Nothing excites or riles up Canadians like a discussion on hockey games – ice hockey games, not field hockey, roller hockey, etc. It can even be argued that hockey is the greatest passion of the nation.
Perhaps some of the statistics will better illustrate the degree of our enthusiasm in hockey. According to Wikipedia, there are more than 617,000 people registered as hockey players with Hockey Canada, the national amateur hockey federation. This number includes male, female and junior players, and is whopping 1.799 % of the total population of Canada (as of December, 2012). Another site Ice Hockey Wiki tells us that there are 2,451 indoor hockey rinks in Canada, in addition to the 11,000 outdoor rinks.
If these numbers are still difficult to grasp, Bruce Peter for Yahoo! Sports has a different way of describing the Canadian obsession: “Canadian hockey players make up 34.5 percent of hockey players worldwide,” and “…Canada has 73.2 percent of the total hockey rinks on the planet.” I’m pretty sure you got the idea now!
Regarding the origin and history of ice hockey, there are different interpretations and versions involving, for example, the First Nation’s games and the current lacrosse games (Canada’s official national SUMMER sport), the Viking’s games, the games brought into Canada by early European immigrants, and so on. (See the same Wikipedia article for more information.)
The first hockey club was formed by McGill university students in 1877, and in 1883, the first “world championship” competition was held at the Winter Carnival in Montreal. The current format of the hockey game was established after the formation in 1910 of the National Hockey Association, which was re-organized in 1917 to become the National Hockey League, the current top professional league in North America.
Reference to ice hockey is seen and heard everywhere in Canada, especially during the game season, from September to June. On game days, you see people wearing their favorite teams’ jerseys and T-shirts, flocking to local sports bars and pubs as well as their friends’ homes for game-viewing get-togethers.
If you want to truly live the Canadian lifestyle and experience Canadian culture, learning about hockey, attending a game or two and enjoying hockey pub nights with friends is a must! Similar to soccer in many European countries, American Football in the US, baseball in Japan and cricket in India, hockey is the national sport that unites (and divides) Canadians like no other!