ice more. I get more ice, and it’s just being outdoors . . . it’s a lot more fun.”

Before bandy, Cholakis played on Canada’s national field hockey team in Vancouver.  Then, in 1986, he was introduced to the sport that looked like field hockey on ice and never looked back. Today, he still plays for Canada, but now he straps on bandy skates and heads to other cold locations like Minnesota and Sweden for world championships with the men’s team.

Cholakis scored Canada’s first international bandy goal back in 1991 and lived in Sweden playing for the Essinge club for eight months in 1988.

“I’ve already played hockey and I’ve only gone so far, so why not try something else that’s similar to hockey?  After a while, you get burnt out after hockey, you want a little change, a little variety. And bandy is a great change for me. I enjoy it,” he said.

What about the physical aspect of the game?

“It’s kind of like soccer, I guess. At times if you are skating with your head down the guy could knock you out. There’s guys knocked out, no doubt about it. But it’s not like where there is boards where you can rub a guy out . . . it’s more about position.

“I guess it’s kind of like the new NHL now, where you got to shadow a guy. You got to skate with him, and then take the body. So, as long as you get the puck and the man, it’s the same in bandy. As long as you take the ball first, you can take the man. You can’t just hit the guy and make no effort on the ball.”

Cholakis also coaches the women’s national team. The women have had a more sporadic history with the sport. They first entered the international bandy stage in Moscow in 1990. Exhibition games in the Netherlands followed. The women competed again this past year at the world championships in Roseville, Minn.

Made up of former ringette players, the women’s team has great speed and agility. Cholakis is excited by its future prospects.

Winnipeg Canada’s bandy central

Canada was introduced to bandy in 1986 by Roger Jakobsson, a young Swedish ‘bandy missionary” who came to spread the sport to the land of ice hockey. Jakobsson started his trip in Minnesota, where an American bandy group was already established.

The city of Winnipeg was a natural next step because of its proximity to Minneapolis. Winnipeg also had an unofficial ambassador in the Winnipeg Jet’s Thomas Steen, who had played bandy when he was younger.

The majority of bandy rinks are made by flooding soccer fields in the sub-zero weather of winter. Winnipeg has that right combination of weather and the Bandy Federation of Canada renegotiates each year with the city for a field for training and games.

“Whenever it gets cold here,” said Cholakis, about laying down a new rink. “Mid-December, we always wish it’s going to be in November, but it’s not going to be in November.” 

When the temperature is right, federation members organize a 24-hour ice-a-thon. They make it an event, with pairs of players working throughout the night flooding the field with water.

A proper playing surface is important to the future of bandy in Canada.

“The key, I guess, is for us to get a bandy rink here in the city of Winnipeg or in the province just to show the game off,” said Cholakis. “It’s hard showing the game off in a hockey rink, because if it is, then guys will just continue playing hockey.”

The wind in Winnipeg is legendary.  Getting a crowd of supporters to come watch is a challenge. But the speed, skill and finesse of the players make this sport worth braving the elements. Games in Sweden are breathtaking, as supporters sing, chant and light flares from the sidelines.

Bandy is not a sport that will ever move to Texas. The sheer size of the pitch demands the same space as a soccer field. The only facilities that can house a bandy rink are large skating arenas that combine the rink with a skating oval.

Therefore, most bandy rinks are found outside. The largest outdoor skating facility in the world is the Guidant John Rose MN Oval in Roseville, Minn. With 110,000 square feet of ice in the winter, the Oval hosts the National Bandy Championships every year.