My Perspectives on Hockey course Part I .

As some of you, my dear MHH’ers, know I'm continuing my post secondary education. And as the Canadian members can attest too, it's Thanksgiving this weekend (Gobble, Gobble) in Canada. Now, this time is already jammed pack with activities, and studying for midterms, but during my down time I thought I'd offer you a glimpse at what was discussed.  So I am currently on a train, unable to study due to lack of space, and have no family around to hang out with, so I'll start writing now. You can knock Canadians all you want, but we can do Olympic coverage, NHL playoffs coverage right, and now you can add that hockey is a serious enough business that it’s actually a Gen Ed course.  

It was such an incredible course that went through the history of hockey, from the Pantheon, to the players getting money- and thus turning hockey from a pastime to a business, to the rejects forming a league that we would know today as the NHL.  But it also discussed how hockey is a synecdoche for society, with an emphasis on Canadian culture (as this is a course offered at a Canadian College), as general whole and how the issues faced in hockey are often ones that are faced off ice as well.  Women fighting for equality, the French- Canadian/ English-Canadian divide, and then the supposed growth of violence in hockey as well as society.

 I’ve been debating how to write this that will make the most sense.  So I am just going to go with the order that I was taught, keep in mind there are a lot of weeks… yes, this may be a long read, but aren’t we all starved for more hockey? Now I'll probably do this in a few parts-  because of time constraints, and how many of you will want to read 50 paragraphs on my hockey course in one go?  

The first week was an overview of how hockey is a synecdoche (go look up the word- I'll wait) for Canada.  The next three weeks were the historical perspectives.  We then switched to cultures perspectives, then hockey sub-cultures (Here’s looking at you Goalies), then hockey violence and hockey heroes (and how those are intertwined), then a political perspective, and finally the economical perspectives. What?  Did you think this would be a bird brain course?

As I continue writing, the many, many, many paragraphs,  you'll see that synecdoche was the key term in my hockey course.  I don't think that there was a week that it didn't come up.  Hell, one of our written assignments was to take a hockey movie and explore the synecdoches that exists in it when it comes to hockey, and make a comment as to wether or not is was a romantic, satirical or realistic impression.  So what is synecdoche?  If you didn't go look it up when I gave you the chance... you can go look it up now?  No?  Alright, synecdoche is how the little stands in for the big.  So the small, in this case hockey, represents the big, in the case of my course- Canada.  And how a person can look at what's going on in the small and see that it also applies to the big.  The issues that Canada has faced, and continues to face, bleeds into hockey.  

The first class, I'll be honest, I don't think anyone thought I fit in.  I walked in with 5 inch heels, in a skirt,  a hot pink jacket, a pink mani-pedi and makeup.  I take my seat, look around and notice that there are about 30 guys looking at me weirdly.  After the cursory glance to make sure I didn't have anything glaringly wrong with me I shrugged it off and took out my books.  The prof started to speak and I knew that this was going to be the course that I would love.  While most profs talk about being professional in written correspondence with them- my prof made fun of the previous e-mails that he received that weren't professional.  Someone asks if they were going to miss anything in class if they decided to go to a baseball game instead?  No, we are going to be talking about squirrels and have a lively game of Duck-Duck-Goose instead.  Also, in our "What's expected of you" bit, he made frequent jokes.  No Jimmy Howard ones, unfortunately, but he did make a few Red Wings jokes!  We then list all the things that make Canada, well, Canada.  We also listed all the things that make hockey.. umm... hockey.  And I was shocked at how many were similar.  Then we mentioned how hockey can be violent, and Canada isn't, eh?  I mean, honestly, we even made sure no one was in the White House when we burned it down.   

The next three weeks that followed were the history of hockey- I found this to be utterly fascinating.  Most of the class didn't.  How hockey came to be, is something of a mystery.  While Canada claims hockey as "ours" we certainly aren't the first to play it.  Evidence of hockey, that is a curved stick and ball, can be found in the Pantheon. There is also evidence of these games being played in Egypt, Persia (now Iran), and Greece.  There is evidence of hockey before Canada was even Canada.  In fact, until very recently, hockey wasn't even considered Canada's National Sport. Surprised?  Wanna take a guess at what sport was? .... Did you guess Lacrosse?  If you did, you'd be right. Be honest, did you get it?   Now Canada has two official sports: Lacrosse during the summer, and hockey during the winter.

There are things I didn't know- like how the first skates were invented and made in the Netherlands.  I also didn't know hockey's roots can be found in Scotland. And that hockey has always been a "rich" person sport.  Before stores became common place you had to specialty order not only the skates, but the sticks as well.  And they weren't inexpensive.

 Some hockey first/ and random tidbits from the beginning:

• First recorded public display of hockey was at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal in 1875.
• First winners of the Stanley Cup were the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, they won the Cup in 1892.
• After the game moved indoors, rules were introduced.
• The first games had over 100 participants playing at once.
• Montreal hosted the first WInter Carnival in 1883. This game was the fist that was reported by sports journalists and the game. This led to the game being exposed to a much larger audience.
• The Stanley Cup cost $50 in 1892;
• Frank McGee lost is left eye playing hockey, he later returned and scored 14 goals in one playoff game.  Including 8 goals in 9 minutes! This is still a record.
• The last year an "unproven" team could play for the Cup was in 1902-  Dawson City Seven.
• This is when hockey became a business.
• Once players start asking for money, Hero worshiping of players became more prevalent. 
• This turns the game into a spectacle,  creating a barrier between players and fans.
• The first professional hockey team was in *shudders* Houghton, Michigan in 1903.  The team name was the Portage Lakers.
• The first professional game took place in 1904 in the IPHL (International Professional Hockey League), this league folded in 1907.
• When players like Laviolette, Pitre and Taylor followed the money, and went to the States to play hockey, the players got banned from playing in Ontario.
• 1907 was the last time a "small town" team won the Cup, the Kenora Thistles.  Because professional teams started playing in Ontario.
• Because people started to live more and more in cities, the leagues started being based more and more in cities.  
• Fred Taylor was hired and payed $500 to play for the Ottawa Silver Seven and he got a job in the civil service. He won the Cup in 1908.

Senator O'Brian owned much of a town in Ontario (Renfrew) including a hockey team- The Creamery Kings.  he wanted to challenge for the Cup, but the owners of the Urban teams weren't interested in playing smaller town teams. So he sent his son to plead their case to Montreal. While he was waiting (they didn't want to talk to him) he met Gardner of the Montreal Wanderers who was in the same position.  Together they formed the NHA (National Hockey Association).  The Kings became the Renfrew Millionaires paying Lester and Frank Patrick 5,000$ plus expenses and Fred Taylor 5,250$ per year.

Now as some of you may know  the first player to get "real" money in a contract was Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.   He was the first to get a contract worth $5,000.  He was the first player to go to another team to try and get a higher contract. Now something that isn’t quite as well known is the reason he wanted a large contract.  Was it solely because he saw the owner’s getting rich off of the entertainment that he provided the crowd? Nope it was for love.  Cyclone wanted to have $10,000 saved up before he would ask his sweetheart, who came from a family that was well off, for her hand in marriage.  That’s right… Marriage is what brought hockey together.  (Okay, so I just watched Princess Bride and it's stuck in my head) 

Okay, really, that's it for now... I'm tired of writing and I'm sure no one has read this entire thing anyway.....

The book we used for background (for discussion purposes) 

Words on Ice: A Collection of Hockey Stories (Paperback)

• Micheal Kennedy is the editor
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Key Porter Books (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552632032
• ISBN-13: 978-1552632031

It's available on Amazon for under 15$.