Hockey Culture

“The first thing that impressed him was the colour of the seats. When he'd watched games on television as a kid they were always filled with people, but now that they were empty the gold and the red and the blue and the green all seemed to have a magical glow to them.

Maple Leaf Gardens.

More than just an arena, it was a shrine, a temple to the great game that Canada had given to the world.”
- Edo van Belkom, Hockey's Night in Canada

The Church of Hockey
Built in less than six months, under Toronto-businessman Conn Smythe's leadership, Maple Leaf Gardens remains a shrine to hockey fans and a piece of Canadian history.

When its doors opened on Nov. 12, 1931, The Gardens were celebrated as an architectural wonder. Though the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their first game on the ice they would call home for nearly 60 years, more than 13,000 people attended the game. At the time, ticket prices ranged from $0.95 to $2.95.

The Leafs now play at the Air Canada Centre and, much to the dismay of hockey fans across the country, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., owner of the Gardens, are in negotiations with Loblaws Ltd. to turn the building into a supermarket by 2005.

“I think for example of the way we looked on girls, with their white skates and their hours on the nearby — but separate — “pleasure rink”…and were branded forever as outsiders.”
- Peter Gzowski, The Game of Our Lives

Not Just For the Boys
Gzowski's recollection of the attitudes toward the girls who skated in his neighbourhood is a far cry from the world of hockey today. Although women's hockey didn't become an Olympic sport until 1998, Canadian women have long been fighting for their fair share of ice time.

In 1981, 10-year-old Justine Blainey tried out for a male team in the Metro Toronto Hockey League. Though she made the cut, the Ontario Hockey Association barred her from playing the sport because of her sex. Blainey filed a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which ruled that it was unlawful to discriminate in sports on the basis of sex. Her case later made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. She won, becoming the first girl to legally play with the boys.

Manon Rhéaume of Lac Beauport, Que., became the first woman to play in a major sports league. On Sept. 23, 1992, 20-year-old Rhéaume goal-tended for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues. Rhéaume also brought home a silver medal as part of the first Canadian women's Olympic hockey team in 1998.

These women, and role models like Cassie Campbell (captain of the gold-medal winning 2002 Canadian women's Olympic hockey team), are inspiring more girls than ever to get out on the ice.

“The winters of my childhood were long, long seasons. We lived in three places — the school, the church and the skating-rink — but our real life was on the skating-rink. Real battles were won on the skating-rink. Real strength appeared on the skating-rink. The real leaders showed themselves on the skating-rink. School was a sort of punishment. Parents always want to punish children and school is their most natural way of punishing us. However, school was also a quiet place where we could prepare for the next hockey game, lay out our next strategies. As for church, we found there the tranquility of God: there we forgot school and dreamed about the next hockey game. Through our daydreams it might happen that we would recite a prayer: we would ask God to help us play as well as Maurice Richard.”
- Roch Carrier, The Hockey Sweater

The Hockey Sweater
Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater is one of the most beloved Canadian children's stories.

First published in 1979, the story conveys the dreams of every child who's ever wanted to become a professional hockey player. Set in 1950s Quebec, the story is centered on a young Montreal Canadiens fan who, to his horror, is mistakenly shipped a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater and forced by his mother to wear it.

More than just a children's story however, The Hockey Sweater explores the complexities of our country: rival teams, the disparities between French and English Canada, and the rural landscape.

In 2002 the Bank of Canada launched a new $5 bill that features a quote from the story, marking The Hockey Sweater as a Canadian treasure.