How Hockey Explains Canada (eBook)

Offering a groundbreaking and intelligent discourse on Canada's national sport, this collection of more than 35 interviews with current and former NHL players, coaches, executives, and famous commentators explains and expounds on the enigmatic relationship hockey has long maintained with Canadians, and its relationship with national identity and culture. Written by celebrated hockey star Paul Henderson—known widely as the scorer of Canada’s “Greatest Goal” in 1972—with a foreword by current Prime Minister Stephen Harper, each interview and account captures the spirit of hockey and its role as a unifying force across 33 million Canadians, and includes the sport’s most-loved icons, greatest plays, notorious brawls, and the infamous poll of great Canadians in history that placed outrageous commentator Don Cherry ahead of Alexander Graham Bell.

---

The role of hockey in Canada serves as a national identity, a unifying force in a country of 33 million people. So crazed are Canadians for their national sport that they ranked outrageous hockey commentator and high school drop-out Don Cherry ahead of Alexander Graham Bell on a list of the greatest Canadians in history. Penned by hockey star Paul Henderson-famed scorer of Canada's "e;Greatest Goal"e; in the 1972 Summit Series-and featuring a foreword by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, How Hockey Explains Canada explores just how deeply engrained this national pastime is in the Canadian psyche. The intelligent discourse on Canada's national sport goes far beyond the sport's most-loved icons, great plays, and notorious brawls by looking into the history and culture of the game to explain why hockey has had such an enigmatic hold on Canadians. Featuring interviews with more than 35 current and former NHL players, coaches, executives, and commentators, this expansive biography of the sport explores hockey's inextricable connection to everything from the Confederation to the Cold War to international perception of Canada and the country's own cultural divide.