General posts, including essays and discussions.
By Victoria Silverwood It comes to something when we are no longer surprised about the periodic news stories telling us that yet another current or retired hockey player has been found dead. Since the summer of 2011 when Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak all lost their lives to the more recent losses of…
Both the NFL and NHL are responding to concerns about concussions. How are they doing this? Not with science. Not with rule changes. Not with a culture shift. But with more eyes…in the stands. I can’t even wrap my head around how (1) this suggestion even came up and, (2) who said “Sure! The fans…
I took issue with the NHL Player Survey results published September 15, 2016 by USA Today, specifically those associated with the one question on the survey regarding homosexuality. My masculinity studies meter and research methodology radar started going off more fiercely than the audience noise decibel scale on the big screen in the Bell Centre…
Since 2012, I’ve been a member of a stand-up group of individuals who come together every second year to talk shop and play a game of shinny. We call the meeting The Hockey Conference and it attracts scholars and other like-minded individuals who study and appreciate the sport from sociological, historical, literary, economic, kinesiological, and…
Last October I started a (fledgling) campaign to eradicate sock tape from the game of ice hockey. A tiny campaign it remains, but at least now I know I am not the only one championing the cause. A few weeks ago, a representative from Superior Hockey reached out to advertise their new SokStraps. They seem…
The following is an excerpt from C.L.R. James book, Beyond a Boundary. It was written in 1963 about cricket in the West Indies, but while I was reading it on my commute yesterday this passage stood out as painfully relevant: But that is not why I remember Matthew. For ne’er-do-well, in fact vicious character, as…
By Matt Ventresca Last Friday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was deposed in a private hearing in New York as part of the substantive legal action regarding the league’s mishandling of head injuries. The lawsuit is on behalf of at least 60 former players who sustained concussions during their pro hockey careers. This list includes some…
“I never thought of Terry Ryan’s hockey career as memorable until I picked up a copy of his soon-to-be-published book, Tales of a First-Round Nothing: My Life as an NHL Footnote…The book is an honest, poignant and often funny look at the life of a player on the fringe.” – Pat Hickey, Montreal Gazette Tales…
Photo by Courtney Szto “Tootoo’s book is a confession, consequences be damned. And it’s motivated by the same middle-finger-to-the-world attitude that got him from Rankin Inlet all the way to the NHL.” (The Hockey News, 2014) Summer time means summer reading. While others are thumbing through the new E.L. James series, I am catching up…
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published on June 26, 2014 ahead of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. With the 2015 draft approaching this Friday, it was decided to repost the article given its continuing relevance. In its preview of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, The Hockey News features a Matt Larkin article entitled “Rising…
Hockey in Society / Hockey dans la société 