...An essay – as seen through the eyes of a graduating High School senior, on how his ice hockey experiences have been of value to his life. By Max Frankel Sometimes you come across a quote that is so timeless, that is continues to speak out era after era, for generations. As Charles Dickens’ once said, most-likely commenting on his own personal life, in, “A Tale of Two Cities. ‘It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.’ Although my ordinary life may not really compare to that of the famous author, I understand what he was saying and feel compelled to draw the comparison. To this point, I have had a life that I have thoroughly enjoyed yet I too, have had my share of difficult lessons learned. As with all people, my early, formative years have contributed many, many factors that shaped the child into a young adult. However, only a very select few, really stand out. For me, the “stand outs” have been ice hockey, my mentality in school, and my parents’ influence on my life. Maybe not necessarily in that order, but, the line is blurred, between where one influence begins and the next one picks up. What I do know, is that alone, these three components are neither life changing nor rare, but together, they accumulate to form who I am today. From a young age, my parents had engrained the idea of hard work into my mind. They preached that school was my priority, my full time job, and that “any job worth doing was worth doing right.” Even as a very small...
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...explodes upward Everyone frozen in place Not daring to make any rapid motion. The puck is dropped. There is a burst of movement, As everyone propels in diverse directions, Like bulls being let out of their pen. The moment we've all been waiting for, the game has begun. The connotative language used in the poem, "The Drop of the First Puck", explained what was happening in such a way that produced a mental image for the reader of what the author was going through. When chosing the words to use to describe certain events or objects, much thought was put in to build a desired reaction. With the use of words such as, "march" and "explodes", that contain the same associations as "walked" or "was put up", the reader would compair the hockey game to such a thing as a battlefield. This may achieve an effect of the reader conjuring a deeper appreciation for the game through past experiences. Which would in turn make for a more interesting mental image. However, there were more techniques that were used to evoke a certain reaction of the reader. The use of the simile, "everyone propels in diverse directions, like bulls being let out of their pen." compairs the players movements as sparatic as that of a bull. This helps the reader obtain a true sense of the appearance of each maneuver. Drawing a picture in their minds of in alternative directions when the whistle is blown. By careful selection of word and techniques, the author was successful in creating a distinct reaction for...
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...Ryerson University Racism in Canadian Hockey Neil McGregor - 500 459 843 SOC 507- Race and Ethnicity in Canadian Society Professor Christopher Powell April 13th, 2016 ------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction......................................................................................................3 Evidence of Racism in Hockey Minor Hockey.......................................................................................3 Professional Hockey.............................................................................6 Impacts of Racism in Hockey............................................................................8 Influencing Factors...........................................................................................8 Corrective Action.............................................................................................10 Conclusion........................................................................................................12 ------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION Canada’s favourite past time hockey has and continues to endure racism throughout all levels of the sport. This paper will expose the institutional racism in Canadian hockey associations with an emphasis on black hockey players. Drawing credible news reports and personally experiences, I will provide evidence that institutional racism is deeply rooted within the fabric...
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...The Magical Stress Cure The best place to escape your worries and responsibilities is at the ice rink. The feeling you get from being on the ice is unmatched. The enclosed arena keeps all your worries outside and allows total focus on one thing: playing hockey. There is nothing else that matters when I’m in the rink. The next big exam that is just around the corner that has been stressing me out for the last week is completely forgotten about when I am at the rink. The ice arena is like a giant wall that is impenetrable by stressful thoughts. Whenever I am feeling stressed I know that it can easily be cured by going to the rink and playing hockey. The cold atmosphere has a therapeutic effect on the mind. The sound the ice makes when the...
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...Hockey Hockey is a national symbol of Canada. At some time or another almost every person has watched or played a game of hockey. Every day families across the country sit down to watch men battle it out on the ice and play the game we have all come to love. Hockey is the most exciting sport in the world. The fast pace game is made up of of three, sixty minute periods. If there is no winner in regulation time. The teams will play a 3 on 3 overtime period. The main purpose of the new format is entertainment. It creates a lot of thrilling odd man rushes. This is more exciting than the old 4 on 4 format. It was also designed to solve more games before they go to the shootout. The format change is designed to bring an extra level of excitement. Players are faster there ever being able to travel up to 40kph. These are speeds you just don’t see in soccer or baseball. What makes this exciting is the faster the pace of the game the more it keeps the fans on the edge of there seats, anxious to know what’s going to happen next. Secondly hockey is also exciting because it is very physical. Nothing gets the crowd going more than a hard body check or a big fight. Hitting has always been an important part of the game and a big hit the right time can change the momentum of a game. It brings your team alive and gives the something to cheer about. Fighting does the same thing by bring the crowd into the game. Teams have players that are out there just to throw big hits and fight with...
