International Hockey

Well, this was a topic that I really didn't know much about, which is a little ironic considering that international hockey was what what got me interested in hockey in the first place. I mean, sure it was NHL hockey that really grabbed me by the throat and made hockey into a fullblown obsession, but my earliest interest(s) in hockey came from international hockey.

In grade 10 history, the second most interesting topic for me (after the Avro Arrow) was probably the '72 Summit Series. Even though it didn't develop into any sort of deeper interest in hockey at the time, I was fascinated by the idea of hockey having the power to unify a nation, of forming our national identity. Certainly I was interested enough to tape the first episode of Powerplay when it began airing that year. I think I even watched it regularly for a couple of episodes, which is saying a lot considering that after grade eight I basically stopped following any tv shows.

Then of course my current passion began with the 2002 Olympics. I watched almost all of the men's games, some of the women's, and made it a point to watch both the men's and women's gold medal games. If I hadn't watched Olympic hockey, who knows if I would've bothered to watch the playoff games that ultimately got me hooked on hockey for life!

So yes, considering my own hockey history, it's a little sad that I know so little about international hockey. I mean, who knew that until just two years ago, German and English (in 2002 it was changed to be only English) were the official languages of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Anyway, the guests this week told a lot of great stories about their experiences in international hockey. Darren had a particularly amusing anecdote about how at his first team dinner (with a Helsinki, Finland team) everyone was really reserved and no one talked to him until after they'd all had some alcohol, and after that, they were all talking to him and even hitting on his wife--who was seven months pregnant at the time! =P

But yeah, he made some good points about how difficult it is to adjust when you first start playing hockey in a foreign land. I mean, the coaches didn't give him any instructions and no one really talked to him when he first joined the team, so he just had to follow along with what everyone else was doing on the ice and stuff. How difficult that must've been! And he made the point that it works in reverse too--that it's not an easy thing for European players to come over here to play in the NHL. I guess that's something I've always known, but it never really hit me until he shared his own experience with the loneliness and isolation of playing in a different country.

Another comment that he made that I found insightful that it's mental and emotional fortitude more than anything else that determines whether or not a European player will make it in the NHL. It makes sense, when you think about it, but I think the reason most people don't think about it is because of our Canadian/North American bias. We tend to think that Canadian players are just heads above any other players because hockey is "Canada's game." For all that we pride ourselves on Canadians being humble (an oxymoron if ever there was one), we're really quite conceited when it comes to hockey.