Hockey’s Influence on Canada Essay

Sometimes it is easy to for make believe the peppy compete on frozen ponds and backyard skating rinks, and get lost in the overtake professional sport cognise as ice ice hockey game. However, we strive to remember that hockey became Canadas zippy because it do our never-ending winter months more than bearable . The granulose gradually became a sport, then an entertainwork forcet industry. It seems like the lock off was wholeness of the biggest news stories of the year. Part of the amazing nature of the game is that its origins be fairly vague. However, we always remember that hockey is our game. It may not be our official sport, like lacrosse is, but hockey is what Canada seems to be about long-familiar for, and it continues to perplex immense influence on our free society, with its unique bearing and attraction. We invented it, we had the best players, and have so m all cultural ties between the game and the people. hockey game has had and still has an unbelieva ble influence on Canadian culture.Canadians argon hockey crazy. The people love the ever-changing game, and the land and the winter be every where. One reason why every nonpareil is so attracted to it is that we really needful a sport we could claim as ours, that we could play yearlong. Canadians atomic number 18 place where they shouldnt be, doing what to others seems to make no sense. Only a few scruffs of trees and buildings trouble whizself the eye from its vastness. What we needed to tie us together had to have a feeling that travels byout the country with attributes we all have in common, things we commission about, things that help us make sense out of what we are. It is a laboured feeling to achieve.It seemed that so much about Canada set us asunder topography, distance, language, climate, rivalries and cultures. Hockey became a winter passion for both players and watchers. It kept drinking chocolate row humming. It was a means of winter fitness, and the driving f orce slow the building of community centres, the way in which widely separate communities connected with each other. Before there were malls, kids would hang around in hockey arenas. Before Zambonis could be found in every hockey rink in our land, it was the kids who would fight for the right to clear off the rink so a barrel of hot water could be wheeled out for the flooding.The origins of hockey are vague, but it seems that the early game was a combination of lacrosse and rugby on ice. Not very exciting to watch, butrugby and lacrosse players used it for winter recreation. The championship system spurred the games popularity. The Stanley loving cup created natural rivalries between teams and cities. All the while, rules changed to make the game faster, rougher, and more exciting. victor leagues grew all over the country. The majuscule rivalries between Toronto and Montral drew in loyal, rabid fans Dryden. It is tempting to glamourize the years before the NHL expanded, and be fore the tarry of the world discovered hockey.The terrific Canada-Russia series of 1972 showed that international hockey could overprotect the same excitement and fan loyalty as the domestic game. Canadian hockey fans remember with pride that hockey remains Canadas most significant contribution to the world of sports. Hockey has been a part of behavior in Canada for over one hundred years. Thousands play it, and millions follow it. Hockeys evidences are everywhere. In Canada, hockey is one of winters expectations. It is played in every province and territory. It is hockeys leave into the past that makes hockey such a vivid instrument through which to view Canadian life. In little more than a century, hockey has moved from pickup games on rivers to amazing games televised on Hockey wickedness in Canada.Another impressive detail we must acknowledge is that the games great players had pure Canadian heritage, which made hockeys popularity soar. Canadians know that were good at what we do, and thats why hockey has been incredibly most-valuable in our society. For instance, Wayne Gretzky. Born in Brantford Ontario, he is well known for his record-breaking all time point record of 1,850 goals. This fact is irrefutable. Gretzky to a fault coached the mens 2002 surpassing team World Almanac & Book of Facts. When he was traded for fourfold Los Angeles players in 1988, Canada was set into somewhat of an emotional earthquake. This shows how dedicated we are to load-bearing(a) our home-grown players.Another hockey great, who was purely Canadian, and proved his worth in the game of hockey, is the amazing Rocket Richard. He was known for his truth, but was also yet as well known for his great spirit and love for the game. He, as well as Gretzky, was given the honour of being among the best in the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1955, Richard was, without thought, suspended from the league, Canada, especially Montrealers, went intocomplete uproar, bring on numerous death t hreats upon the president Clarence Campbell, as well as what has been called the slash riot in Canadian sports history. This example really shows how dedicated Canadians are when backing up their own players, the ones they know are the best.Yet some other great example of hockeys influence on Canadian culture is the legendary Bobby Orr. Orr was born in Parry Sound, Ontario, and was well known for his excellent defensive skills. Although Bobby played most of his career for Boston, he has not been forgotten as having Canadian birth, and that is something Canadians hold very important in their heart. They love him so much for his homeland, despite the fact he played for our toughest opposition. He is another great player that attracted a lot of attention, specifically in Canada, to the game. That attention still lives on.Another profound reason for hockeys great influence on Canada is that there are so many cultural ties from our society to the game. A great example of this is Tim Ho rtons. Tim Hortons has one of the most successful marketing operations in Canada. Tim Hortons stores are complete in Canadian cities and towns it is said that you can find one inside four or five blocks wherever you are in any city. The compass has expanded aggressively across urban Canada and also into slender rural towns.There are now over 2,350 outlets in Canada. Skogan cod to its powerful and effective branding, Timmys has established itself in the top descriptor of restaurants in Canada and in the heart of Canadian culture. Tim Horton, the founder of the chain, was known for his excellence on the rink as a professional hockey player. Because one of hockeys greatest players founded the most well-known food chain in Canada, it gives it another tie to Canadian culture, which weaves into peoples lives, change surface when they go to buy a coffee or donut.One also associates the game of hockey and the NHL with Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC). A cultural institution since it was first broadcast on radio in 1933, HNIC has been a TV mainstay since 1952 and is today one of those rare programs that still appeals to a wide cross-section of the population, and draws around 2.1 million viewers a workweek on average Cox, Damien. The satisfying double-header of hockey action is drawing roughly 6.7% of thenations population. That is, until the lockout, which is driving Canadians mad.Another instance of our life without hockey is how angry the hockey fans were when they learned that Ron Maclean, sidekick to Don Cherry, was not to get his contract renewed as the program co-host for the 2003 hockey season. CBC was blanketed with thousands of complaints and petitions when they made the press release, and they lost the support of the executive producer of HNIC, Joel Darling Wilson-Smith. From this it is demonstrable Canada backs HNIC with love, and HNIC is just one foundation that makes the games impact and dish so strong on Canadian culture.Finally, one of the greates t reasons why hockey has such an influence on Canadian culture is because we have been lucky enough to have experienced culturally defining moments within the sport. Hockey has been enjoyed for approximately a century now, and that left many opportunities for our athletes to glow at our favourite sport. The 1972 Summit Series was probably the most accepted milestone in Canadian hockey, when Canadas best played eightsome games against Russia, with the final game being won by Paul Henderson of Canada, in the last few seconds, for a 6-5 win, free them the series Wilson, par. 10.Another great example of how crazy Canadians have been for hockey over the years is the 2002 Olympic Gold. It was an excellent win over the U.S, and re-established our reign of power in the hockey world. Within the excellent story of the 02 gold medal, there is a more heartfelt story of Trent Evans, an ice-maker, who embedded a loonie at centre ice, for a little extra luck Proctor. This dedication is what h elps Canada baulk out, and what gives it aa place in our culture today, because of all the amazing moments in the past.Hockey has had and still has an incredible influence on Canadian culture.So many things factor into Canadas fascination with the sport of hockey. We discovered it, and took the time to practice and dedicate ourselves, giving us some of the best players in history. We linked our country as a whole to the sport, fortifying it as a national symbol, and we succeeded, with manymoments that stand out in hockey history, to reminisce, and reflect on for the future. Its a wonder why it isnt our national sport.