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...Violence in ice hockey has been an identifying staple in the sport since “the first hockey leagues formed in the mid-1880’s,” (Ice Hockey Origins, Growth and Changes in the Game). Since the modern era of hockey, and the creation of the Stanley Cup, hockey has been viewed as one of the most violent sports in western civilization. Clarence Campbell, former NHL President has even said that “[w]ithout violence, there would be no such thing as hockey,” (Coakley). To an extent hockey is unmatched in illegal assaults by any other sport, in both amateur and professional leagues, (Colburn). This does not mean that the contact in other sports is not as intense as hockey, for example rugby and football are both very “violent” sports, but this “violence” is carried out within the rules of the game. Hockey is different because it allows fistfights, which are acts of violence that are carried out outside the rules of the game. Hockey fights occur during stoppages of play, or if one breaks out during the play, the play is whistled down immediately in order to break up the fight. What makes this phenomenon interesting is the fact that in many amateur leagues and most professional leagues a five-minute penalty is assessed to the players involved in a fight. In other sports, where similar interactions between players do occur occasionally, an immediate ejection from the game is the penalty. What this does is “tacitly permit fighting by imposing a relatively lenient penalty,” (Colburn). During...
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...Fighting in Hockey Brandon M. Robsion Devry University The Debate on Fighting in Hockey There is no sporting event that brings an explosion quite like that of an ice hockey fight. Ice hockey has always been stereotyped as brutal and unnecessarily violent, a game full of players who are nothing but “goons”. Fighting in hockey is a form of sanctioned violence, as it has deemed acceptable in hockey since the introduction of the National Hockey League in 1917. The league did note even penalize it until the 1922 NHL season (Brandon 2013). A recent political uproar has taken place within the hockey world as more people are pushing to have fighting completely removed from the game. As a hockey player for over 25 years, I have been through every situation where fighting has occurred within the sport. Being an avid fan, I have noticed a recent uproar on this topic within the last decade. Despite the outcry against fighting in the NHL the league needs to maintain its current stance on fighting. As hockey continues to grow in North America and around the world, more people are being exposed to the game. This has caused many debates on this topic, and if it’s really needed in today’s game. Fighting in hockey is a big part of North American hockey, yet is banned in world events like the Olympics and other world hockey tournaments. Raising the debate, should fighting be banned in all of hockey? For those who are not avid hockey fans, the stereotype is generally that hockey players fight...
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...Why does hockey have such a big impact on people? Specifically Canadians. Well, it originated in Canada, it’s Canada’s national game and it brings everyone together. There has been a long debate over whether hockey first developed and was played in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Kingston, Ontario, or Montreal, Quebec. Poet Richard Harrison said “what's important isn’t where the origin of hockey is found in Canada, but how Canada finds at least a part of its origin in hockey.” hockey is one of the few things that could be said to be ours from the beginning of Canadian time. It gives Canadians a sense of pride to know something so great was first created where they grew up like it’s in their blood. Speaking of hockey originating in Canada, it’s also Canada's national game. Look at the fact that over 500,000 children, women, and men are registered each year in organized hockey in Canada. At the professional level, Canadians still make up over 50% of players in the NHL, more than two and a half times the number of...
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...Science Fair Project Notes (4 Pages) Science Fair Project Notes (4 Pages) Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of player use their sticks to shoot a frozen rubber puck into their opponent's goal to score. The sport is known to be physical and fast-paced. The teams usually consist of six players that skate up and down the hockey rink that try to pass the frozen rubber puck back and forth trying to score it into their opponent’s goal and the team who has scored the most amount of goals win the game. Three of the six players skate up and down the rink, they are the ones that try to scores the goals. The two out of the six players stay back and are the defenders. They stay back...
