One of the reasons the forward pass wasn't allowed was to prevent "loafing"---hanging out not skating while awaiting a pass ahead of the action, such as it was at that time. Indeed, "loafing" was penalized. Well, I was up in Albany in I think 1996 at one of my son's hockey tournaments, and the NCCA regionals were being held there at the same time. We went to a game--Vermont vs. Clarkson (I think it was Clarkson). Anyway, Vermont featured a certain Martin St. Louis, and the Catamounts continually ran a set play: St. Louis would "lose" himself at the offensive blue line tight to the boards while action swirled in the Vermont defensive end. When a teammate got ahold of the puck he'd slowly skate the line until fed a home run bomb of a pass and then off he went. From loafing to 60 in 2 seconds flat!