Growing up with Hockey in Canada
HOWARD L. NIXON II (Canada)
A. INTRODUCTION
The traditional lack of scholarly attention to sport among sociologists could be construed as a reflection of sport’s relatively trivial sociocultur- al significance. However, the Canadians’ great devotion to their national sport of hockey and the impact of this sport upon the values, attitudes. and behavior of those involved in it in Canadian society clearly con- tradict this inference. The main themes of the ensuing discussion will be the nature of the culture of Canadian hockey and the impact of this culture on the socialization experiences of young Canadian males. Basically, it will be argued that because the cultural significance of hockey in Canada is so considerable, growing up male in this society almost necessarily implies some exposure to hockey. For those boys and young men who themselves or whose families tie their hopes 1’or upward mobility to hockey success, the sport of hockey is likely to become, or be made, a consuming passion: and for those who are consumed by this passion, the culture of hockey will profoundly affect their values, atti- tudes, and behavior, as well as their future, as they mature. Before any more is said about the effects of this culture. let us consider some of the basic elements which constitute Canada’s hockey tradition.
B. HOCKEY : THE NATIONAL SPORT OF CANADA _
Sociologist David Marple (1974: 2) has proposed that ’’(h)ocl:ey is culturally identified with Canadian society the way football and basketball have strong cultural roots in the (United) States&dquo;. Historical evidence about the origins of ice hockey is somewhat sketchy. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that the game was created by Canadian children in response to the persistent freezing tempeia- tures of Canadian winters. According to the Associated Press Sports A171tanac .
(1974: 415), these children played with pucks made from frozen ’’horse apples&dquo; - the exact description of which I will leave to your imagination - and sticks made from tree branches. They played on the frozen lakes and ponds found in nearly all small Canadian villages during the winter; and as they played, they developed t.he competitive aspects of the game. As interest in this game became more wide- spread, it was moved indoors to the rinks. According to the Associated Press ac- count, the earliest recorded use of the term &dquo;ice hockey&dquo; is found in a newspaper
’ description of a game played at Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal in 1875.
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The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 with four Canadian entries: the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Toron- to Arenas. The Stanley Cup, which symbolizes ice hockey supremacy and is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, was first won by the Toronto team. The NHL has expanded over this century to include eighteen teams, of which fiftceen are now located in American cities. In 1972, the World Hockey Association (WHA) emerged as a competitor to the NHL; and it now includes fourteen teams, of which nine are located in American cities. Despite this expansion, the resulting dilu- tion in the quality of play, and the high concentration of teams in American cities, these two professional leagues continue to be stocked almost exclusively by Ca- nadian-born players. This fact is a clear indication of the traditional dominance of Canadians at the most advanced level of hockey competition. This hegemony has been a source of considerable national pride for the Canadian people. Despite the fact that in early 1973, &dquo;Hockey Night in Canada&dquo; had fallen from first to seventh place among Canadian TV shows, the Saturday night hockey- watching audience was still 3,172,000 people, or nearly 15% of Canada’s entire popu- lation of about 22 million people (Sports Illustrated, 1973). In an analysis of the causes of hockey attendance. Roger Noll presented evidence indicating that hockey continues to have a disproportionately strong appeal to Canadian, as opposed to American, NHL fans. Noll (1974: 150) pointed out that &dquo;(i)n a Canadian city of 3.5 million, attendance will average, all other things being equal, over 4,000 fans per game higher than in the United States&dquo;. He attributed this finding to the
long hockey tradition in eastern Canada. The fanatic followers of the Toronto .
