For example, when the Edmonton Oilers dominated hockey in the 1980's, there was no "they," to Canadians, there was just "we." As in, "we are the champions of the world," or "we're the Stanley Cup Champions!"
Hockey is also a lot of other things. Change is definitely one of them. When four teams formed the National Hockey League on November 26th, 1917, who knew that in a mere 80 years the league would turn into the fourth most watched sport in the world.
Hockey is also spirit. The feeling someone gets when they score a goal. They raise their sticks high above their heads, as his teammates crowd him, high-five, and hug him. Spirit is when a goalie makes a sensational, maybe unbelievable gravity defying save on a breakaway. It is the feeling all Canadian citizens got when Paul Henderson scored "the goal" in the now famous Canadian/Soviet Union series.
Hockey is magic. The sound of just two blades carving their way through a clean sheet of ice. It is the sheer feeling, the adrenaline rush you get every time O Canada is being played.
Hockey has been a part of Canadian tradition for what seems like forever. I love hockey, and I felt a lot of Canadian pride as I wrote this report, and I hope you do too.
