Hockey Obsession in Canada–So What’s New?
For all the years that I had been living in Canada, I had been told that a typical Canuck is usually obsessed with Canada’s national sport which is hockey. Some say that it’s almost like a religion.Such a belief has been ingrained since childhood, I believe.
With the recent Sochi Olympics and the fantastic job of both Team Canada’s men and women’s hockey teams in bringing both gold medals home, it only reinforces Canada’s reputation as the mother country of hockey, the Holy Grail in a way.
The televised footages of die-hard hockey fans especially yesterday’s Canada’s men’s hockey team’s gold medal finals with Sweden had been a revelation for me. Whether you’re watching them on TV or on Youtube,twitter,etc., it’s pretty amazing to see the lengths of how these fans will go the extra mile to watch a very important hockey final where national pride and reputation is at stake.
Since it was a Sunday yesterday, church attendance was reportedly sparse during the hours of the highly anticipated mens hockey gold medal game. Most of the pubs,bars and restaurants with big flat-screen TVs had been opened as early as 7 am(depending on your local time zone–which means that in the Pacific West Coast,it’s probably a few hours after midnight),offering liquor especially beer and a good meal…indeed, the Canadian way to enjoy watching a good hockey game.
Most of the fans would either take a few hours of sleep or not sleep at all to adjust themselves in watching the game either at home or at the pub in the early hours of the morning,considering that Russian time is different from North American time.They strongly believe that watching the game is their way of supporting their hockey players. The Canadian women’s hockey gold medal game with the US women’s hockey team was held last Thursday but at least in the afternoon–Canadian time.
For these Canucks, winning an Olympic gold hockey medal is a mark of success and pride. Singing the national anthem O’Canada is like a cherry on top of the icing of a cake.
Go Canada Go!
Josie
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