Politics is a serious business these days as the scandals keep piling up. So we are taking a break for an hour of pure indulgence! Our expert panel of hockey players, fans, podcasters, & media commentators looks at the state of hockey in Canada and makes a few very unpopular predictions about the Stanley Cup finals. Many thanks to our highly talented panelists: writer & hockey player Tim Etherington, journalist & loyal Habs fan Donald Fraser, comedian & hockey player Sean Quinlan, sports commentator from Extra 90.5 FM Jordan Mercier and 90.5 FM, Babtalk Podcast host Meg Thurston.
It became evident the last time the NHL played stopped due to labour/ management/money problems that the media mistook hockey for the NHL and the like (Olympics et cetera).
The media wrote about how people missed hockey. I opined to that media (Toronto star) that there was tonnes and tonnes of hockey they just had to look at minor hockey arenas, shinny rinks, driveways or school yards.
The mythos of the NHL has restricted the game to be about offsides and silly talks about contracts (just watch hnic second period inteemission). I have never had so much real ice time when I said goodbye to ‘over’organized hockey that adults construct for kids or for cash.
We have a five year old who loves skating and shinny hockey. I am concerned that the local culture around organized hockey may actually kill this in him.
Hockey is joy embodied. When we professionalize it it kills that joy just like most things.
Wait a second seventies hockey was creative?! For every perreault and Dionne there is some guy with a two year career that every kid has four copies of his hockey card that he cannot trade in for a stick of that unchewable gum (which was as harsh then as it is now 40 years after never being chewed). While the habs had talent and the Bruins has orr and we had the triple crown line and the French connection, we need not forget that dave tiger Williams played on the leafs top line, that the flyers won cups with one bona fide scorer, Bobby Clarke and Bernie parent with a host of guys who coulda been professional wrestlers. I was seven in 77 and our coach had us run into each other at top speed behind the net at east York arena (but we did beat leslie tim in the mayors cup!)