´óÏó´«Ã½

Thank you for your article. Welcome to Canada.

Just a small point. You write:

"I'm Ollie, and I cover sports which don't normally hit the headlines - from archery to ice hockey. ..."

No, not so much.

Here's the thing: In this country we do not ever play "ice hockey". It's jarring, like "wood floor basketball" of "grass turf football".

The game played by Howie Morenz, Teeder Kennedy, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Bobby Orr, Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemiuex, Steve Yzerman, and Sidney Crosby is correctly called "hockey". Nothing more, nothing less. That's why the league is the "National Hockey League".

The other term is never ever used. There are bitter historic reasons for this: For hockey fans in this country, the mere existence of the devil's-spawn IIHF, and all its multitude of evil works, is offensive enough.

It might be summed up, roughly speaking, as "how did we lose control of our game to a bunch of [[insert gerundial adjective form of an unpleasant noun used in the film "Bull Durham", accompanied by other strong adjectives referring to various sexual acts and preferences, perhaps suggesting incest or an oedipal complex, etc., etc., the least offensive of which might be approximately synonymous with "effeminate"]] Europeans who can't skate, never played in the league, and don't understand the rules?"

Anyhow, hope you'll enjoy the hockey, and much else, while you're here.

Hello Interestedforeigner

I feel the same way about soccer/football. How about a multi-lateral change of sports names. You guys stop using the term Soccer (as in Canadian Soccer Association) and change it to football (as in Scottish Football Association).

We can then do likewise do something about the term Hockey and Ice Hockey.

Interestedforeigner,

The reason it is called ice hockey in Britain is that another form of hockey exists. What you would call field hockey. As field hockey is the more prevalent sport in the UK the prefix 'field' is considered unnecessary for precisely the same reason that you consider the prefix 'ice' unnecessary. Now don't get me wrong i'd much rather watch a Leafs game at the ACC than any hockey game played on grass (or astroturf for that matter) but in the UK the word 'ice' is needed to make the distinction. Anyway, I can't wait for the 'hockey' to start in Vancouver. Hoping Sid the Kid and co bring the gold home for Canada.
Cheers

Just look at Ellie Koyander's face to see the Olympic Dream....!

Well done Ollie. You alone appear to be getting to the heart of Vancouver. Mr Pinsent is in awe and rightly so but more desciptive. Keeping finding the pulse it makes better reading than some colleagues who i am lost to explain what they are doing in Vancouver other than stirring things up.

Ollie Williams - are you the meteorologist from "Family Guy"? =)

Here we go again! I'm NOT a new member, ´óÏó´«Ã½!!!!!

Nice work Ollie.

And second the comments about InterestedForeigner's ridiculous rant. I haven't heard one hockey player here complain about their game being described to the (non hockey playing) world as "ice" hockey.

I have to say, Canadians acting as though it's an American trait to be disappointed at not getting gold, or for an athlete to be happy about having gotten the gold, gets to me a bit. I've never seen anything uniquely polite about Canadians in the flesh except their constant mention of Canadian politeness. And if a Canadian person says something, then clearly whatever they said is a Canadian sentiment, regardless of how it compares to what an American might say.

3. At 4:40pm on 14 Feb 2010, Toby wrote:

"The reason it is called ice hockey in Britain is that another form of hockey exists. ..."

"Now don't get me wrong i'd much rather watch a Leafs game at the ACC than any hockey game played on grass ..."
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Dear Toby:

Yes, I'm aware of that, but all the same. Someone reporting from the Winter Olympics shouldn't be making that mistake.

As for Football=Soccer, I'm with Douglas. If even the French can figure out how to call it "Le Fut", and Spanish and Portuguese speakers call it "futbol", we ought to be able to do a bit better than "Soccer".

I agree about watching hockey, for sure.
I'd much rather watch hockey than watch the Leafs, though.
We haven't had hockey at the ACC, or before that MLG, in a long, long time.

Come to think of it, maybe watching the Leafs is a lot like watching hockey on grass.

Maybe the Leafs would do better on grass.

42 years (and counting).
Still re-building.

Will we see Stanley again in my lifetime?

8. At 6:07pm on 14 Feb 2010, BackHand_TopShelf wrote:

"Nice work Ollie.

And second the comments about InterestedForeigner's ridiculous rant. I haven't heard one hockey player here complain about their game being described to the (non hockey playing) world as "ice" hockey."
_________

Clearly you haven't watched HNIC in a long time - like 20 years.

