Experts On Hockey Night In Canada & National Identity

With only one home team left standing (on skates), Canadians will be tuning in to the deciding game tomorrow night between the Ottawa Senators and the New York Rangers. The following University of Victoria researchers are available to discuss what hockey means to our national identity.

Eric Sager (Dept. of History) has worked tirelessly over the course of his academic career to communicate the relevance of history to daily life. In September 2012, he is offering a new course at UVic about sports and Canadian identity. This third-year class, also open to students outside the Faculty of Humanities, will study the history of Canada through the history of sport and will explore questions such as why do Canadians love hockey and how did specific sports over the course of our history impact perceptions of culture, class, gender and ethnicity in Canada? (Dr. Sager is available until 1 p.m. PST today by cell, again from 2 to 3 p.m. and also by email over the course of this week: 250-884-8713 or ewsager@uvic.ca.)

Jamie Dopp (Dept. of English), former organizer of a 2007 international conference in Victoria which examined hockey from the perspective of research and writing, is co-editor of Now Is the Winter: Thinking about Hockey, a collection of essays examining all aspects of the beloved sport from its mythical beginnings on frozen ponds to its evolution as a spectator sport for the masses. (Please contact Tara Sharpe—details below—for details on Dr. Dopp’s availability this week.)

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