It is hard to walk around on a winter day in Canada without encountering someone who is wearing a hockey jersey. It could be the Canadian national team’s jersey, a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, or maybe it is just the jersey of the team for which the person plays for. And if you don’t see someone wearing one, you will almost certainly see one mounted on a wall somewhere or on sale in a store. Either way, the hockey jersey is very common attire in the streets of any Canadian city. But why is this? What is it about this sport that causes people across the second biggest country in the world to all wear a hockey jersey? While we may not always be cheering for the same team, the answer likely lies in the fact that people all over Canada share the same love for the sport of hockey and often express that through the jersey of their team. It is also this love for hockey that unifies the nation of Canada, makes it stand out from other nations around the world and causes the hockey jersey to be a symbol of Canada.

The game of hockey has been known to have been played in Canada as far back as 1825. The first official game of hockey was played on March 3, 1875 on the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal. Ever since then, the popularity of hockey spread rapidly around the nation of Canada (Canadian Museum of History, para. 2-5). And as the popularity of hockey spread around Canada, the hockey jersey soon followed. It might sound odd, but hockey and the jerseys we wear play a major role in forming the nation of Canada, or as some might like to call it, the hockey nation of Canada. It is essentially a massive imagined community that covers the entirety of Canada and is united by hockey. As Anderson stated in his book Imagined Communities, “it is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion” (Anderson, 2006, p.6). It is interesting to think that even though you may live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, you already know that you and most people living in Victoria, British Columbia will share the same love for hockey. And even though the English people of Canada and the French may not always see eye to eye on many things. You can be sure that they will unite under the Canadian hockey jersey during any international event. Even people visiting Canada or are an immigrant new to the nation have trouble ignoring the contagion that is hockey and will wear the jersey of the team. The hockey jersey and the effect it has on Canadians is something very special. You can be of any race, ethnicity or age and be a long standing citizen of Canada or a new one. But all that matters is that you are a fan of hockey and a member of the hockey nation of Canada.

The hockey jerseys do much more than just unify the hockey nation of Canada though. It also helps play a role in showing why Canada in unique nation that is separate from similar nations such as the United States of America. I am sure many of us have heard the classic argument that Canadians are a very nice group of people who are “more generous than those of the USA” (Mackey, 1999, p.25). But there is much more things to being Canadian than simply being overly nice, saying sorry a lot and overusing the term “eh” .A Canadian’s love for hockey is similar to a South American’s love for football. It is a passion beyond reason that does not really compare to anywhere else in the world. You could circle the globe and you would never find a group of people as passionate about hockey as Canadians are. This is something that

defines the nation of Canada and makes us unique to the world, even though there are many different groups of people in Canada. In Mackey’s book The House of Difference, while hockey is never mentioned, it states how even though there are many different cultural groups in Canada, our national identities define us as Canadian and differentiate us from similar nations such as the USA and Britain (Mackey, 1999, p.49).

As a Canadian myself, I feel as though I should talk about why I see a hockey jersey as a symbol of Canada that defines and unites us. Any of you who have listened to what I say in class could probably tell I am not the most nationalistic person and don’t exactly feel very special for being Canadian. Yet, oddly enough I still feel connected to the nation through hockey. For example, on that night four years ago when Canada played the USA for gold in Olympics, I felt the same sense of excitement and anxiety I’m sure almost everyone else felt around Canada during the game. It is something that at that moment I shared with the entire nation of Canada. And for me, the hockey jersey is the physical embodiment of the connection that all Canadian share through hockey. It is a physical symbol that can be seen, felt and says, “Hey! I’m Canadian and I’m proud of it!”

From all of this it can be seen that in Canada, hockey is much more than just a sport. Just as the hockey jersey is much more than a piece of clothing. They act as symbols of Canada that bring us together and show who we are. Hockey is very special to all Canadian and helps define the nation of Canada.

Bibliography

Mackey, E. (1999). The House of Difference: Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada. London; New York: Routledge.

Anderson, B. R. (2006). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London; New York: Verso.

Canadian Museum of History. (n.d.). A Brief History of Hockey in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cmc/patins/patins07e.shtml