By Mark Norman Two weeks ago, popular, and sometimes controversial, Vancouver Canucks journalist Jason Botchford passed away suddenly from heart failure. Botchford (or Botch, as he was affectionately called in the Vancouver marketplace) was 48 years old, and is survived by his wife and three young children. His untimely death led to an outpouring of…
You may be familiar with the movement to divest from fossil fuels broadly in our every day lives, but you likely haven’t heard of any sports organizations, teams, or leagues divesting. That’s because sports is slow. Sports, as an industry, is generally slow on the uptake with respect to social issues, which is why the…
It’s Friday night. I worked all day, had a 5:30pm tournament game, and came home from the rink to a text that read: “Why are the CWHL trophies on sale? Disgusting.” So here I am, at 7:30pm, hungry and rage-y, poking the keyboard because, as Kirsten Whalen wrote for the Victory Press on April 20th,…
On March 30th, 2019, the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario held a Roundtable on Racism in Hockey. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first gathering of its kind with the objective to address racism as opposed to simply increasing diversity. This event was made possible…
Co-Authored by Brett Pardy and Courtney Szto *Note: We tend not to refer to the CWHL in the past tense in these posts because…it just feels wrong.* In 2001, Japan created a reality TV show titled, The Tigers of Money. This venture capitalist show was the impetus for the Dragons’ Den series that has been re-created…
Welcome to part two of the series Courtney Szto and I are writing on the dominant myths around the popularity of women’s hockey. It is common for women’s professional hockey, executives, experts, and players to argue that it “takes time” for leagues to establish themselves, and to remember where the NHL was at the same point…
Welcome to Part 1 of a 3-part series authored by Brett Pardy and myself, where we will bust three dominant myths associated with women’s hockey. We had planned this series before the CWHL announced its closure, and now these arguments become even more relevant. This first post will address the myth that the media only…
Feature photo of Voight Demeester taken by Brent Mullins, obtained from outsports.com ____________________________________________________________________________________________ As part of my postdoctoral work on LGBTQ inclusion in hockey at the University of Alberta, I had the opportunity to interview six openly gay competitive men’s hockey players. I spent anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes speaking with each of them…
Last fall, Bob Dawson reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in co-organizing an event to address racism in Canada’s game. Naturally, I said YES. Bob was the first Black player to play in the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League in 1967 with St. Mary’s University. As a diversity consultant and Black…
Co-Authored by Brett Pardy and Courtney Szto Last month, we looked at one aspect that makes women’s sports far more interesting than men’s sports – that fact that women athletes have to cultivate a life beyond the playing surface. This is largely the result of different gender expectations, combined with a different high performance pathway,…
On January 9th, the NHL announced that players would be wearing eco-friendly jerseys for the 2019 All-Star game. These will be the “first-ever NHL jerseys featuring repurposed and upcycled materials.” This move aligns with Adidas’ existing relationship with Parley for the Oceans, an initiative that attempts to deal with ocean plastic by turning it into…
Guest Post By Kristi Allain Kristi, born and raised in Nogojiwanong, inherited a love of hockey from her mother – a passionate Peterborough Petes fan who frequently boasts that she missed only one game with birth of her two daughters. Kristi’s love of hockey has fuelled her research program, where she’s investigated hockey and national…
