Growing up with Hockey in Canada

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, attitudes, 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. Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 38 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 population 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 provide 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 reflection of the amount of importance which Canadians attribute to their national sport. Downloaded from irs.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on August 16, 2016 39 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.

Load more