Some thoughts on today’s “Free Agent Frenzy”

At noon EST today, the NHL’s free agency period opens. At a basic level, this means that players whose contracts have expired or been bought out, and who are eligible for unrestricted free agency (UFA), can begin fielding offers from NHL teams and are free to sign contracts as of 12:00 PM. But over the…

Weekly Links: Reactions to Twitter racism against Joel Ward; Examining cultures of hitting and violence in hockey; Where in the world were NHL players born?

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. Editor’s Note: Apologies for the lack of Weekly Links over the past month. It has been a very busy time…

Hockey violence and the 2012 NHL playoffs: Why a moral panic won’t change the NHL’s cultural tolerance of violence

There has been no shortage of ink spilled in the past weeks about the surprising and upsetting levels of violence that have characterized the 2012 NHL playoffs thus far – including insightful posts from Hockey in Society’s E. Martin Nolan about psychosocial understandings of hockey violence and the fantastical nature of “hatred” between players. NHL…

Paul Henderson, the 1972 Summit Series, and Canadian Collective Memory: An Interview with Sean Mitton, Founder of the ’72 Project

Sean Mitton is a Canadian living in the United States, and the founder of the ’72 Project. The ’72 Project aims to collect stories from Canadians about their experience of the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the Soviet Union, which gave Canadian hockey its most famous and mythologized moment in Paul Henderson’s game winner…

Ovechkin vs. Crosby – A debate in discourse

Alexander Ovechkin versus Sidney Crosby. Sidney Crosby versus Alexander Ovechkin.  The debate itself and the polarization created by both players is a rivalry that any sport would kill for.  They are the marketing world’s perfect storm as far as the NHL is concerned.  As any hockey fan knows, there is a strong dividing line between…