| In a vast and often frozen land, they are rituals that bind. Dark drives to a chilly hockey arena. Blades biting outdoor ice. Kids in heroes' sweaters, mouthing their own play-by-plays. CBC drives to the net with an unabashedly affectionate look back at the grassroots of our national game — the true spirit of hockey. |
| "TheHockeySweater" |
It's Christmastime. On CBC Radio's Morningside, that means a visit by Roch Carrier, author of the
beloved children's story The Hockey Sweater. In Quebec in the 1940s, hockey was a religion and the
Montreal Canadiens star Maurice "Rocket" Richard was a god. 'The devil,' to little boys in Roch's
village, lived in Toronto and wore the blue and white of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In this clip, Carrier
gives a delightful reading of his tale of hockey heartbreak.
His Canadiens sweater — bearing Richard's No. 9, like all the other boys— has worn out. But when a
new one arrives in the mail from Eaton's, he is horrified to see instead a Maple Leafs jersey. Roch
tearfully swears to his uncomprehending mother: "I'll never wear that uniform!" But wear it he does.
After the story, listeners get an extra treat. Gzowski reads his own boyhood hockey sweater story.
Carrier then declares: "This is a great moment."
Did You Know?
CREDITS
Medium: Radio
Program: Morningside
Broadcast Date: Dec. 25, 1984
Host: Peter Gzowski
Guest(s): Roch Carrier
Duration: 19:19
beloved children's story The Hockey Sweater. In Quebec in the 1940s, hockey was a religion and the
Montreal Canadiens star Maurice "Rocket" Richard was a god. 'The devil,' to little boys in Roch's
village, lived in Toronto and wore the blue and white of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In this clip, Carrier
gives a delightful reading of his tale of hockey heartbreak.
His Canadiens sweater — bearing Richard's No. 9, like all the other boys— has worn out. But when a
new one arrives in the mail from Eaton's, he is horrified to see instead a Maple Leafs jersey. Roch
tearfully swears to his uncomprehending mother: "I'll never wear that uniform!" But wear it he does.
After the story, listeners get an extra treat. Gzowski reads his own boyhood hockey sweater story.
Carrier then declares: "This is a great moment."
Did You Know?
- Roch Carrier is a celebrated French-Canadian writer. He was born in 1937 and raised in
Sainte-Justine, Que., the setting of The Hockey Sweater. His best-known novel, La Guerre,
Yes Sir! (1968), is a First World War tale of French-English relations. It was translated into
English in 1970.
CREDITS
Medium: Radio
Program: Morningside
Broadcast Date: Dec. 25, 1984
Host: Peter Gzowski
Guest(s): Roch Carrier
Duration: 19:19
| "TheHockeySweater" - 1 [mp3] |
| Image of young Roch Carrier: from Libraries and Archives Canada, courtesy Roch Carrier's family. |
| "TheHockeySweater" - 2 [mp3] |
| The birthplace of hockey? |
Howard Dill is hockey mad. But it's not the photos, pucks
and pennants that bring skate-toting pilgrims to Dill's
Windsor, N.S., farm. It's the ice out back. Long Pond, many
believe, is where hockey was born 200 years ago when
students put the Irish game of "hurley" on ice. But, as we
see in this CBC Television clip, some question if it really is
the pond. "There's only one Long Pond," says a defiant Dill.
and pennants that bring skate-toting pilgrims to Dill's
Windsor, N.S., farm. It's the ice out back. Long Pond, many
believe, is where hockey was born 200 years ago when
students put the Irish game of "hurley" on ice. But, as we
see in this CBC Television clip, some question if it really is
the pond. "There's only one Long Pond," says a defiant Dill.
| "TheBirthplaceOfHockey?" |
Did You Know?
Medium: Television
Program: Saturday Report
Broadcast Date: Feb. 24, 2001
Host: Suhana Marchand, Reporter: Phonse Jessome
Guest(s): Howard Dill, Garth Vaughan
Duration: 2:51
- • Since this clip aired, debate has raged over where exactly hockey was born. Books have been published making the case for
competing sites. Old novels, letters, paintings and even wooden pucks have been held up as evidence. The claim supporting
Howard Dill's pond, or another in Windsor, N.S., competes with claims for sites including Dartmouth, N.S.; Montreal; Kingston,
Ont.; Déline, N.W.T.; and New York State.