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...The Great Game Called Hockey It is 3-3 going into overtime, it is the Chicago Blackhawks versus the Philadelphia Flyers vying for the most coveted trophy in sports- the Stanley Cup Trophy. The Blackhawks have a 3-2 series lead. If they win this game, they win the trophy. It is “do or die” for the Flyers, force a game seven or go home. Then it happens, a few minutes into overtime, Patrick Kane, a young superstar on the Blackhawks skates down the rink, takes a shot, and he scores! Just like that, the game is over. The Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! … The Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! I, together with millions of other fans watching this nationally televised game, witnessed this great phenomenon live. Now you might wonder why millions of other fans and I tuned in to see the game. The answer is because millions of fans and I love and appreciate the game of hockey. In my opinion, it truly is the most exciting game both to play and to watch. While playing hockey and watching hockey are obviously two very different activities, they have at least one thing in common; they are both very fun. Let us take a closer look at each activity individually and see why so many others and I enjoy it so much. I sincerely enjoy the thrill that I receive while playing hockey. I am not alone about this feeling. If you were to ask someone that plays hockey, as to why they play, one reason he or she will almost definitely tell you is something along the lines of that...
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...injuries Playing hockey often leads to brain injuries later in life, hockey injuries can be prevented by wearing safer equipment and rule changes can be implemented to improve player safety. All of the hitting and checking have gone unnoticed for far too long so many great athletes have been injured by someone else’s hitting and/or checking. A few of these injured players include but are not just limited to Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins who decided to take the 2011 season off due to lingering concussion symptoms from a hit. Patrick Kane, of the Chicago Blackhawks who suffered a broken collarbone, and Stan Mikita who has no recollection at all of ever lacing up the skate and playing hockey. And...
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...As the third most popular sport in the world, there is a surprising lack of information about prosthetics that could be used to play field hockey. In all likelihood this stems from the fact that there is no field hockey (in a modified form or otherwise) in the Paralympic games (a number of countries are working on developing “Parahockey,” but this program seems to be mostly directed towards people with intellectual disabilities rather than physical ones), and additionally from it’s reputation in the United States as being sport for only women (who seem to have fewer athletic prosthetics built for them on the whole). While lower leg amputees could easily use a prosthetic meant for other field sports like soccer or lacrosse, looking into prostheses for arm amputees present a set of much more interesting dilemmas....
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...At the age of seven, I watched hockey for the first time on television. I immediately realized what I wanted to do with my life. Being a four foot tall third grader, I dreamed of playing hockey. One day, I came home from school and asked my parents if I could play. I was shocked when they said yes. My mom said,“it will give you something to do in the winter”. Little did i know, it would turn into much more than that. I soon realized that if i was going to play hockey, I would need to learn how to skate. After struggling for weeks, I told my parents that I wanted to give up. What they told me was that I was at the rink for a reason, and I can't quit just because it's challenging. At first I disregarded what they said, and then I realized that failure was not an option at this point. Hockey has taught me that perseverance is the key to success. So, I kept skating, and all of the sudden I was actually skating without falling every five feet. Everytime I face a challenge, whether it be a tryout or a state championship, I remember that if I work hard enough and want it badly enough I can get it....
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..."Timeline of Wars." Timeline of Wars for Students, Children & Kids. (2018): http://www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/24-timeline-of-war.htm. Cheadle, Bruce. "Hockey Violence Has Always Been Controversial, Stephen Harper Points out." The Star. (2013): https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2013/10/08/hockey_violence_has_always_been_controversial_stephen_harper_points_out.html. Gatehouse, Jonathon. "Drawing the Line on Hockey Violence." The Canadian Encyclopedia. (2011): https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/drawing-the-line-on-hockey-violence/. Gordon, Bloom and Smith, Michael. “Hockey Violence: A Test of Cultural Spillover Theory.” Sociology of Sport Journal. 13, (1996): 65-77. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=6ab57cb5-4f1d-4f3f-96c8-559cc252dd21%40sessionmgr101 Habib, Marlene. "Sports Violence Rises in Wartime." CBCnews. (2001): http://www.cbc.ca/sports/sports-violence-rises-in-wartime-1.257192. Robinson, Laura. "A History of Violence: What Hockey Teaches Boys." The Globe and Mail. (2018):...
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...While watching hockey, 62 percent of die-hard hockey fans observe fighting as a ‘significant part of the game’ (Zelkovich 1). Unaware of the hardships and consequences hockey fighters experience, passionate fans continue to support ruthless fighting in the National Hockey League. As a result of fighting, life-threatening injuries often leave players with a variety of challenges. Fighters, also known as enforcers, receive a slew of brain complications, shattered bones and many alternative setbacks. Fighting in the National Hockey League, while an exciting aspect to the game, must be banned due to the negative effects it causes players and to the game of hockey. As shown by other skill levels and game styles around the world, that are different...
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