Lynne Perras says hockey at all levels unites Canadians...maybe even more than maple syrup.
When you ask Canadians what their national sport is, most will reply: hockey. And that doesn't just mean the NHL or Olympic hockey. Hockey is played locally, provincially, by little kids, junior players and in commercial leagues, by boys, girls, men and women. It permeates our society to the extent that if a kid isn't playing it, they are at least watching it. But hockey in Canada is more than a national sport. Lynne Perras, professor of Canadian studies, says it is the number one cultural practice that defines our country and reflects significant aspects of what it means to be Canadian.
"What started as a community game in small town Canada grew along with urbanization and televising of the sport," says Perras, from the Faculty of Communication and Culture. "In the beginning, hockey brought communities together. It created a sense of cohesion and fostered town rivalries."
The great community unifier, hockey can also represent regional alliances and tensions, such as the French-English rivalry characterized in the classic Canadian animation by Roch Carrier: The Sweater. The film, depicting a young hockey player in rural Quebec who is devastated to receive a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey sweater as a gift instead of the jersey of his idol, Montreal Canadiens player Maurice Richard, is an illustration of what Roy MacGregor calls Canada's national theatre. An author on the sport, he says "hockey is the place where the monumental themes of Canadian life are played out-English and French, East and West, Canada and the U.S., Canada and the world."
Perras adds that hockey achieves this through its enormous popularity and its ability to give perfect strangers common ground, uniting them in a way that transcends even politics and religious affiliation.
"Even with televised games, we continue to prefer the face-to-face personal contact of our communities when we experience hockey," says Perras. "The community cohesiveness is replicated in gathering places like bars and family rooms. It lets you be part of a club and the only membership required is to support the team."
Community rivalry takes on new meaning when it is on an international scale. Two of the greatest hockey moments for Canada were the 1972 Canada versus Russia series and the 2002 gold medal Canada versus U.S. game in Salt Lake City. Perras says these were tremendously unifying moments for Canada, and particularly when we beat the U.S. The thrill of beating the Americans in our own national sport (and conversely the fear of losing to them) is gripping in our country.
"Canada loves to be superior to the United States," says Perras. "We often get the short end of the stick in other matters and don't do as well generally. So when we excel against them, it is great cause for celebration. In the world of NHL, there is not a lot of Canada-U.S. rivalry, but it is different in the Olympics. When we don't win we feel the need to trot out some other area in which we're superior to the Americans."
Winning the gold medal game wasn't the only reason for widespread interest in the 1998 Men's Olympic team. Olympic hockey got a big boost that same year when the International Olympic Committee allowed professional players to populate the teams and the NHL took a break in its season to facilitate players' Olympic dreams. The celebrity culture of the NHL carried over to Olympic hockey, inspiring fans and fuelling Canada's rivalry with the United States.
"Once NHL players got into the Olympics, the Canadian public paid more attention to Olympic hockey and their attention was sustained because they knew the players," says Perras. "Fans came to identify with the players because players' celebrity status in the NHL now permeated into the Olympics, making Olympic hockey easier for them to follow. It makes a difference that we already know Jarome Iginla isn't going to be pushed around on the ice, whether or not a player has a poor slap shot or a goalie has a weak spot."
Amongst the rivalry, the aggressive sport has been criticized for the level of violence on the ice. But, Perras says even players fighting on the ice is not out of step with the traditionally peace-loving nature of Canadians.
"It is an ironic contradiction that is typically Canadian. We're OK with this sort of controlled violence-rule bound, in an enclosed space, for a limited amount of time," she says. "More than the Maple Leaf, the Mounties, maple syrup or Tim Horton's, hockey remains quintessentially Canadian."