Mample Leafs - who are concentrated west of the eastern fringes of Ontario - and of the Montreal Canadiens - who are concentrated to the east of the Maple Leaf fans - have been largely responsible for the perpetuation of that tradition (Bock, 1974). But even more basic a factor than these fans in accounting for the strong Canadian hockey tradition has been the extensive network of minor hockey leagues existing throughout the country. ’ The extent of organization of the minor hockey league system in Canada is suggested by Edmund Vaz’s (1974:38) description of the various competitive levels which he examined in his study of the attitudes of young Canadian hockey players. The minor hockey league he studied consisted of six team levels: Tykes (7-9 years old); Novice (9-11 years old); PeeWee (11-13 years old); Bantam (13-14 years old): Midget (15-16 years old); and Juvenile (17 years old and older). The league was divided into two talent streams: (a) House league teams and (b) Allstar teams. Allstar teams included the top players in the minor hockey league in the city. There were usually three Allstar teams (A, B and C) per level. At the Midget level, which was the highest Allstar level, there was usually one - though occasionally two - Allstar team. Players who progressed to the Midget Allstar A team were sometimes drafted into the Junior professional A league or, were invited to play for a Junior B or C team. After one or more years at this level, players could have beeen drafted by one of the NHL teams. The main function of the Juvenile level at the time when Vaz conducted his study - in 1971 - was to provide playing opportunities for older boys who had neither the ambition, skill, nor interest to perform in the Junior professional leagues.
The extent of organization of the minor hockey system in Canada should pro- vide a strong clue to its amount of importance in maintaining the hockey tradition in Canadian society. The existence of this minor hockey league system has also had a significant impact on the family life, attitudes, values, and career aspirations of those associated with it. The degree of this impact is both a result and a reflec- tion of the amount of importance which Canadians attribute to their national sport.
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C. HOCKEY AND SOCIALIZATION IN CANADA
In his book A Thinking Man/s Guide to Pro Hocl;,ey, Gerald Eske- nazi (1972) has noted that aspiring Canadian hockey players learn at a very early age the kinds of values, attitudes, and sacrifices that are needed to succeed in this sport. They learn at seven or eight years old as Tykes the physical demands of long seasons of fifty or sixty games; they learn the impor tance of toughness, of playing with broken teeth, bruises, stiches, and pain: they learn the importance of the team; they learn need to develop polished technical skills; and they learn a strong commitment to winning. As Eskenazi (1972: 9-10) has observed:
For many Canadian youngsters, hockey is life. Small cities everywhere have rinks, and the highest rated telecasts ... are the Saturday night games showing either the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, or Montreal Canadiens. With only 20,000,000 people, the options are not as great as they are in the United States, where tens oi’ thousands of its 200,000,000 population get college scholarships in football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf, and even rodeo. How many of these sports are big-league in Canada? How many offer a road to riches up north? None, really. In football and basketball, college is the only training ground for pros, but in Canada, it is looked at as a detour en route to the N.H.L. It slows you down, you don’t get the competition, you’re not getting the ice time, you’re not improving. So now you have a boy 19, or 20, or 21, and he’s been playing hockey since he was a pre-teen. He hasn’t been to college. He’s lucky, in fact, if he was graduated from high school. What is the fitted for? Hockey.
If you are serious about playing hockey in Canada and want to play at the professional level, you make sacrifices. For example, you sacrifice your education. Until 1967, when the NHL passed a rule that a player could not sign an NHL contract until he was 20.75% of the NHL players had not graduated from high school (Eskenazi, 1972: 10). You may also sacrifice your family life. At fourteen years of age, former NHL superstar Bobby Hull moved 150 miles away from his family so that he could enhance his development as a hockey player by playing for a better club than the one in his local area. He lived in a boarding school: and his rent and tuition were paid by the Chicago NHL team which had captured him for the duration of his NHL career by getting his signature on a &dquo;C’’ card or letter of intent to play for them. He played more than sixty games a year. Needless to say, this demanding schedule and the routine of arising at 5 A.M. for practice and returning to his dormitory late after games was not very conductive to academic motivation or success. Thus, as a teenage. Bobby Hull like other promis- ing minor hockey players - did not have much time for his family or his studies. He was already professionalized by hockey. Even though he was not yet an NHL or professional player, Hull had already learned by the age of fourteen many of .the skills, tech- niques, attitudes, and beliefs required for membership in this league.
