Review: “Hockey: A People’s History” (CBC TV series)

February 11, 2013 by 1 Comment

Image from: http://tv.fally.ro/showinfo/83923/83923-1.jpg

In 2006, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired a 10-part series entitled Hockey: A People’s History (HAPH). Adopting the approach used in its popular 2000 miniseries Canada: A People’s History, the CBC focused in this series on the experience of Canadians with the sport of hockey for over a century. Beginning with early ball and stick games played in various societies over human history, the documentary quickly moves on to introducing European ball and stick games played on ice and First Nations baggataway (the forerunner to what became institutionalized as the sport of lacrosse) as the predecessors to modern hockey. After this very brief homage to hockey-like folk games, the documentary discusses the early organization of ice hockey by amateur athlete in Montreal and proceeds from there to focus entirely on the development of hockey in Canada over a roughly 125 year period.

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Playing the White Way: Whiteness and hockey

November 6, 2012 by 6 Comments

Nazem Kadri. Photo from OnIslam.net.

Don Cherry has stated outright that “Racism is not in the NHL. Of all the sports in the world, it’s the one that doesn’t have racism.”  Whether true or false his statement is worthy of examination.  If it is true then we have to figure out what it is about hockey that naturally eliminates racism.  Is it the coldness? If that were true then all winter sports would look like the General Assembly at the United Nations.  Is it the condoned fighting? No, that doesn’t seem right.  If Cherry’s statement is false then it his this denial of racism that is in need of critique.  Frankly, I wish that it were the former because then not only would hockey be the greatest game on earth it would also be the key to peace and harmonious international relations. Sadly, I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.

In 2009, the Globe and Mail (one of Canada’s national newspapers) published a lengthy article on Nazem Kadri titled, Nazem Kadri: Canada’s new game face.  In it we glimpse the Canadian dream – immigrants who move to Canada and their son makes it to the NHL.

The extended Kadri family – typically 60 aunts, uncles and cousins at each game – is scattered around the John Labatt Centre.  Sam’s [Nazem's father] own, elderly parents – his mother easily spotted in a white hijab among clumps of hockey jerseys – are across the ice, two rows up.

They don’t speak much English – Sam’s father refers to the penalty box as habis, Arabic for jail – but having arrived almost empty-handed 40 years ago from Lebanon, where they’d never heard of hockey, they understand the feat their grandson has achieved.  They don’t miss a game.

…He has a fairy-tale story that hockey, more than ever, wants to tell.  Nazem Kadri is not the first Muslim to be drafted into the National Hockey League – perhaps his most prominent predecessor was Montreal’s Ramzi Abid, a left-winger who played several seasons before heading to Europe in 2007.  But none has faced such expectations of stardom.

And why does the NHL want so badly to tell his story? Because as the article says, Kadri “comes at a time when both minor and professional hockey are intent on drawing ethnic communities into the game.”  Surely, this desire stems from an economic standpoint because the more people who play hockey the more money hockey makes, but also in a time where globalization is the norm having a sport that is overwhelmingly white speaks loudly about who has been welcomed into the game and who has not.  Hockey needs a Venus or Serena Williams or a Tiger Woods.  Someone that the NHL can point to and say – what racism?  It needs an alibi.  If non-Whites can not only make it to the pros but dominate a league you can essentially throw the racism card away, right? Read more of this post

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Defending the Blue Line: Hockey and militarism as social responsibility?

June 18, 2012 by Leave a comment

Photo from http://assets.sbnation.com/

During the pre-game interview with Zach Parise before Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Parise mentioned that he is involved with an organization called Defending the Blue Line (DTBL).  The interview showed Parise hanging out with military men and their families while shooting some stuff.  This peaked my interest so I decided to look into DTBL further.

The mission of DTBL is

ensuring that children of military members are afforded every opportunity to participate in the game of hockey.  We accomplish this by providing free equipment for military kids, hockey camps, special events, and financial assistance for registration fees and other costs associated with hockey.

DTBL was created in 2009 by a group of Minnesota soldiers (the hockey state!).  It appears that Parise’s allegiance to the organization probably has something to do with the fact that his father is on the Board of Directors.  Other players who support DTBL include: Cal Clutterbuck, George Parros, Matt Henricks, Ryan Kesler and Sean Avery.  NHL teams listed as partners include: the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals.  You may also be interested to know that the Derek Boogaard Memorial is a MVP Level sponsor/donor.