A good many of us from the other end of the country generally play 'ockey on de hice... :-D

Hi Ollie,

"Kearney, in the press conference after her win, said she hoped Canada won a medal "but I'm pleased I have stopped that for now". It's a phrase that wouldn't come out of a Canadian mouth."

I want to start off by saying that I'm from the states and I understand why most of the world is upset with this country politically and otherwise. BUT, these athletes are not schooled in diplomacy and they are very competitive or they would not be at the Olympics. Besides if I had just won a gold medal at the Olympics(my first)I'm not sure I would make sense talking to my own mother let alone to a press conference where I'm suddenly the center of attention. Could it be possible that what she meant was she was glad she won instead of the Canadian girl not that she had a personal vendetta against the entire Canadian team and country. Please give her the benifit of the doubt, not all Americans are jerks. They just can't help from opening their mouth's and placing their foot in.

This article bothers me by the way it showcases Americans. Athletes are competitive and should be excited to win. Your portrayal of Kearney is very biased. Secondly, Kearney did have a better run than Heil. I have seen Moguls quite a bit and her run was quite better. Heil has also already won a gold medal, so Kearney winning was considering her failure at the last Olympics. That would have been a nice story to showcase, but I guess showing America positively would have been too much for you.
Canada will medal and they will do so many times. They will dominate once more events get going. It was only the first day.

Good article and a pleasant read. I am English and currently travelling the world, using six months to work at a ski resort in British Columbia about five hours east from Vancouver. I am an avid football fan and can usually be found swearing that Phil Mculty is a biased Liverpool fan but felt compelled to comment on here. I have travelled many countries and never come accross people so nice as the Canadians. Whether this is trying to distinguish themselves from their neighbours (and who can blame them) or just the way the country wants to be portrayed to the rest of the world as peace keepers, then what is the harm in that, really? However, as most comments this is a generalisation as we cannot forget the thugs who trashed Vancouver City yesterday, not everyone is perfect, just like not every America is a jerk.

Olympic fever has swept the country, in fact I now know more of the Canadian national anthem than I do my own. For that i'm not even ashamed as patriotism was lost in Britain a long time ago. These games so far and the build up has been massive. I have adopted Canada as my country when Team GB do not compete and hope more than anything they get a gold very soon - but they will be gracious in how they go about it and that's what Jennifer Heil and her supporters were last night. Canadians like a popular advert claims 'have the best backyard in the world' and it's true, especially for the winter olympic games, i'm happy and proud to be here and share the jubilant celebrations.

As for the Ice hockey debate....I have had many debates with Canadians but as I said previous i'm a massive football fan and have to listen to it being referred to as soccer as well as the terrible commentary - i.e both of Nani's bright yellow cleats went into the Villa player and he was ejected from the court' - it's an understanding that your sport is not a global one and as mentioned above field hockey is generally the predominant one thus winning the battle for the simple term of 'Hockey'.

personally, i was more annoyed by Apollo Ono (local hero in my city) grabbing a flag and parading about triumphantly having just won a silver solely because two South Koreans collided. that showed less humility in "victory." ...but his dad owns a "diffusion" hair salon, so it is what it is.

I found Kearney's statement more good natured ribbing from a fellow border dweller (she is from VT or NH, right?).

for what it's worth (hoping Homeland Security doesn't trace my IP address for crimes against patriotism), i was cheering for Heil. though not as much as for Olivier Jean in the short track speed skating final. between the chops and the dreds sticking out of his helment, plus his giant legs and size compared to the other guys, he looked like The Predator out on the ice.

Interestedforeigner

The first mention of the game 'Hockey' known to history is this proclamation:

"[m]oreover we ordain that you prohibit under penalty of imprisonment all and sundry from such stone, wood and iron throwing; handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games"
Edward III King of England 1363

It is safe to assume (taking the English climate into consideration) that the sport referred to in the above proclamation by an English king did not involve ice.

Therefore any version of Hockey involving ice is a separate sport to the Hockey referred to in 1363 and should therefore be called 'Ice hockey' in the English language.

Interestedforeigner, you are the one referring to the sport with an incorrect name.

Gemma has a point about sounding American. Kearney, in the press conference after her win, said she hoped Canada won a medal "but I'm pleased I have stopped that for now". It's a phrase that wouldn't come out of a Canadian mouth.



=============================================================================================================


I had never heard of any of these women, but I was impressed with the American's clear and intelligent answers in her interview with NBC. This quote has done nothing to change my felling.

Conversely, it's a bizarre world when ad hominem attacks against the USA are considered good sportsmanship.