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The NHL had socialized him. In spite of the fact that the NHL must now wait longer to sign prospective players to their contracts than it waited to sign Bobby Hull, this professional league continues to exercise a great deal of influence over the socialization of young Canadian hockey play- ers in the minor league system. The influence exercised by the NHL over the Canadian minor hockey league system has resulted from a number of factors. It has resulted from the reverence for hockey in Canadian society, the prestigious stat- ure of NHL players among the Canadian people, and regular exposure to &dquo;Hockey Night in Canada&dquo;, which has contributed substantially to the reinforcement and perpetuation of the two prior factors. More di- rectly, though, this influence has resulted from the fact that by 1958, the NHL had established firm control over Canadian amateur hockey through the institutionalization of a highly organized apprentice system (Kidd and MacFarlane, 1972: 55). This apprentice system was the cul- mination of the NHL’s sponsorship of community hockey in Canada. This sponsorship had begun as early as 1920; and this apprentice system which emerged in the late 1950’s allowed the NHL to regulate what was virtually a nationwide farm system. Although a &dquo;universal draft&dquo; system replaced the apprentice system in 1967, the NHL still exercises considerable control over Canadian amateur hockey. It continues to determine the rules for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. As Vaz (1974: 35)’ has pointed, out, &dquo;(i)t determines the style and content of the hockey that is played throughout the country, and youngsters who play hockey invariably learn to play National League hockey&dquo;. The NHL has been able to induce parents of potentially talented young hockey players to compete in the NHL-regu- lated amateur leagues through &dquo;Hockey Night in Canada&dquo;. Through this institution, TV commentators have exposed potential NHL performers and their families to the virtues of the NHL and its players on a weekly basis throughout the hockey season. It is undoubtedly true that these telecasts have nurtured many dreams of an NHL career among the young male population of Canada. Vaz has pointed out that while the final grooming and professional poise of NHL players is learned in NHL competition itself and through playing on the &dquo;farm teams&dquo; of the NHL clubs, basic socialization and professionalization occur earlier in the minor hockey league and junior professional league system. In this regard, he (Vaz, 1974: 34) has written that: _
Despite the ideology of the Minor Hockey League (with its emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play, good citizenship, loyalty and the development of ’moral character’) it is no longer possible to conceal the fact that youngsters who play organized hockey (in Canada) are engaged in worklike activity, and it is
Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 41 a myth to believe that their sole motivation is the pursuit of pleasure. As a top executive of one league said, ’... remember that these guys are pretty serious about being Allstar. They are not there to fool around...’
Thus, the commercial influence of the NHL has apparently trans- formed Canadian amateur hockey. an activity ostensibly existing for the fun of boys and young men, into an often serious worklike enterprise. Data presented by Vaz suggest that the attitudes and values of minor hockey league players in Canada become increasingly ’’professionalized&dquo; as they progress up through the ranks of this system. In his study of the attitudes of children toward play. Harry Webb (1969: 164) defined &dquo;professionalization&dquo; as &dquo;...the substitution of ’skill’ for ’fairness’ as the paramount factor in play activity, and the increasing importance of victory&dquo;. Using this definition of professionalization, one sees in Vaz’s results at least a partial indication that the attitudes and values of young Canadian hockey players are quite &dquo;professionalized’’ and become more so as they become involved at more advanced levels of competition. Vaz found that while 90% of the Tykes reported that skating and shooting were among the three most important qualities coaches looked for in making Allstar selections, 98% of the Midgets responded with this set of factors. He also found that as players ad- vanced through the levels of competition, there was a marked decrease in their,selection of each of the more general qualities such as &dquo;playing according to the rules&dquo;, &dquo;being a good loser&dquo;. and &dquo;enjoying yourself while you play&dquo;. These findings were interpreted as suggesting that upper level coaches were perceived as more concerned with enhancing the development of technical skills and strategies essential for winning games than with emphasizing general factors like fair play, sportsman- ship, and having fun. Since coaches were so instrumental in determining the success and recognition achieved by their players, one can be certain that these per- ceptions strongly influenced the attitudes values, and behavior of play- ers. In