Sport is like war without the killing (hopefully), this notion is nothing new.  We see it when the fighter jets fly over before the start of the Indy 500.  We see it when athletes wear camouflage jerseys.  We hear it when commentators talk about athletes being warriors in the trenches.  As Mark Norman has outlined in a previous post it is important to dissect the significance of the link between sport and militarism, and for our purposes, hockey and militarism.  Dr. Samantha King, a professor of Cultural Studies at Queen’s University, has written about the synergy between sport and war with the specific example of the National Football League in a post-9/11 world.  King (2008) writes:

as professional leagues such as the NFL incorporate Bush administration policy into their business strategy with the aim on enhancing brand identification and capital accumulation, it appears that a system is emerging in which sport culture has moved beyond its customary role as an ideological support to the corporate state.  Therefore, although relationships between sport and the state are not new, there is an intensified depth and mutuality to the sport-war nexus in the present moment – a shift that might be understood as a further indication of the miltarization of everyday life, and, simultaneously, of the “sportification” of political life – in the contemporary United States. (p.528) Read more of this post

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Weekly Links: Reactions to “While the Men Watch” and reflections on hockey media; US participation rates rising; New arenas in Detroit, Edmonton, and Seattle

June 3, 2012 by Leave a comment

Image from: http://media.avclub.com/images/articles/article/75/75805/20120530_WWTM_jpg_627x325_crop_upscale_q85.jpg

Welcome to Hockey in Society’s Weekly Links post. This feature highlights articles or blog entries that are related to Hockey in Society’s areas of interest and that may be of interest to the site’s readers.

[Note:Sorry folks, I have again been behind on these Weekly Links posts. I will continue to try to get them up each week, but please bear with me right now if they are posted somewhat irregularly.]

Hockey Links

  • There has been no shortage of reaction in the blogosphere to the CBC’s new venture, While the Men Watch, including Courtney Szto’s initial reactions and review of the show on this blog. I will do a separate roundup of these reactions, but in the meantime here are some excellent posts by Ellen Etchingham, Cassie McLellan, and Julie Veilleux respectively. [Backhand Shelf; Raw Charge; Puck Daddy]
  • Great post from Cam Charron about the monopoly on sports expertise by ex-players or entrenched media members, how it partly explains the slow uptake on advanced statistics by NHL personnel, and how the blogosphere (thankfully!) offers a wide variety of ways for fans to understand and conceptualize hockey. [Backhand Shelf]
  • Speaking of advanced statistics and new media: Please do check out Sunil Agnihotri’s excellent blog, Super Fan 2.0. His work uses sociocultural theory to examine issues related to new media and hockey fandom. As someone who is also interested in this area, I find his work fascinating and insightful. Give it a look yourself! [Super Fan 2.0]
  • Chris Peters reports that hockey participation in the US has risen to nearly 595,000, and examines some of the reasons for this increase in various areas, including sunbelt NHL markets. [United States of Hockey]
  • Daniel Wegner debunks Don Cherry’s jingoistic (and excessively pro-Ontario) rehtoric about the players needed by teams that enjoy success in the postseason. [Backhand Shelf]
  • Wayne Gretzky would like to see the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s playoff MVP, renamed after Montreal Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau. [TSN]
  • The KHL continues its global empire building, announcing plans to play regular season games at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NYC. [Puck Daddy]
  • Canadian media giant Rogers may attempt to snatch the rights to Hockey Night in Canada away from the CBC. A potentially sad day for Canada’s public broadcaster. [The Province]
  • Matt Hendricks of the Washington Capitals is the latest hockey player to support the You Can Play project, which targets homophobia in hockey. [Dump 'N Chase]
  • The World Junior Championships proved to be a cash cow for Hockey Canada and the province of Alberta, bringing in revenues of $22 million. [TSN]
  • The Red Wings press ahead with plans to build a new arena in downtown Detroit, hiring an architect to begin designs. The arena, if built, will replace the Joe Louis Arena, which opened in 1979. [Detroit News]
  • More arena news: Greg Wyshynski updates Seattle’s plans for a new hockey arena and briefly touches upon the new arena that is being constructed for the Oilers in downtown Edmonton. [Puck Daddy]
  • Jamaica has been admitted to the International Ice Hockey Federation, and is aiming to ice a team at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. [Puck Daddy]
  • Finally, Ellen Etchingham explores “hockey’s complex relationship with booze.” A fascinating article. [Backhand Shelf]