I found the portrayal of Ms. Kearney somewhat offensive, along with the constant refrain of Canadians "distinguishing themselves from their neighbor", etc. America is an extremely diverse country so sweeping generalizations about Americans have little basis in reality, however tempting that might be to make! Also, I'm sure that the constant negativity directed at America and its athletes perhaps makes it more satisfying for them when they win; hence some of the over the top celebrations!

Canada puts a ton of pressure on its athletes (similar to Britain), which inevitably leads to disappointment and failure (once again similar to Britain). While America certainly wants its athletes to win, most olympic sports (like the one where the guy skis with a gun on his back) barely register on the American radar which is why there is less pressure to win.

Hmm - Palisade, do you not watch the Summer Olympics? Were you not in America during the summer of Beijing 2008? I was and the pressure for America to win Gold where ever was overwhelming. In fact, the Yanks will have you believe that the Olympics belong to them. In most respects they do because America win many medals but to claim that pressure is not put on their athletes is sheer nonsense. Furthermore, you are on a British noticeboard and you will be far pushed to go on a notice board outside of the USA that is in favour of you. I have been to more states in America than most Americans and the attitudes of America being the only country in the world is worthy of nothing but disdain and pity - so my basis is on my experience of diverse America - which trust me, hold the same beliefs and understanding as each other in general (backed up by the statistic that something like only 10% or less Americans own a passport).

Believe me, going over the top is not something that is solely saved to Olympic winning celebrations. This is something that runs through America in general. So do you really blame the Canadians for wanting to make this distinction between 'you' and 'them'?

Canada is as diverse as America, therefore, all of the above comments make no sense to me most especially during the Olympics..we are all one people on this tiny planet....we cheer when a Haitian is found alive 2 weeks after a horrific quake, we cheer when the first Native Alaskan woman appears in the Olympics. Canada is an incredible country, Jasper National Park is so beautiful it makes you weep. Everyone I know in Massachusetts USA is happily watching the best young athletes from all over our world compete .... it is fun to see Apolo do well, sure....but it is not the reason we cheer....we cheer for everyone who does his or her best.... And.. Thank You Canada for your beautiful program and hospitality...and let us all think about the Georgians who lost a brave son. That is what we should be thinking about now. And please... we have a new President who is trying his best to get our government to work together for the common good...we need support from the world not constant negativity...Peace, Love and Hope have not died in our hearts and minds...please do not paint all of us with the same brush....thanks.

As an American, I feel I can now safely generalize that we are all apparently a bit touchy.

yikes.

Seriously, as the good man said, the intent was actually to portray some insight into the Canadian psyche, yet it is being hijacked by imperialist yankee umbrage, like a manifest destiny of righteous outrage. It wasn't actually about "us," more about "them." Relax. It's all good.

In fairness, this is a chance for many, who would not otherwise be exposed, to see what makes our fine northern bretheren who they are. I think that was and remains the point of that passage.

Keep up the good work, Ollie. (and if you get a chance in between events, go to Guu. Best Izakaya in Van City, imo)

wonder how much good cheer Canadians will have left if the "dastardly Americans" "rob" them of hockey gold....

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Perhaps InterestedForeigner should be reminded that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website reports on sport for the British people (it's in the title, dare I say) and should think a little about intended audience before shouting about grammatical errors. Ice hockey is the correct terminology anyway - it's hockey on ice and always has been... it just happens that the countries where it's popular shorten it to plain old hockey (which means regular non-ice hockey to everyone everywhere else).

On another note, I'm interested in the British prospects at this Winter Olympics. Brits generally have a fairly poor medals record (hardly surprising considering our climate) and I'm pretty sure Britain won't be troubling the medals table this time round either, but I'm more than happy to be pleasantly surprised.

Interested Foreigner

An additional nail in your coffin, the official website ( lists the sport as "Ice Hockey". Sorry, you are in the wrong on this, even if your country chooses to drop the 'ice' the rest of the world doesn't.

"There be golds in them thar hills - but they are not yet Canada's."

How about now Ollie? Canada just won their first gold at home. The jinx is finally broken.

Hockey is referenced to more then one sport. Although it's Canada's game, it is not offensive to call it ice hockey on a International website.

Best of luck to all athletics. Enjoy the games.