fact. Vaz’s data support this contention. His results suggest that as coaches become increasingly concerned with winning games, their players do, too. These results also show a firm relationship between the coach’s perceived emphasis on aggressiveness and roughness and the player’s feelings about the use of whatever tactics (legal or illegal. presumably) deemed necessary to control their opponents to save goals. Collectively, these findings suggest not only that players become more professionalized as they advance through Canadian amateur hockey; they also indicate that they are actually quite highly professionalized in their approach at even the lowest, Tykes, level. There is one basic aspect of Vaz’s findings which does not seem consistent with Webb’s conception of professionalization. This concept implies increasing concern for victory. However, Vaz found that &dquo;trying
Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 42 to win at all costs&dquo; was cited as one of the three most impor tant qualities in playing minor hockey less frequently by more advanced than less advanced players (e.g., 2% of the Midgets vs. 15% of the Tykes and 8% of the Allstars vs. 11% of the non-Allstars). Significantly, though, in interpreting this unexpected pattern in his findings, Vaz argued that it did not necessarily mean that winning, per se, was actually less im- portant to more advanced players. Vaz proposed that in Canadian society, where the value of success was pr esumed by him to be endemic to its &dquo;vigorously competi ~ive qual- ity&dquo;, this value was widely institutionalized and easily internalized. Thus, all players had probably internalized this value to some extent. However, the more advanced players, who probably had a stronger and more realistic orientation to professional careers. were likely Lo be re- latively more concerned about the development and public r~cogni- tion of their individual skills than about the success of their teams. F~)r, advancement of individuals to the professional level depended crucially on the demonstration of polished individual skills, rather than team success. Given the choice between the importance of techni- cal skills or the importance of winning at all costs (which was probably already internalized to a large extent) and other general values, it seems quite natural that the more advanced players gave greater relative emphasis to the former type of factor. It should also be observed in regard to &dquo;winning at all costs&dquo; that this statement is a rather extreme interpretation of the value of success. This fact undoubtedly accounts for the relatively low percentage of play- ers stressing this value in the groups (Tykes and non-Allstais) giving the strongest expression of this value. It seems quite possible that players who were strongly committed to winning were not able to accept this extreme success value statement. Despite the possible ambiguities concerning the success value findings, Vaz’s results provide a clear indication of the substantial professionali- zation of minor hockey league players in Canada. This professionalization is reflected by his finding of a generally high concern for the develop- ment of skill coupled with his finding of a relatively low concern for fairness, sportsmanship, and having fun. The amount of professionali- zation of the young Canadian amateur hockey players may be a function of a commercialized orientation to hockey which pervades the entire Canadian society and begins to affect Canadians as soon as they start learning about the sport.
D. THE COACHES AND SOCIALIZATION TO CANADIAN AMATEUR HOCKEY
. In their studies of minor hockey league coaches in Canada, Albinson (1973) and McPherson (1974) found that these coaches said that an
Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 43 emphasis on skill was considerably more important in playing games than an emphasis on winning or an emphasis on fairness. In Albinon’s sample of 117 volunteer amateur coaches, 72% ranked playing as well as possible - the skill factor - first among these values; and in McPherson’s sample of 852 amateur coaches, 80% ranked this factor first. These results imply that at least in terms of what they said about their values, minor hockey league coaches tended to be very ’’professional- ized&dquo; in their approach to hockey, even though they were serving &dquo;Ï11 voluntary roles. Albinson’s findings that 27% of the coaches in his sample ranked beating the opponent first. and less than 1% ranked playing fairly first also tend to be consistent with the notion of professionalism used in this discussion. However, McPherson’s data concerning the professed rela- tive importance of these two latter factors do not conform to this con- ception. For, he found that 18% of the coaches in his sample ranked fairness first, and 2% ranked winning first.. The apparently negligible relative concern for winning just cited, as well as the discrepancy be- tween McPherson’s and Albinson’s results, require some discussion. McPherson’s evidence showed that minor hockey coaches tended to aspire to higher positions in the Canadian sports hierarchy. He found that 53% of the coaches aspired to an executive position