Brandon Morgan Grant English 1102 January 28th Hockey: The Hidden Sport of America As the seconds began

to tick off and everyone was rising to their feet, an amazing spectacle was about to happen, the Carolina Hurricanes were about to win their first Stanley cup. After 2006 I became a devoted and loyal fan to the Hurricanes. I am now a hockey fanatic and love watching playing and analyzing everything about hockey. I realized I have been swallowed up into a form of pop culture which is worldwide. There are many things I enjoy about hockey but I am concerned many people are living in a false reality regarding hockey. The misconception surrounding hockey is it is a Canadian sport played and watched by only Canadians. This is proven false in multiple ways, the first being the United States contains 27 out of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League. Next is the fact that areas containing a hockey team are more popular and have a greater understanding than those without them. I believe hockey is an American Sport and people who consider it not just dont understand the rules and history behind it. Initially people are right that hockeys origins do belong in Canada. However like every other sport, it spreads and is popularized in other locations. The National Hockey League was originally formed in 1942 by six teams. They were the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, the New York Rangers, and the Detroit

Redwings. As you can see out of the six, four were American teams. In the later years this league would grow all across the United States introducing hockey to Cities who were not familiar with this unusual sport on ice. Many locations were considered unprofitable, but this myth was to be proven wrong. A fine example are the Los Angeles Kings and my hometown team the Carolina Hurricanes. Each team has recently won the league title claiming the Stanley Cup which increased their popularity on both local and national scales. Canada does claim 55 percent of all players in the league, but surprisingly the United States ranks second with 23.9 percent and Sweden following third with 6.3 percent (2010-2011 - Regular Season - All Skaters - Summary Points - NHL.com - Stats). This concludes that the United States is becoming a competing factor against Canada not only in supporting hockey but in producing players to perform and play hockey. Hockey should also be considered a nationally or even a globally accepted sport due to the settlement of teams around the globe particularly America. New and uprising teams are having drastic impacts on their surrounding communities they are surrounded by. The most obvious impact is the attendance of the professional games. More people are beginning to understand the community of hockey by supporting and watching their team play. The Carolina Hurricanes was formed from the former Hartford Whalers and is now helping the state community thrive. Many states and cities across America are beginning to see this trend and the possible success behind this hidden sport. Around the time the Hurricane franchise began, only 3,795 teens across North Carolina played hockey. Now, after 10 years of a successful franchise the numbers have increased by 63.6 percent. We now have 6,209 teens, and more by the months, participating and playing hockey (Hockeys Growth in the United States: 2003-2013 | The United States of Hockey). Clearly this statistic shows hockey is a sport that thrives off its 2

community. States or cities which lack these franchises will have less understanding and interest in hockey because it isnt relevant to them which would explain why many Southern states dont have a huge fan base of hockey. Most teams are in the northern states and that is where most of the understanding lies. The rumor which frustrates me the most is that hockey is not considered an American sport. Who decides this? America is just as passionate about hockey as any other sport. Many would argue against me, but I have a couple statements to support this. The first is an event known as The miracle on ice. In the 1980 Olympics a group of collegiate and amateur players were formed to make up the American ice hockey team. They were considered to be the laughing stock of the Olympics. But fate had other plans. That team pushed through and got to the finals with the whole nation now supporting them. Never has there been one moment where the country would come together to watch one hockey match as this one. The opponents of the Americans was our nations political rival at the time: the Soviet Union. They had won every Olympic gold medal in hockey since 1954. This unlikely, underdog team of our American youth brought home the gold medal, launching an improbable pop cultural trend of hockey. Additionally hockey belongs with the other groups classified as an American because our youth have taken hockey to a whole new level. As the years pass by, membership of youth hockey continues to increase by 2.12 percent. America is a vast and diverse country. Our youth hockey boasts 595,000 members (Hockeys Growth in the United States: 2003-2013 | The United States of Hockey). This number, along with the history of hockey in our generation proves that hockey is and should be considered an American sport. It is clear hockey is not just played and supported by Canadians. America and other countries across the world are growing and will soon be equal and maybe even surpass Canada 3

and their national sport. I believe in the following generations, hockey will prove to be a competing sport in America alongside basketball, football, and baseball. For now, hockey will remain a hidden sport in America, but it is none the less a part of our American culture.

Works Cited "2010-2011 - Regular Season - All Skaters - Summary - Points - NHL.com - Stats." 2010-2011 Regular Season - All Skaters - Summary - Points - NHL.com - Stats. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. "Hockeys Growth in the United States: 2003-2013 | The United States of Hockey." The United States of Hockey. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014