General Sport Links

  • Hockey in Society’s Courtney Szto examines the efforts to curb HIV transmission during the 2012 Euro Cup in Poland and Ukraine. [The Rabbit Hole]
  • ESPN’s fascinating 3o for 30 documentary series is returning with a new slate of films. [Grantland]

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Hockey and the measurement of permanent transition

May 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Or, how hockey is like the weather

This weather system could pass the puck in any direction.
from http://www.kayarchy.com

The debate over advanced stats in hockey is by now well-established, but it is also still young. The usual positions have been staked out by the usual suspects, with the old school predictably favouring their own intuition and experience while the outsider stats nerds lead a slow insurgency based on numbers and cold method. What we essentially have here, then, is a debate between subjectivity and objectivity. Don Cherry knows a player’s value by what he sees on the ice. He sees the guy block shots. He doesn’t need a complicated calculation to tell him what he sees with his own two eyes, which he can trust because they’re honed by his longstanding and intense interest in the game. The stats people, though, don’t trust their eyes, and they don’t trust Cherry’s. Instead, like Charles Sanders Peirce before them, they rely on a more perfect method, one that is disinterested, separated from human imperfection.

This opposition, between the subjective and the objective, makes the debate over advanced stats essentially a debate between science and mysticism. Mysticism isn’t a much-used word these days, but what is a creationist if not a mystical thinker indebted to a belief in a world beyond the physical realm? But you don’t have to reference an evangelical sermon or a new age microwavable Buddhist self-help book for evidence that science has failed to wipe mysticism off the map. Science cannot eliminate mysticism because it is, by definition, limited. Human beings, not to mention nature and the universe, are incredibly complex and mysterious, making it impossible to reduce everything into testable chunks. So, while we may trust science, we rely on its objectivity only to a certain extent because there are certain movements, certain transitions—both profound and everyday—we experience that simply cannot be tested or quantified.

Likewise, it would seem likely that as the objective perspective on hockey continues to evolve, we will slowly accept its importance, along with its limitations. Read more of this post

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Talking Hockey and Don Cherry at the “Bodies of Knowledge” Conference at the University of Toronto

April 30, 2012 by Leave a comment

Bodies of Knowledge (BOK) is an annual graduate student conference held at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at University of Toronto. The conference is entirely organized and run by graduate students (full disclosure: I am on the organizing committee and am presenting, so this post is somewhat self-promotional) and all presentations are by graduate students from Ontario and abroad.

The conference aims to bring a multidisciplinary approach to exploring sport, physical activity, exercise, and the human body. Disciplinary perspectives include sociology, cultural studies, physiology, kinesiology, motor control, psychology, and education.

This year’s conference takes place on May 3-4. If you are interested in attending, please visit the conference website for more details.

Unfortunately the hockey content is quite light this year in comparison to past years, with only one presentation – a paper by Hockey in Society contributor and UBC graduate student Courtney Szto and I. Courtney and I will be presenting on some research we have done on Don Cherry and his Coach’s Corner program.

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Weekly Links: More Reaction to Herb Carnegie’s Death; Don Cherry’s pro-Ontario Rant; KHL to Play Games in Brooklyn

March 16, 2012 by Leave a comment

Image from: http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2012/03/10/carnegie-herb-940-cp-090605-8col.jpg

Welcome to Hockey in Society’s Weekly Links post. This feature highlights articles or blog entries that are related to Hockey in Society’s areas of interest and that may be of interest to the site’s readers.