in a minor sports organization. In addition, 44% wanted to coach at the Allstar level, while another 27% desired a position in one of the semi-professional junior leagues. In view of such widespread lofty aspirations, it is easy to under- stand why coaches stressed the skill factor. They wanted their teams to play hockey as skillfully as possible so that their technical performance would provide clear evidence of the coach’s own ability. Presumably,, they also believed that the attainment of a high level of technical skill among their players would produce victories, a further reflection of a coach’s talent. Presumably, too, the coaches may not have felt that it was necessary to stress victory more than skill (or perhaps even fairness) since they undoubtedly assumed that their players implicitly understood and accepted this value. While McPherson’s results may imply a very limited abstract and relative concern among coaches about winning, it is likely that this value was still strongly emphasized by them, and that players tended to be frequently and explicitly, as well as implicitly, reminded of its importance by their coaches. As McPherson has stressed, there may well have been a gap between the professed beliefs of the coaches in his sample and the attitudes and values they actually conveyed to their players. As he further pointed out, any Saturday morning spenl with a minor hockey team in Canada would cast serious doubt on the ~ctuaL . relative lack of concern for winning among minor hjckey league coaches. Perhaps they liked to imagine themselves in the abstract - as
Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 44 ideal amateur coaches who did not excessively emphasize winning. How- ever, this self-image was probably somewhat inconsistent with reality in most cases. If competitive success is indeed a widely institutionalized value in Canadian society, it is highly unlikely that it would be under- emphasized in the sports arena, where competition is a basic structural element of the contests which take place there. The discrepancy between the results presented by Albinson and those presented by McPherson is difficult to explain on the basis of the other data presented in their articles. McPherson tried to account for this discrepancy in terms of the possibility that a larger proportion of his sample coached at the lower, House league level, where he assumed that there was less pressure to win. However, this explanation is not entirely convincing in view of Vaz’s finding that the value of winning at all costs was somewhat more characteristic of House league players than Allstars (11% vs. 8%). Whatever the reason, it appears that the coaches in Albin- son’s sample were more realistic or honest in their self-appraisals than those in McPherson’s sample. This possibility is suggested by the fact that both McPherson and Albinson found that 36% of the coaches studied felt that other coaches ranked winning as paramount in importance.
E. FAILURE AND FREEDOM: NOT MAKING IT IN CANADIAN HOCKEY AND SOME POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS
Admittedly, the explanations for the negligible professed relative emphasis on winning among the coaches in McPherson’s sample and for the discrepancy between his results and those of Albinson are not to- tally satisfactory. However, despite possible ambiguities linked to these facts and the attempted explanations of them. it is very evident that the data produced by McPherson and Albinson, as well as by Vaz, indicate that young Canadian amateur hockey players and their coaches approach their sport more as serious work than as casual recreation. Players learn at a fairly early age to view hockey with rather professionalized atti- tudes ; and they and their families often make considerable sacrifices to try to maximize their personal success in this sport. But, in reality, only a small proportion of the aspiring young hockey players possess suffi- cient talent to become professionals. What happens to the multitude of players who are successively weeded out at the progressively higher levels of amateur and junior professional competition? Our initial inclination might be to dwell on the negative implications of not making in the Canadian hockey system. This seems quite natu- ral. For, we can readily imagine the frustrations produced by unfulfil- led dreams; the personally crushing realizations of inadequacy; the tar- nished self-images; the many sacrifices made in vain; and the often
Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 45 difficult process of resocialization that follows failure, the reshaping of personal identities and the rethinking of attitudes, values, and goals. Since the young hockey players tend to be pr of essionalized by their in- volvement in the minor hockey league system, their failure in hockey may be treated like job failure. This failure could leave an indelible imprint on the developing personalities of those experiencing it. For those young and aspiring players whose dreams of upward mobility have been tied to success in professional hockey and who have sacrificed their educations in pursuing that dream, failure may have severe implications for their chances of mobility in alternative careers. It is impossible to measure adequately the lost opportunities of those who fail to attain their dreams of professional hockey careers. Further- more, there are no systematic data to present here concerning the pat- terns of socialization consequences of this failure. However, having al- ready considered some possible negative implications of not making it in Canadian hockey, it seems interesting to conclude this analysis by speculating about some possible positive consequences of this kind of failure. In Canadian society, there is tremendous pressure upon young males to compete in amateur hockey; and as young boys, Canadian males learn that this competition is to be approached with great seriousness and dedication. Surely, there are many who give in to this pressure who not only lack talent for this game, but who also lack interest in it. These are the ones who are likely to react with relief rather than despair to the realization that they are not good enough to go on. Without relevant data, the extent of this response pattern is uncertain. However, the fact of its existence is substantiated by the following comments by Cecil Eaves, Development Coordinator of Amateur Sports for the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (Eaves, 1974 :98) :
... I came across a friend who had just recently started to coach in the In- ternational Hockey League. He said to me: ’You know, Cec, one of the things that really bothered me at the beginning of the season was having to tell the fellows who weren’t good enough to make the club. I got it down to the last ten and I brought them in, talked with them and told them. I got the biggest shock of my life, because each of them thanked me for asking him to leave the team’. And, he said, ’Why do you thank me?’ The fellow answered, ’You are the first person in my life who has told me that I am not good enough to play on a hockey team. I have had hockey stuffed down my throat ever since I was eight years old, and you’re the only person who has opened the kind of prison doors that I have been behind, and now I am going to do some of the things that I want to do in my lifetime for the first time. Some of the little things that I have always dreamed about, but I have been so tied to hockey that I haven’t been able to do them. Now you have permitted me to do this.’
Perhaps better than the facts and figures and historical comments that have been presented here, this last little story demonstrates the Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 46
extent and meaning of hockey’s influence in the socialization of young Canadian males. Just as hockey has allowed many in Canada to achieve upward mobility, fame, and the fulfillment of dreams, it has also pushed many into it against their conscious wills and has created unrealistic dreams of success on the ice for many more. If Canada’s great national pride in its hockey tradition is a primary source of its influence over the socialization of males in Canada, then an erosion of this tradition may have the salutary effects of imprisoning fewer reluctant players and of I nurturing fewer unrealistic dreams. In fact, there is evidence that Canada’s traditional hegemony in hockey has ended. The Soviet Union, winners of ten of the eleven world tournaments between 1963 and 1973, is now the undisputed king of in- ternational amateur hockey circles. In addition, their series with Team Canada has shown that the Soviet national team is at least the equal of teams composed of some, of the best of Canada’s players in the NHL and WHA. The expansion of professional hockey throughout the Unit- ed States, along with the tremendous growth of interest and involve- ment in amateur competition in American school, college, and community leagues, imply that the professional hockey leagues will soon include increasing numbers of American-born players. The commercial influence of the NHL (and now perhaps the WHA) over Canadian hockey implies the continued professionalization of those participating in this sport in this society. However, the decline of Ca- nadian prestige in hockey and of hockey’s prestige in Canada may result in increased freedom and diminished frustration for young males grow- ing up in Canada in the fuutre. If this reclining prestige means a re- duction in commercial influence over amateur hockey, then more young Canadians may eventually be able to compete just for the fun of it. Thus, the certain blow to Canadian national pride resulting from the erosion of Canada’s hockey tradition may well be offset by these salutary effects. At any rate, it seems obvious that future research is needed to indicate more clearly the nature of possible changes in the cultural identification of Canadians with hockey and in the role of the culture of hockey in the socialization of young Canadian males.
REFERENCES
1. Albinson J. G., Professionalized attitudes of volunteer coaches toward playing a game, "International Review of Sport Sociology", 1973, 2(8), pp. 77-86. 2. Associated Press, The Official Associated Press Sports Almanac 1974, New York, Dell, 1974. 3. Bock H., Canadiens or Leafs? Who’s more popular in Canada? Hockey: Sports Stars, Spring 1974, pp. 14-19.