• Fuelling the debate is confusion over what exactly constitutes hockey. As far back as the 1500s, European ball-and-stick
games were tried on ice, including hurley (also called hurly and hurling, an Irish game sometimes compared to lacrosse),
cricket and shinty.
• The Society for International Hockey Research, formed in 2001, defines hockey as "a game played on an ice rink in which two
opposing teams of skaters, using curved sticks, try to drive a small disc, ball or block into or through the opposite goals."
• The Windsor, N.S., claim is based on a novel, The Attaché, or, Sam Slick in England, by Windsor-born Thomas Chandler
Haliburton. A character describes boys playing "hurly on the long pond on the ice," apparently voicing the author's early 1800s
recollections of a hockey-like game played by students of King's College, now called University of King's College.
• The Society for International Hockey Research, made up of hockey historians, issued a 2002 report on hockey's origins that
cast doubt on Windsor's claim. It said the literary passage is "not a satisfactory indication," that the activity described was
hockey. The Society declined to offer an opinion on the birthplace of hockey. It noted, however, that the first eyewitness account
of an organized game was at Montreal's Victoria Skating Rink on March 3, 1875.
• In February 2004, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia trumpeted the find of an 1867 Henry Buckton Laurence lithograph depicting 10
skaters with curved sticks playing on ice at Dartmouth. The next month, however, researchers pointed to a painting made 32
years earlier by folk artist John Toole showing a similar scene with four players in the U.S. state of Virginia.
• Sir John Franklin, the Arctic explorer, wrote that his crew exercised by playing "hockey" on ice in Northwest Territories in 1825.
And, in 1843, a British army officer wrote in his diary that he had learned to skate and play hockey on ice in Kingston in what is
now Ontario. Around the same time, people in Halifax and Dartmouth were playing a game on skates called "wicket" or "ricket."
• In early forms of hockey, players were not allowed to pass the puck forward. The offside rule and the forerunner of the face-off,
called a "bully," were adapted from rugby.
• As mentioned in the clip, Howard Dill is famous for more than his disputed claim to own the birthplace of hockey. He is also a
grower of giant pumpkins, with four world titles under his belt. Although no longer competing, he sells Dill's Atlantic Giant
seeds that have grown champion pumpkins for others.
• Since this clip aired, debate has raged over where exactly hockey was born. Books have been published making the case for
competing sites. Old novels, letters, paintings and even wooden pucks have been held up as evidence. The claim supporting
Howard Dill's pond, or another in Windsor, N.S., competes with claims for sites including Dartmouth, N.S.; Montreal; Kingston,
Ont.; Déline, N.W.T.; and New York State.
Medium: Television
Program: Saturday Report
Broadcast Date: Feb. 24, 2001
Host: Suhana Marchand, Reporter: Phonse Jessome
Guest(s): Howard Dill, Garth Vaughan
Duration: 2:51
| Early morning practice |
On winter mornings, in homes across Canada, a
weekend ritual begins with an alarm clock piercing the
darkness. A sleepy child is coaxed into clothes. The car
slowly warms while parent and player navigate icy roads
to the arena. Sometimes you wonder "why on earth you
do this," says Roy MacGregor, hockey dad and author of
The Seven A.M. Practice: Stories of Family Life, in this clip
from CBC Television's Midday.
A special bond is forged, MacGregor says, in those early
hours. Paul Jordan, a Toronto hockey dad and coach with
four boys, agrees. "I do it, not for the love of the game, but
for the love of my children." Heather Haworth of Halifax
loves the mornings and credits hockey with bringing her
oldest boy out of his shell. They don't do it for the
hockey-rink coffee, Jordan adds.
weekend ritual begins with an alarm clock piercing the
darkness. A sleepy child is coaxed into clothes. The car
slowly warms while parent and player navigate icy roads
to the arena. Sometimes you wonder "why on earth you
do this," says Roy MacGregor, hockey dad and author of
The Seven A.M. Practice: Stories of Family Life, in this clip
from CBC Television's Midday.
A special bond is forged, MacGregor says, in those early
hours. Paul Jordan, a Toronto hockey dad and coach with
four boys, agrees. "I do it, not for the love of the game, but
for the love of my children." Heather Haworth of Halifax
loves the mornings and credits hockey with bringing her
oldest boy out of his shell. They don't do it for the
hockey-rink coffee, Jordan adds.
| "EarlyMorningPractice" [mp3] |
Did You Know?
