From Pond to Pro: Hockey As a Symbol of Canadian National Identity
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From Pond to Pro: Hockey as a Symbol of Canadian National Identity by Alison Bell, B.A. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Sociology and Anthropology Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario 19 April, 2007 © copyright 2007 Alison Bell Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be includedBien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. i * i Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This work explores the origins of hockey from a sociocultural perspective, outlining its current situation in post-industrial western society in terms of its latent symbolism, the politics of gender and power; and illustrating hockey as a cornerstone of importance in Canadian national identity. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION To JonBoy, because he started it, and to Pie, for being there when I finished and also to food, light, air, and blessed sleep - 1 couldn’t have done it without you. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like here to acknowledge the help and advice of those who helped me to finish this monumental task, and to give me the courage to continue it to the next level. Firstly, thank you to my parents, John and Janet Bell, who listened when I had problems, and tirelessly discussed solutions with me; to my various friends and acquaintances, all of whom had a piece of advice or a tidbit of information for me to follow up; to my supervisor, Brian Given, for presenting me with that unfailing source of inspiration - a deadline; and, finally, to all the sportswriters and journalists whose works I combed over and tore apart in my search for the ideal story, with a special thank you to writer Roy MacGregor, who not only provided me with places to look, but was also the voice of reason when things got out of control. Thank you, all. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 My Journey Through Sport Chapter One ..............................................................................................................4 Games and Living: The Importance of Studying Why We Play Chapter Two ..............................................................................................................18 Games and Geertz: Experiential Methodologies and Ethnographic Representation Chapter Three ..............................................................................................................36 “My Town, My Team:” Hockey Country and Fandom’s National Identity Chapter Four ..............................................................................................................64 The Way It Was, the Way It Is, and Why Chapter Five ..............................................................................................................83 The Sword, the Spear, and the Stick: Constructions of Masculinity and the Modem Warrior Chapter Six ..............................................................................................................110 Fishbowl Battles: Notions of Masculinity and Aggression in Male Sports Chapter Seven ..............................................................................................................130 Not Part of the Game: Power and Exploitation in Professional Hockey Chapter Eight ..............................................................................................................152 Hockey is a Battle - But It Doesn’t Have to Be Bibliography ..............................................................................................................155 Works Cited Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1 ..............................................................................................................................31 The back of my knee after taking a slapshot from a teammate in the leg. There is no padding at the back of the leg, and the shot certainly stung. I still can’t imagine what it must be like to block a shot for real in the NHL, where slapshots can fly at up to 105 mph. Photo: Alison Bell Figure 2 66 Cyclone Taylor. Photograph taken from Hockey Hall of Fame’s Legends o f Hockey website © 2007. <http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.j sp?type=Player&mem=P194706&list=ByName#photo>. Accessed 20 February 2007. Figure 3 68 This photograph is of the Rocket in a relaxed mood after scoring the 18th hat trick of his career. Taken from the National Archives of Canada (PA-209768). Sporting Lives - Legends © 2002. <http://www.collectionscanada.ca/05/0527/05270205_e.html>. Accessed 2 February 2007. Figure 4 .............................................................................................................................. 71 Wayne Gretzky. Photograph taken from Hockey Hall of Fame’s Legends o f Hockey website © 2007. <http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.j sp?type=Player&mem=P199901&list=ByName#photo>. Accessed 21 February 2007. Figure 5 .............................................................................................................................. 73 Glenn Hall’s famous butterfly style. Photo taken from Hockey Hall of Fame Legends of Hockey website © 2007. <http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.j sp?type=Player&mem=P197504&list=ByName#photo>. Accessed 2 February 2007. Figure 6 86 This programme was obtained from my great-grandmother’s collections of dance- cards and programs, circa 1910. As a young single woman of society, she attended various events like this, all of which seem to have been designed with women’s passivity and men’s aggressivity in mind. Figure 7 ..............................................................................................................................93 NHL Advertisement. Taken from Adland (2005) “My NHL.” 26 September. <http://ad-rag.com/124805.php>. Accessed 8 December 2005. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Figure 8 104 Drawing of Ken Dryden taken from the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Legends o f Hockey website © 2007. <http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/LegendsMember.j sp?type=Player&mem=P198301&list=ByName#photo>. Accessed 26 February 2007. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INTRODUCTION MY JOURNEY THROUGH SPORT Excitement: men in rapid, hard, close physical conflict, not just with bare hands, but armed with the knife blades o f skates and the hard, fast, deft sticks which could break bones when used right. He had noticed how many women were among the spectators, and for just a moment he thought that perhaps this was why - that here actual male blood could flow, not from the crude impact o f a heavier fist but from the rapid and delicate stroke o f weapons, which, like the European rapier or the frontier pistol, reduced mere size and brawn to its proper perspective to the passion and the will. But only for a moment because he, the innocent, didn’t like that idea either. It was the excitement o f speed and grace, with the puck for catalyst, to give it reason, meaning. William Faulkner (1955), “An Innocent