4. Eaves C., The North American syndrome: sports for adults — athletics for chil- Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 47
dren, in Murray J. Alex (ed.), Sports or Athletics; A North American Dilemma, Windsor, Ontario. Canadian-American Seminar Series, 1974, pp. 97—102. 5. Eskenazi G., A Thinlcing Man’s Guide to Pro Hockey, New York, Dutton, 1972. 6. Kidd B. and MacFarland J., The Death of Hockey, Toronto, The New Press, 1972. 7. Marple D. P., An analysis of the discrimination against French Canadians in professional ice hockey. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Ca- nadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, Toronto, 1974. 8. McPherson B. D., Career patterns of a voluntary role : the minor hockey coach. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Sociology and Anthro- pology Association, Toronto, 1974. 9. Noll R. G., Attendance and price setting, in Noll R. G. (ed.), Government and the Sport Business, Washington, D. C., The Brookings Institution, 1974, pp. 115-157. 10. "Sports Illustrated", Growing pains, in Scorecard section, January 8, 1973, p. 8. 11. Vaz E. W., What price victory? An analysis of minor hockey league players’ attitudes towards winning, "International Review of Sport Sociology", 1974, 2 (9), 1974, pp. 33-53. 12. Webb H., Professionalization of attitudes toward play among adolescents, in Kenyon G. S. (ed.), Aspects of Contemporary Sport Sociology, Chicago, The Athletic Institute, 1969, pp. 161—178.
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DAS HERANWACHSEN DER JUGENDLICHEN UND DER HOCKEY IN KANADA
Zusammenfassung
In dem Artikel untersucht man, inwiefern die kulturelle Identifizierung der Kanadier mit dem Hockey auf den ReifeprozeB eines Jungen in der kanadischen Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 48
Gesellschaft Einfluf3 ubt. Es wird lestgestellt, dan sich gar bei den jungsten und wenig bedeutenden Hockeyspielern schnell &dquo;professionelle&dquo; Haltungen dem Spiel gegenüber entwiclieln und dan solche Einstellungen die Freude am Amateurhok- keyspiel als einer Freizeit-Erholungssportform eliminieren. Mehr noch, man ist zu dem Schlul3 gekommen, dan der unrealistische Ehrgeiz, die Laufbahn eines Berufshockeyspielers einzuschlagen, der sich durch die enorme Bedeutung des Hockeys in der kanadischen Kultur etablierte, auf den Sozialisierungsprozef3 und die spateren Aufstiegschancen der jungen Kanadier negative Auswirhungen haben kann. Es ist leicht festzustellen, da6 Mif3erfolge im Hockey negative Folgen fur hochengagierte Spieler haben k6nnen. Es kann jedoch ebenfalls geschehen, daf3 Hockey-Mif3erfolge die Sozialisierung und die Karriere weniger befahigter und minder engagierter Spieler günstig beeinflussen. Diese M6glichkeit und ihr Ver- haltnis zu dem in letzter Zeit erfolgten Hegemonieverlust Kanadas im Hockey bil- den das weitere und zugleich letzte Thema, das in dem Artikel angeschnitten wird.
. L’ADOLESCENCE AVEC LE HOCKEY AU CANADA
Resume
L’article examine certains moyens essentiels a 1’aide desquels 1’identification culturelle des Canadiens avec le hockey influe sur le processus de la formation d’un gargon dans la societe canadien. On constate que meme chez les plus petits et peu signifiants hockeyeurs on voit se developper des attitudes professionnelles envers le jeu, et que de telles attitudes eliminent la joie du hockey d’amateurs comme forme de la recreation sommaire. De plus, on constate que les aspirations irr6elles de faire une carri6re du hockeyeur professionnel qui se developpent a cause d’une grande importance du hockey dans la culture nationale canadienne, peuvent influer d6favorablement sur la socialisation et sur les chances ult6rieures de faire une carriere quelconque des jeunes canadiens. On peut remarquer facile- menl que 1’insucces dans le hockey peut avoir des consequences defavorables sur des joueurs tres engag6s. Cependant, il peut y avoir une influence favorable sur la socialisation et la carriere des joueurs moins dou6s et moins engages. Cette possi- bilite et son rapport avec la perte recente de I’h6g6monie dans le hockey par le Canada devient le probleme final de 1’article.
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