Editing Defenceman (section)

==Historical designations==
Organized play of ice hockey originates from the first indoor game in Montreal in 1875. In subsequent years, the number of players per side was reduced to seven. Positions were standardized, and two correspond to the two defencemen of current six-man rules. These were designated as '''cover point''' and '''point''', although they lined up behind the center and the rover, unlike today. Decades later, defencemen were standardized into playing left and right sides of the ice.

===Point===
According to one of the earliest known books on ice hockey, Farrell's ''Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game'' (1899), [[Mike Grant]] of the [[Montreal Victorias]], describes the point as "essentially defensive. He should not stray too far from his place, because oftentimes he is practically a second goal-minder ... although he should remain close to his goal-keeper, he should never obstruct that man's view of the puck. He should, as a rule, avoid rushing up the ice, but if he has a good opening for such a play he should give the puck to one of the forwards on the first opportunity and then hasten back to his position, which has been occupied, in the interim, by the cover-point."{{sfn|Farrell|1899|p=95}}

=== Cover-point ===
Also in Farrell's 1899 book, Hugh Baird, then captain and cover-point of the [[Montreal Hockey Club]], describes the cover-point as "a combination of a defence man and a forward, and is allowed, in virtue of this fact, more latitude with respect to leaving his position, than any man on the team, except the rover. In his capacity of a defence player, he should linger around his goals as long as the puck is near... When the play is at the other end of the rink, the cover-point should advance to about the middle, so that when the puck is lifted down, he may return it without loss of time, in order to keep the game centered around his opponents' goals, and to save his forwards the trouble of skating up to him so that they may again 'get in to play.' It is by playing far up under these circumstances that a clever cover-point can chine to the advantage of his team. If he has a good opening he should shoot well for the goals, but if he has not, he should, as I have said, return the puck instantaneously."{{sfn|Farrell|1899|p=98}}