From his standout youth, where he honed his skills on a backyard rink, to his unlikely jump to the pros at the age of 17, this biography chronicles Wayne Gretzky's ascension to the greatest hockey player of all time to his shocking trade from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in 1998—an event that rocked hockey fans across North America. This chronicle reveals, for the first time, the true story behind the deal, as well as Gretzky's important role in making the trade happen. From the press conference where the trade was announced and where Gretzky wept, this work notes how the “Great One” could have been crying tears of joy as he realized his life was about to get a whole lot better—playing for more money in a California city that would be a perfect home for him and his glamorous new actress-wife.
Contributors include Julian Ammirante (Laurentian University at Georgian), Jason Blake (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Robert Dennis (Queen's University), Jamie Dopp (University of Victoria), Russell Field (University of Manitoba), Greg Gillespie (Brock University), Richard Harrison (Mount Royal College), Craig Hyatt (Brock University), Brian Kennedy (Pasadena City College), Karen E.H. Skinazi (University of Alberta), and Julie Stevens (Brock University).
The untold story of hockey's deep roots from different regions of the world, and its global, cultural impact. Played on frozen ponds in cold northern lands, hockey seemed an especially unlikely game to gain a global following. But from its beginnings in the nineteenth century, the sport has drawn from different cultures and crossed boundaries––between Canada and the United States, across the Atlantic, and among different regions of Europe. It has been a political flashpoint within countries and internationally. And it has given rise to far-reaching cultural changes and firmly held traditions. The Fastest Game in the World is a global history of a global sport, drawing upon research conducted around the world in a variety of languages. From Canadian prairies to Swiss mountain resorts, Soviet housing blocks to American suburbs, Bruce Berglund takes readers on an international tour, seamlessly weaving in hockey’s local, national, and international trends. Written in a lively style with wide-ranging breadth and attention to telling detail, The Fastest Game in the World will thrill both the lifelong fan and anyone who is curious about how games intertwine with politics, economics, and culture.
For Canadians, hockey is the game. Shared experiences and memories—lacing up for the first time, shinny on an outdoor rink, Sidney Crosby’s historic goal, or the one scored by Maurice Richard—make hockey more than just a game. While the relationship between hockey and national identity has been studied, where does the game fit into our understanding of multiple, diverse Canadian identities today? This interdisciplinary book considers hockey, both as professional and amateur sport, and both in historical and contemporary context, in relation to larger themes in Canadian Studies, including gender, race/ethnicity, ability, sexuality, geography, and reflects upon all aspects of hockey in Canadian life: play, fandom, sports broadcasting, and community activism. This interdisciplinary scholarly collection is an extension of the “Hockey in Canada: More Than Just a Game” exhibition presented by the Canadian Museum of History. This book is published in English. Includes one chapter in French. - Le hockey est le sport des Canadiens Les expériences et les souvenirs que nous partageons – lacer ses patins pour la toute première fois, jouer une partie de hockey de rue, le but historique marqué par Sidney Crosby, ou celui de Maurice Richard – font du hockey bien plus qu’un sport. Bien que le lien entre hockey et identité nationale ait été étudié, il faut s’interroger sur la place qu’occupe ce sport dans notre compréhension des identités canadiennes diverses et multiples d’aujourd’hui. Cet ouvrage interdisciplinaire explore le hockey tant comme sport professionnel qu’amateur, depuis une approche tantôt historique, tantôt actuelle, en lien avec des problématiques en Études canadiennes, dont le genre, la race et l’ethnicité, la compétence, la sexualité, la géographique, et lance une réflexion sur les divers aspects du hockey dans la vie des Canadiens : le jeu, les supporters, la radiodiffusion, l’activisme communautaire. Cet ouvrage complète l’exposition de « Hockey : Plus qu’un simple jeu », présentée par le Musée canadien de l’histoire. Ce livre est publié en anglais. Comprend un chapitre en français.
The African Canadian Legal Odyssey explores the history of African Canadians and the law from the era of slavery until the early twenty-first century. ;This collection demonstrates that the social history of Blacks in Canada has always been inextricably bound to questi52.99ons of law, and that the role of the law in shaping Black life was often ambiguous and shifted over time. Comprised of eleven engaging chapters, organized both thematically and chronologically, it includes a substantive introduction that provides a synthesis and overview of this complex history. This outstanding collection will appeal to both advanced specialists and undergraduate students and makes an important contribution to an emerging field of scholarly inquiry.
