Canadians love their hockey. Whether it’s winter or summer, you’ll always see people out and about with their nose in the air, rooting for their favorite team. The game has been around for over 100 years, and while other sports may have faded in popularity, hockey definitely hasn’t. In fact, it’s one of the most popular sports in the country, alongside football (you know, Canadian football…not to be mistaken for American football), basketball, and baseball. There’s even a Canadian professional hockey league, the Ontario Hockey League, that you can catch on TV. So what is it about the game that resonates with Canadians? Let’s dive in.
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The History Of Hockey
Hockey has been around for over a century. In fact, the first organized hockey game took place in Montreal in 1900. This was before the creation of professional leagues like the NFL and NHL, so the game wasn’t really about money. Those leagues didn’t emerge until the early 20th century, when sports like ice hockey started becoming more popular. Teams started making money off of hockey spectators, rather than just players, so coaches, managers, and officials started getting involved. Until then, hockey was mostly played by kids and young adults, with men mostly participating in the sport.
The game caught on quickly in Canada. In fact, when the NHL began, it consisted almost entirely of Canadian teams. It wasn’t until the 20th century that the United States began embracing hockey as well. It’s likely that as Canada started to develop a professional hockey league in the 1910s, many people in the U.S. were inspired to pick up the game. Professional hockey didn’t become popular in the U.S. until the 1920s, when the NHL started expanding its reach beyond Canada. Today, hockey is one of the most popular sports in North America, played by millions of people around the world.
The Skill Of The Game
Hockey is a very physical sport, which many people in the U.S. may not be used to playing. The game requires a lot of movement, as well as quick thinking. Every player on the ice has to be aware of their surroundings, and make quick, skilled movements, or else they’ll end up on the losing end of a physical battle. Even though hockey is a team sport, there’s still a lot of personal freedom on the ice. Everyone’s got a job to do, and they all have to work together, without any coaching or supervision. This helps explain why many people in the U.S. may not relate to the game the way Canadians do.
The Excitement Of The Game
One of the reasons why people in the U.S. may not relate to hockey is that, for the most part, they’ve never seen it played live. Sure, many people in North America have seen games on TV, or even gone to the movies about hockey, but nothing compares to being there, in person, on a crisp, cold winter’s day, or on a hot summer’s day, sweating it out on the golf course. Especially since, as we mentioned above, hockey in Canada is about community. Everyone in the stands is a family member, or someone you know. You can’t help but get into the mood of the sport, especially when the home team is up by several goals, and the crowd is going crazy. It’s not often you get to feel so connected to an activity you’ve never tried before. The excitement of the game is what makes it so popular in Canada.
The Tradition Of The Sport
Many people in the U.S. may not understand the concept of tradition when it comes to sports. In Canada, when you win a game, you celebrate with a victory lap around the ice, or, if the game is very well-played, you can even extend the celebration to include your opponents. This is part of the tradition of the sport, and it’s a great way to honor the game and its participants. When you lose a game, however, you don’t sit around and mope about it. This isn’t something you do in Canada, because hockey is a competition, and even though you may not feel like you played well, you still have to celebrate your team’s victories. Even if it’s just with words of encouragement or friendly trash talking, you’ll find most Canadians cheering for their teams. This encouragement can come in many different forms, but it always has to do with the team they’re supporting. It’s all about loving the game, and supporting the people who play it. This is a far cry from what you see in the U.S., where people tend to get very anxious and excited about games, but quickly lose interest when the action doesn’t involve them directly. Not so in Canada.
What Does The Future Of Hockey Look Like?
Since we’re on the subject of hockey, let’s take a quick look into the future. The next NHL season is already halfway over, which means that this year’s Stanley Cup final is behind us. The Chicago Blackhawks finished the season as the best team in the NHL, and are now looking ahead to the next season, with a promising young superstar, Artemi Panarin, leading the way. One of the most interesting things about this year’s Stanley Cup final was that it was the first time that the Blackhawks hadn’t hosted a single game. It was actually played entirely on the road. This is because, since 1994, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Blackhawks’ previous NHL franchise, had not won a single game in the postseason. It was either been eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, or they’d won the series 4-0. Finally, in 2015, the Atlanta Thrashers won their first and only playoff game, in a 4-0 victory over the Red Wings. This year’s Blackhawks are hoping that the home field advantage will provide them with a boost in the postseason. It was a long time coming for the hometown heroes. As for the future of hockey, it looks bright. There’s a growing number of people who live and breathe the sport, and more and more kids are getting involved. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that in the not-too-distant future, we may even see people playing hockey in Antarctica.