Manny Malhotra and the Politics of Injury

In March of this year, Vancouver Canuck’s forward Manny Malhotra had a puck deflect into his eye, which led to a number of career threatening surgeries.  The prediction was that Malhotra’s 2010-2011 season was finished and he would be lucky to ever regain normal vision.  Fast-forward to the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals and Malhotra made…

The Unbearable Lightness of Sean Avery

By Simon Darnell Sean Avery has transformed before our very eyes. From the tough guy, bad boy of the NHL, known for his cheap shots, on-ice antics, and off-ice dalliances with femme fatales – and provocations of the masculinity of other NHLers in comparison to his own – Avery has somehow turned into a Renaissance…

Blogging: A public sociology for hockey?

I am fortunate as a graduate student to study something that I love: sports. Since I was a baby, I have followed sports—especially hockey—passionately and exhaustively. Many of my best friends are also huge fans, and lengthy discussions about sport, often over pints of beer, are a common feature of my social life—as they are…