I just finished playing an extremely dirty recreational playoff game. It was the kind of game that makes me dislike hockey. The hockey I play is as recreational as recreational gets. No one is going to get a college scholarship. No one will play for the Olympics. No one is even going to make a…
Before I left on vacation I visited my local library to pick up some ‘summer beach reads’. Naturally, as an academic geek and hockey fan I left the library with Adam Proteau’s Fighting the Good Fight: Why on-ice violence is killing hockey and Sheema Khan’s Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman…
Starting next week, I will be teaching a third year course to undergraduates in University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. The course is called “Hockey in Canadian Society” – and yes, I realize that the title is incredibly similar to the name of this blog! I am extremely excited, if a little…
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. Hockey Links Shea Weber signed a massive offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers. Adam Proteau examines the disparity between large…
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. Hockey Links Last weekend I reviewed Theo Fleury: Playing With Fire. This week, a few more reviews of the film…
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…
By E. Martin Nolan An Open Letter to NHL Players Brad Marchand: “The more we play each other, the more we hate each other.” Sidney Crosby: “I hate everyone on their team.” Dear NHL Players, Think about how people see you for a second. From the most skeptical perspective, you are grown men playing a…
By E. Martin Nolan Do the NHL Playoffs Facilitate Catharsis? Shea Weber knew he’d be hit, even though the game was over. Henrik Zetterberg went after it like it was midway through the period, like he’d actually be able to make a play. So Weber slams his head into the glass, twice. But let’s not…
By Matt Ventresca and Marty Clark I had the pleasure of writing this review with my friend and colleague at Queen’s University, Marty Clark. Marty is an emerging scholar in the field of Hockey Studies and a hell of a nice guy in his own right. His research focuses primarily on conceptions of whiteness within…
Goon, the new hockey film about a bouncer-turned-enforcer, was released last week. Courtney Szto has already written about the film on this blog, criticizing it for “poor timing and taste” in light of last summer’s deaths of hockey fighters Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak. I agree with her that the timing and marketing…
Hockey in Society / Hockey dans la société 