Shinny

Shinny (also shinney, pick-up hockey, pond hockey, or “outdoor puck”) is an informal type of hockey played on ice. It is also used as another term for street hockey. There are no formal rules or specific positions, and generally, there are no goaltenders. The goal areas at each end may be marked by nets, or simply by objects, such as stones or blocks of snow.

Body checking and lifting or “roofing/reefing/raising the puck” (shooting the puck or ball so it rises above the ice) are often forbidden because the players are not wearing protective equipment. Shinny is a game that all levels of hockey enthusiasts can play because it requires no rink, requires no skills except ability to hold a stick and at the very least to try to touch the puck or ball when it goes by. Shinny may be completely non-competitive and recreational.

In his book Country on Ice, Doug Beardsley claims that most Canadian hockey professional players have played some form of shinny in their youth.