Canadian Hockey's Effect On Canadian Society

Canadian hockey is an important component to Canadian identity and way of life and if hockey had a less prominent place in Canadian society, this would change Canadians in many ways. Hockey impacts Canadians at all levels including youth hockey, minor hockey and professional hockey in the NHL. As hockey is one of Canada’s national sports, it demonstrates how valued the sport is in Canada. Hockey to Canadians is not just a sport, but is also a means of community and unity. It is also one of the most widespread sports across Canada and influences Canadians directly through individual or family participation or indirectly by cheering for local or professional NHL teams or by watching Olympic hockey. In Canada, hockey is commonly referred to as

Based on the information provided in the document, The new Economics of the NHL, by T. Keller, it states, “Only one 5fth of the NHL’s teams are Canadian, yet the country’s fans account for nearly one third of the league’s revenues” (Keller, 2011). This demonstrates that despite Canada’s relatively low population to the United States and lower team numbers in the country, Canada still accounts for one third of the NHL’s revenues. Even when Canadian dedication is compared to hockey in the United States, who has more NHL teams and higher population, Canadians still contribute significantly to the leagues overall sales. If Canada had even more teams in different locations, such as Quebec, this revenue contribution could possibly grow even more and further establish the bond Canada has with hockey

Some of these factors include high costs and time commitment of hockey participation, increasing violence issues in hockey and diversity. Although other factors, may be negatively impacting the view of hockey to some, the information from Forum 1 outline how hockey is crucial to the Canadian identity. NHL hockey teams and professional players influence youth hockey players and Canadians by uniting people, and allowing young hockey players the opportunity to see their individual potentials. If hockey in Canada wishes to continue it’s growth, these challenges will have to be addressed as hockey is becoming more expensive to participate in. As a result the sport is becoming less assessable to lower income families, which could be negatively influencing participation rates as other alternatives aside from hockey are being chosen for youth. The sport can be seen as violent, which also may be straying participation to other “perceived safer” sports. There is also racism that is demonstrated in hockey, which occurs in most sports. Canada will have to create plans to reduce the racism in hockey to ensure equal treatment to all