Ice Hockey Canada Culture

The first use of a puck instead of a ball was recorded at kingston harbour ontario canada in 1860.

Ice hockey canada culture. Ice hockey and lacrosse are the popular sports although football baseball and cricket also attract the significant number of spectators. Sports are a very important part of the canadian culture. There are outdoor and indoor rinks in every community across the country. I just finished reading ken dryden s excellent new book game change.

But of course hockey has in fact changed dramatically in the way it is played. Early hockey games allowed as many as 30 players a side on the ice and the goals were two stones each frozen into one end of the ice. Perhaps it may seem ironic that a country renowned for being. Ice hockey is so prevalent in the country that it is simply referred to as hockey.

Hockey s place in canadian culture is closer to religion than a simple sporting pastime a unifying force in a country of 33 million people that is often split by politics and language. Ice hockey simply referred to as hockey in both english and french in canada dates back to the 19th century. The origins and importance of ice hockey in canadian culture. Now ice hockey is a fundamental facet of canadian national identity that permeates all levels of society from books like how hockey explains canada and disney s 1992 film the mighty ducks to the university of saskatchewan s hockey in canadian literature course.

And when asked in 2004 to come up with a list of the ten greatest canadians of all time millions of canadians polled put both wayne gretzky and don. Take the 2002 winter olympics for instance when six million canadians tuned in to watch the women s team win gold and 10 million almost a third of the population watched the men s team follow suit three days later. The sport is very popular and played year round and at every level in the country. It is the official national winter sport of canada and is widely considered canada s national pastime with high levels of participation b.

A hockey scene figures prominently on the back of the five dollar bill. A cbc news report from 2013 confirmed that hockey is one the most popular sports in canada with 1 239 000 people over the age of 15 of all genders saying that they play ice hockey. A symbol of canada a national sport and even a way of life ice hockey. As we celebrate the country s 150th birthday so many changes have taken place in sport and the manner in which we consume it that have worked to undermine hockey s central role in the national.

Most canadians alive at the time can tell you where they were when paul henderson scored the winning goal to beat russia in the canada soviet series. Culturally our sport is now transforming within the mutable culture of canada. The only sport that is played by more adults in canada is golf which is played by 5 2 of canadian adults compared to ice hockey s 4 4.