How Hockey Explains Canada: The Sport That Defines a Country

By Paul Henderson, Jim Prime and Prime Minister Stephen Harper

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 "Greatest Goal" 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Triumph Books
• Release date: Sep 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781633190856

Book preview

HOW HOCKEY EXPLAINS CONFEDERATION AND EVOLUTION

AFTER A LONG and harrowing Atlantic crossing, Antoine Beliveau arrived in Port Royal in 1642 with a shipload of other settlers. Now known as Annapolis Royal, the town is located at the western end of the fertile Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. The site for the town was discovered by explorer Samuel de Champlain and Port Royal was settled by the French in 1605, making it the first permanent settlement in North America. From this strategic base, the French spread across what are now the Maritime Provinces to create a North American stronghold known as Acadia.

The subsequent arrival of the British brought traditional hostilities between England and France to the shores of the New World. Countless attacks, treaties, counterattacks, more treaties, skirmishes, attacks, and still more treaties followed. In all, Port Royal was attacked 13 times. Finally, by 1763 the British had assumed complete control of the region. During this period of unrest, the peaceful, hardworking, innovative Acadian farmers, including the Beliveau family of Port Royal, continued to work the rich land and fish the bountiful waters of the Bay of Fundy. The military and political ambitions of their faraway ancestors were not a part of their daily lives.

In 1755, their idyllic world was torn asunder with a royal proclamation from the British government that demanded that the Acadians swear an oath of allegiance to the British crown. They were no threat to the British and were resigned to live under their rule, but loyalty to their French culture caused them to refuse. The shameful result was that thousands of innocent people were declared noncitizens, uprooted, and deported, an event known as the Expulsion of the Acadians. Their houses, farms, and barns were then torched, and soon the place called Acadia was no more.

The Beliveaus, along with thousands of other families, were gathered together at Grand Pre to hear the decree. From there they were taken aboard ships and transported to points south of the border where they dispersed like seeds in the wind. Most never returned, opting instead to begin anew in places like Louisiana, where the name Acadian was soon shortened to Cajun. They put down new roots and added greatly to the rich culture of the