Medium: Television
Program: Midday
Broadcast Date: Dec. 2, 1996
Host: Brent Bambury, Interviewer: Tina Srebotnjak
Guest(s): Heather Haworth, Paul Jordan, Roy MacGregor
Duration: 9:08
- • Roy MacGregor's 1995 non-fiction book, The Seven A.M. Practice: Stories of Family Life, is a collection of his newspaper
columns. Many of the stories feature his own four children's adventures in amateur sports, including hockey. "People in this
country need to know there is still a game out there, waiting," he wrote in one column.
• MacGregor is the author of several hockey books. They include Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada (1989) written with
former goaltending great Ken Dryden, and Home Team: Fathers, Sons & Hockey (1995). He has also written the popular
Screech Owl book series about a fictitious minor hockey team. As a young boy in Huntsville, Ont., MacGregor often played
against future NHL superstar Bobby Orr, who was on a team in nearby Parry Sound.
• Hockey mom and humorist Catherine Lawrence has joked that arena food is "a separate category in the Canada Food
guide." The category, she told the Globe and Mail, "includes beef jerky, cheese glop from a pump bottle and stale buns."
Medium: Television
Program: Midday
Broadcast Date: Dec. 2, 1996
Host: Brent Bambury, Interviewer: Tina Srebotnjak
Guest(s): Heather Haworth, Paul Jordan, Roy MacGregor
Duration: 9:08
For the Davies family of Aurora, Ont., a typical Sunday
morning is like the start of a military operation. On a table
sits a black monthly planner. Inside are three colour-
coded schedules — one for each boy — listing games
and locations. Today, two of the boys also have referee
duties in separate arenas. In this CBC Radio clip, a
reporter rides shotgun with Joe and Lindsay Davies
through an exhausting day of hockey that spans almost
12 hours and many kilometres.
What makes it all worthwhile, Lindsay says, is the bonds
her sons are forming with teammates that "can lead to
fantastic friendships."
morning is like the start of a military operation. On a table
sits a black monthly planner. Inside are three colour-
coded schedules — one for each boy — listing games
and locations. Today, two of the boys also have referee
duties in separate arenas. In this CBC Radio clip, a
reporter rides shotgun with Joe and Lindsay Davies
through an exhausting day of hockey that spans almost
12 hours and many kilometres.
What makes it all worthwhile, Lindsay says, is the bonds
her sons are forming with teammates that "can lead to
fantastic friendships."
Did You Know?
ruin their cars with travel and deprive themselves of many things for their kids' hockey. These are the best parents in the world. We separate the wheat from the chaff in the hockey world because if you are not serious about the game, you'll not put up with the expense, the effort or the time." • In The Home Team: Hockey and Life in Canada, Ken Dryden and Roy MacGregor profiled Ed and Cathy Koehler. As parents of boys including an elite Triple-A player, they were expected to be at the rink four nights a week. Ed got so used to the ritual that, after his sons' teams got knocked out of the playoffs, he'd drive around "checking Toronto arenas for a game in progress." • As well as books, hockey parents have inspired parody. In 1979 comedian Rick Moranis, who would later go on to fame in SCTV and Hollywood films, played a hockey dad in a skit on Don Harron's Morningside on CBC Radio. In the skit, he tells his daughter he saved "every stitch you ever took" and groans that his son won no hockey trophies — only a Governor General's Literary Award. • Not everyone thinks the hectic hockey-family lifestyle is healthy. In 1999, parents formed a group called Family Life First in suburban Minneapolis. The group urges parents and coaches to cut back on activities including hockey to give families more time together at home. "Bragging rights are no longer how big your house or car is, but how busy your family is," Bill Doherty, a University of Minnesota social science professor, said in 2000. • Many corporations are eager to be associated with grassroots hockey and its reputation as a wholesome family pastime. They include: - Campbell's Soup, which has run competitions to identify Canada's "most valuable hockey moms". - RBC Insurance, which has co-sponsored a program to recognize behind-the-scenes volunteers in minor hockey - Panasonic, which sponsored a "hometown hockey" exhibit at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Medium: Radio Program: The Inside Track Broadcast Date: Dec. 18, 1994 Reporter: Greg Kelly Guest(s): Joe Davies, Lindsay Davies Duration: 12:07 |
| ''Hockey Day in Canada 2006'' |
| CBC's Online Archives "take an affectionate look back at the grassroots of our game." |
| Parents' penalty: 12 hours for rushing |
| "ParentsPenalty-12hoursForRushing" [mp3] |