Hockey Links

  • Earlier this week I reflected on the legacy of Herb Carnegie. Kevin van Steendelaar has a different take, criticizing the NHL for not acknowledging Carnegie’s passing: “It’s a real shame on them for missing a chance to at least slighty make a right to a terrible wrong those many years ago.” [Habs Eyes on the Prize]
  • The Globe and Mail missed the boat on publishing an obituary for Carnegie, but yesterday it finally published a Dave Shoalts piece that reflects on Carnegie’s life. [Globe and Mail]
  • James Mirtle reports that games missed due to concussions in the NHL are on the rise, although the number of concussions is around the same rate – presumably this is because of stricter precautions about returning to play. Interesting tidbit: apparently only three percent of concussions are a result of fighting. [Globe and Mail]
  • Ellen Etchingham has a good post about the 228th Battalion team, a military hockey squad that played one season in the National Hockey Association before being shipped off to fight in World War One. A very interesting historical perspective on the early links between hockey and militarism, with a brief discussion of the current state of this relationship. [Backhand Shelf]
  • Etchingham also went to bat for Don Cherry, defending him for his rant about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lack of Ontario-born players. [Backhand Shelf]
  • Harrison Mooney, on the other hand, criticizes Cherry’s comments as “subtly prejudiced nonsense.” [Puck Daddy]
  • A few years ago, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) launched a Champions League club competition. It only lasted one season. The federation is now looking to reinstate the competition and is beginning the process with a stakeholder summit. [TSN]
  • The KHL is planning to play regular season games in Brooklyn, at the new Barclays Center that is opening this fall. [Puck Daddy]
  • An inside look at how the LA Kings manages its various new and social media accounts. [The Sports Cortex]
  • Bruce Peter weighs in on the Alexander Radulov controversy and the politics of the NHL-KHL relationship, as the Russian superstar appears ready to make the jump back to the Nashville Predators from Salavat Yualev Ufa of the KHL. [Puck Worlds]

General Sport Links

  • Interesting article about the intrusion of Twitter into sports marketing and, more specifically, sports jerseys. [Social Media Today]
  • Dave Zirin comments on racist chants during the NCAA’s March Madness, directed from the Southern Mississippi University band toward a Puerto Rican player on Kansas State, and the event’s broader political context of anti-immigration sentiment in Mississippi. [The Nation]

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“Goon”: A Controversial (and Potentially Important) Film

February 29, 2012 by 8 Comments

Image from: http://www.vueweekly.com/images/sized/img/stories/853/film-goon-600x400.jpg

Goon, the new hockey film about a bouncer-turned-enforcer, was released last week. Courtney Szto has already written about the film on this blog, criticizing it for “poor timing and taste” in light of last summer’s deaths of hockey fighters Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak. I agree with her that the timing and marketing of the film were poor, however beyond that I cannot criticize the film without watching it. And who knows, I may end up enjoying it – after all, Slap Shot is one of my all-time favourite movies, and I think packs a subtle punch in terms of its social commentary.

Given that I have yet to watch Goon (I will post a review whenever I do) I cannot comment too much on the film. Instead, after the jump I examine some of the reaction to the movie, particularly in light of the current debates that are raging around the place of fighting in hockey. Read more of this post

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Weekly Links: Overcoming Social Expectations of non-Aggression in Women’s Hockey; NCAA and KHL Look to Grow Their Global Economic Footprints; Why is NHL Fighting on the Decline?

January 13, 2012 by Leave a comment

Image from: http://www.philmyretalkshockey.com

Welcome to Hockey in Society’s Weekly Links post. This feature highlights articles or blog entries that are related to Hockey in Society’s areas of interest and that may be of interest to the site’s readers.

