A conference covering all things hockey kicked off Wednesday in Fredericton, bringing together scholars, coaches, and officials to discuss the state of the game.
The Hockey Conference is looking at hockey, beyond the puck and stick.
“This goes far beyond it, it talks about things like psychology of player, the social impacts of hockey, it talks about the management of hockey organizations,” says Jonathan Edwards, with the UNB kinesiology department.
Ted Nolan has experienced hockey as both a professional player and coach. He also knows what it's like to be an outsider in a sport where he led.
“I think I was the only non-Caucasian guy coaching in the national hockey league,” says Nolan.
Discussions about gender and sexuality in hockey are also on the agenda.
Cheryl MacDonald, from the University of Alberta, is delivering a presentation on hockey and homophobia.
“From an academic perspective about why there are no openly gay players in the NHL, so we want to know what it is about hockey that makes them feel they can't come out,” says MacDonald.
Even the sport’s legendary hockey commentator is being put under a microscope.
“Don Cherry is saying a lot of the same things that others in the popular press are saying, but he's saying it differently, so we want to look at why people understand something he says as unique, different, or inflammatory,” says Kristi Allain, with the STU sociology department.
The conference is a unique mix of celebrating hockey, but also looking at it with a critical eye.
“It has such a rich tradition and it goes back for so long, it's a great imperial setting to actually examine it,” says Edwards.
“For the most part, we all love hockey and we’re all hockey fans, so it can be tough to criticize something you really love and certainly we're all analytical, so we're really putting it under a microscope,” says MacDonald.
In addition, participants will examine what the sport we love so much says about our nation.
“We often blindly accept that hockey says something about Canada and I don't think that's wrong, but I think what its saying is quite a bit different than what people think it’s saying,” says Allain. “The type of hockey we celebrate is played by certain kinds of men, you know. What does it tell us about the position of racialized minorities? What does it tell us about the positions of women within the Canadian imagination when we talk about Canada as a place you play hockey?”
The Hockey Conference is a two-day event happening at the Wu Centre on Fredericton's UNB campus.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
