NHL Green Week: Small steps to…where exactly?

*Cross posted on The Rabbit Hole* Last week was the first ever NHL Green Week. It was created in an attempt to showcase the League’s “greening programs and initiatives that are reducing the League’s environmental impact, while calling on fans and partners to accelerate a movement towards a healthier planet.” According to the US Environmental…

Clarkson Cup: “More Than Just a Game”

By Alvin Ma “Players from the Canadian Women’s Hockey League are in town!” reads the poster at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau. It was CWHL Community Day, and numerous events were held around the National Capital Region the day before the championship game: a ball hockey clinic in front of the Canadian Tire…

Hockey Hidden in India

The Indian national hockey team has been competing internationally since 2009. Yes, that’s right, India has a national hockey team. It has only won one game in that time (2012 vs. Macau). Nevertheless, Ladakh (“land of high passes”) is home to pond hockey like the game has never seen before – 9,800 feet up in…

Things We Don’t Talk About: Residential Schools and hockey

Indian Residential Schools are a dark part of Canada’s history; it is a fact that we would probably prefer be swept under the rug.  The history of American slavery continues to be part of everyday vernacular (whether popular or not), yet residential schools and Canadian settlement really aren’t talked about. It wasn’t something that I learned about…

Pride tape: Real change or rainbow washing?

On Sunday, the Edmonton Oilers took to the ice for their annual skills competition with rainbow coloured “pride tape” in support of LGBTQ (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer) communities and players. The tape was launched in late 2015 by the University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services (ISMSS) with the following approach: How can the hockey world…