The American Civil War left indelible marks on America’s imagination, collectively and as individuals. In the century and a half since the war, musicians have written songs, writers have crafted histories and literature, and filmmakers recreated scenes from the battlefield. Beyond popular media, the battle rages on during sporting events where Civil War-inspired mascots carry on old traditions. The war erupts on tabletops and computer screens as gamers fight the old fights. Elsewhere, men and women dress in uniforms and home-spun clothes to don the mantel of people long gone. Central to “history” is the idea of “story.” Civil War history remains full of stories. They inspire us, they inform us, they educate us, they entertain us. We all have our favorite books, movies, and songs. We all marvel at the spectacle of a reenactment—and flinch with startled delight when the cannons fire. But those stories can fool us, too. Entertainments can seduce us into forgetting the actual history in favor of a more romanticized version or whitewashed memory. The Civil War and Pop Culture: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War explores some of the ways people have imagined and re-imaged the war, at the tension between history and art, and how those visions have left lasting marks on American culture. This collection of essays brings together the best scholarship from Emerging Civil War’s blog, symposia, and podcast—all of it revised and updated—coupled with original piece, designed to shed new light and insight on some of the most entertaining, nostalgic, and evocative connections we have to the war.
This book assesses the place of logic, mathematics, and computer science in present day, interdisciplinary areas of computational linguistics. Computational linguistics studies natural language in its various manifestations from a computational point of view, both on the theoretical level (modeling grammar modules dealing with natural language form and meaning and the relation between these two) and on the practical level (developing applications for language and speech technology). It is a collection of chapters presenting new and future research. The book focuses mainly on logical approaches to computational processing of natural language and on the applicability of methods and techniques from the study of formal languages, programming, and other specification languages. It presents work from other approaches to linguistics, as well, especially because they inspire new work and approaches.
From the lead singer of the band Great Big Sea comes a lyrical and captivating musical memoir about growing up in the tiny fishing village of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, and then taking to the world stage. Singer-songwriter and front man of the great Canadian band Great Big Sea, Alan Doyle is also a lyrical storyteller and a creative force. In Where I Belong, Alan paints a vivid, raucous and heartwarming portrait of a curious young lad born into the small coastal fishing community of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, and destined to become a renowned musician who carried the musical tradition of generations before him and brought his signature sound to the world. He tells of a childhood surrounded by larger-than-life characters who made an indelible impression on his music and work; of his first job on the wharf cutting out cod tongues for fishermen; of growing up in a family of five in a two-bedroom house with a beef-bucket as a toilet, yet lacking nothing; of learning at his father's knee how to sing the story of a song and learning from his mother how to simply "be good"; and finally, of how everything he ever learned as a kid prepared him for that pivotal moment when he became part of Great Big Sea and sailed away on what would be the greatest musical adventure of his life. Filled with the lore and traditions of the East Coast and told in a voice that is at once captivating and refreshingly candid, this is a narrative journey about small-town life, curiosity and creative fulfillment, and finally, about leaving everything you know behind only to learn that no matter where you go, home will always be with you.
The fact that it's lonely at the top suits Bettman just fine. After twenty years in the commissioner's job, he has become the most powerful figure the game has ever known. He's changed the economics of the sport and carved a path for other major leagues to follow. He's transformed the way hockey is played on the ice, how it's packaged for sale, and how it's consumed at home. He has preserved the game in Canada and dragged it onto the national stage in the United States. The owners, his titular employers, now interact with him-and each other-according to his rules. And even if the fans claim to loathe him, for all those reasons and more, they long ago swallowed his marketing vision, forever finding reasons to celebrate hockey's traditions in places where the game has no history. He's sometimes prickly, often tone deaf, and infuriatingly evasive about the NHL's problems and intentions, but on his watch the sport continues to prosper. And in the end, the animus that hockey fans bear toward him says as much about them-and the national insecurities of Canadians in particular-as it does about him. Book jacket.
This volume examines the cultural meanings of high-level amateur and professional hockey in Canada during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the author analyzes English Canadian media narratives of Stanley Cup "challenge" games and championship series between 1896 and 1907. Newspaper coverage and telegraph reconstructions of Stanley Cup challenges contributed significantly to the growth of a mediated Canadian "hockey world" – and a broader "world of sport" – during this time period. By 1903, Stanley Cup hockey games had become national Canadian events, followed by audiences across the country. Hockey also played an important role in the construction of gender and class identities, and in debates about amateurism, professionalism, and community representation in sport. The author also explores the connections between violence and masculinity in Canadian hockey by examining media descriptions of "brutal" and "strenuous" play. He analyzes how notions of civic identity changed as hockey clubs evolved from amateur teams represented by players who were members of their home community to professional aggregations that included paid imports from outside the town. As a result, this volume addresses important gaps in the study of sport history and the analysis of sport and popular culture. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.