Hockey Links

  • Easily the best thing I’ve read this week: a first person (dare I say ethnographic?) account of the socially engrained expectations of femininity that female hockey players must overcome in order to play the game more aggressively, more assertively, and more pleasurably. Definitely give this a read. Hell, give the whole blog a read because everything I’ve looked at so far is fantastic. [A Theory of Ice; h/t to @dagmar27 for the link]
  • The number of NHL fights are down this season. A couple bloggers this week delved into some of the reasons behind this decline. First, Greg Wyshynski suggests that factors such as the shifting role of the enforcer, the smaller number of “dance partners” prepared to drop the gloves, the reduction of downtime between stoppages in play, Brendan Shanahan’s stricter enforcement of supplemental discipline, and the growing awareness about concussions and brain injury. [Puck Daddy]
  • Next up, Justin Bourne suggests that a rise in the quality of play and a reduction in fighting in the minor and junior hockey leagues has meant that many players coming through those systems have not had to fight their whole careers. In other words, the AHL is more like the NHL and less like Slap Shot, in that skilled players likely do not fight in the same way they were pressured to a decade or more ago. [Backhand Shelf]
  • A Globe and Mail editorial takes a very strong stance against fighting, in light of Colton Orr’s demotion from the NHL: “It is morally bankrupt to ask Colton Orr ever to fight again. After 99 NHL fights, he is at heightened risk of lifelong brain damage.” [Globe and Mail]
  • Ken Campbell with an excellent look at the “illogical pro-fighting stance” of Brian Burke. [The Hockey News; h/t to Hockey in Society reader Peter for the link]
  • It appears that the 2013 Winter Classic may be hosted at Michigan University’s 100,000+ capacity football stadium, after Yahoo! Sports broke the story that the NHL and the university have been in advanced discussions about this possibility. [Puck Daddy]
  • Speaking of unconventional hockey venues, plans are afoot to potentially host a hockey game on a US Navy aircraft carrier. That is mind-boggling in so many ways. This reminds me that I really need to get revisit to my plans to explore the relationship between hockey and militarism. These posts are still very much in the cards, they’ve just been pushed to the backburner the past few months. [SB Nation]
  • Interesting interview with the NCAA’s Executive Director of College Hockey, Paul Kelly. The NCAA is trying to increase its appeal as an alternative to junior hockey, although inter-league politics complicate the process. The NCAA is also seeking to grow its brand in Canada through increased television exposure and even the possibility of a Frozen Four (the NCAA’s championship tournament] being hosted in Toronto. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
  • If you look past some of the stereotypes about Russia and the presentation of sensational examples of how business can be conducted in the country, this article has some fascinating insight into the politics, economics, and ambition of the Kontinental Hockey League – including the fact that it envisages by 2015 itself as a 60-team league spread out across Europe and Asia. [The Star]
  • US national team superstar Angela Ruggiero has retired from hockey and will focus on her work with the International Olympic Committee Athlete’s Commission, in which role she will hopefully be able to increase the IOC’s support for women’s hockey. [Women's International Ice Hockey]
  • The New Jersey Devils are aggressively and innovatively using new media to grow the team’s popularity. Interesting look at one of the many ways in which new media is changing the landscape of professional sports. [Sports Business Journal, via Puck Daddy]
  • The NHL Player’s Association rejected the NHL’s plan for realignment. Ken Campbell explains how this is a political tactic in advance of upcoming labour negotiations between the union and the league. [The Hockey News]
  • Cam Charron, who like me is also a contributor at Nucks Misconduct, has a humorous and insightful breakdown of Don Cherry’s statements on last week’s Coach’s Corner. [Legion of Blog]
  • James Mirtle with an interesting look at the rise of Americans in the NHL, and the reasons behind this increase. [Globe and Mail]
  • Future bidders on the World Junior Championships will require “deep pockets, big arenas” as the tournament’s profit-making potential continues to rise. [CBC Sports]
  • Daniel Wegner looks at how the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks are making the controversy around Brad Marchand’s suspension worse by waging an ongoing war of words about it. [Backhand Shelf]

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Brian Burke Laments Decline of the Enforcer, Fears that “Rats” Will Dominate Hockey: What Does This Tell Us About Hockey Culture?

January 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Image from: http://www.sportsnet.ca

Brian Burke, the General Manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs, has never been one to shy away from the media spotlight or to hide his emotions. Nor has Burke made any secret about his view that a good NHL team requires a solid dose of toughness on its roster, famously declaring upon taking the Maple Leafs GM job in 2008:

We require, as a team, proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence. That’s how our teams play. . . . Our teams play a North American game. We’re throwbacks. It’s black-and-blue hockey. It’s going to be more physical hockey here than people are used to.

Burke backed up his words in the following years, trading away a number of skilled players and bringing in noted enforcers such as Colton Orr and Mike Brown in an effort to create a tougher on-ice team. Today, after Colton Orr was sent to the Maple Leafs’ minor league team, Burke weighed in on the current state of the game and lamented the decline of enforcers in hockey.

After the jump, I look at Burke’s statements and consider what they say about hockey’s culture of aggressive masculine behaviour, “the Code” that informally governs how players are expected to conduct themselves, the widely held assumption that players can police their on-ice actions better than the NHL can through suspensions or fines, and the need to disconnect an enforcer’s personal attributes from his on-ice role.

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