It’s called ‘Canada’s game’ for a reason
By Mo Hussain, Sports Reporter
For some reason, the number one sport that’ll forever be associated with Canada is hockey. All the other major sports are either not as big or are more associated with other parts of the world.
Basketball, American football, and baseball are mostly associated with the United States. Cricket is mostly big in Southeast Asia. Curling is somewhat relevant in Canada but doesn’t have anywhere near the same amount of attention as other professional sports. And soccer resonates in a massive way with every other continent in the world except for North America for some reason. However, hockey is a completely different story.
One of the reasons hockey resonates with Canadians so much is that Canada is one of the coldest countries in the world. A previous study done on the average yearly temperatures of countries showed that Canada’s average was -5.35 degrees Celsius and this temperature ranked the coldest in the entire world. This in turn makes going out to the soccer field, basketball court, cricket field, or playing any other outdoor sport for a good chunk of the year difficult compared to other countries. The circumstances that the weather brings to many Canadians has made the population adjust their sporting interests to their situation.
But if the sport has to be only cold, why does it have to be hockey? Why not be curling, skiing, snowboarding, etc.? One of the answers to that question is that other winter sports don’t have nearly as much history as hockey has in Canada. Hockey was one of the first sports where Canadian teams were involved in a league that included both American and Canadian teams. Two of the first six NHL teams that were founded in the early 20th century were Canadian.
Canada has had some unforgettable hockey moments with Sidney Crosby’s unbelievable goal in 2010, Canada’s comeback against the Soviet Union back in 1972, Vancouverite’s rioting back in 2011 because of a Stanley Cup Finals loss, and the rivalry between the English speaking fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and French speaking Montreal Canadians.
The game is also relatively easy to understand rather than some other sports where the objective of the game can be peculiar. The objective of hockey is to score as many goals as you can while limiting the amount goals scored by your opponents. The combination of having a simple but historic game in a cold country are just a few reasons on why hockey is Canada’s game.