Greetings fellow North Americans- sorry you feel picked on- but of course it goes with the territory of being in the most powerful country in the world.
We Canadians have large geography but we are only one tenth the size of you. Like the smallest high school we have to get our team from a much smaller population. And like that small high school we make up for a lot with school spirit. For the most part we really do believe in all for one and one for all. That's why you'll really have to hunt to find a Canadian who doesn't believe in the concept of government paid health care for example.
You're so much bigger and more powerful than us that we get defensive and eager to display our differences. And though we are undeniably different- it all goes back to 1776!- we have a lot in common too. Like boyfriends/girlfriends/ extended family/business ETC!
I for one like Americans for their take no prisoners, plain spoken, what you see is what you get, carpe diem attitude. I like it . I really like it.
Now go and enjoy the games!

I agree Rebecca...everyone go and enjoy the games!!!!!!
.. great sport tonight..cheers to all of the Medal winners. Now that Canada has its Gold ..... maybe this blog will calm down and everyone will play nice!!

I have to laugh at all of the smug comments from the Brits that the Canadians are trying to distinguish themselves from the Americans. Yes, years ago Canada did have a national identity crisis vis a vis the USA---and Great Britian. That was then and this is now, however, and Canada has a firm national identity, is comfortable with its place in the world, and patriotic.

Goodnight all you bloggers....one last comment to Rebecca.....I reread your comments and want to say something about "...we are undeniably different......" As you travel your country and the world...as you grow in years and wisdom....you will understand that we citizens of the world have more in common than the obvious. Borders do not and should not define us.

Be well.

Great blog and interesting thread. Following up on a few of the other comments, as a Canadian I can say that the relationship between Canada and the US is very complex. It is not a love-hate relationship per se, but it can be competitive and some Canadians do seem to go out of their way to define themselves by their differences from the US. I never give it much thought - the Americans I am friends with and work with are great, and the US is probably one of the easiest and friendliest countries in the world to travel in (even post 9-11).

One other thing I would point out is that if you go back to the opening ceremony the four loudest cheers were for Canada, Georgia, the US and the UK. I have many times seen and heard Canadian sports fans singing the US national anthem as a sign of respect - bet that doesn't happen in too many countries. Enjoy the Olympics. Look forward to reading more of this blog.

After reading Stephanie's assertion in comment #22 that less than 10% of Americans own a passport, I did some research. According to the Canadian Tourism Commission, 34% of Americans older than 18 have a passport.

Ah, I was wrong with that statistic, i'm sorry.

Either way, great games, great fun and congrats to Canada for winning Gold. I still stand by my point that Canadians are the nicest population I have come accross in my extensive travels and this is helping to make the games so fantastic.

Like I also said before, not all Americans are jerks, let us not forget this. However, to those Yanks who are offended by this thread, go and read some CNN website comments, that will make you feel better.

This is Canada!

28. At 03:14am on 15 Feb 2010, stevedaytona wrote:
An additional nail in your coffin, the official website ( lists the sport as "Ice Hockey". Sorry, you are in the wrong on this, even if your country chooses to drop the 'ice' the rest of the world doesn't.
__________

No, not really.

In supporting your position you have actually pointed to one of the symptoms of the problem. Irony in that, for sure.

Let's suppose we decide to have a world federation of say, cricket, or snooker, or draughts, or better yet, Morris Dancing. We'll call it the IFMD.

Now, the the National Morris Dancing Council of Sao Tome e Principe suddenly has the same weight in the IFMD as England. So does the Free Loving Dancers Tapirisat of the Peoples Democratic Soviet Socialist Republic of Upper Hellhole-istan. So the "elected" (i.e., de facto President-for-life) of the IFMD becomes a Basque-speaking librarian from Krasnoyarsk, who now lives in the South Bronx, and who is kept in place by votes from such hot-beds of Morris Dancing as Djibouti and Uruguay. The English object, but they are outvoted.

Every year they change the rules by majority vote. Since most of the countries don't actually have any Morris Dancers, they decide to rename themselves the International Musik-und-suss-Tanz, Flugelhorn, Instrument-Gerat, Morris and Dancers, thereafter known by its acronym "IMUSTBEFINGMAD". The English take exception to this, but are outvoted.

Last year they required all novice dancers to wear the hunting MacDonald tartan. Next year the rules require everyone to wear grass skirts. The English object, but they are outvoted.

Every year they decide to hold the World Morris Dancing Championship on the same weekend and at the same time as the All-England Morris Dancing Competition, ensuring that England's best Morris Dancers can never compete. They get to choose where the WMDC is held, and, not surprisingly, it is first held in Sao Tome e Principe, and the second in Upper Hellhole-istan. The English object, but they are outvoted.

For decades, in international competition they set the rules so that "professional" Morris Dancers couldn't compete. The rules then defined "professional" to be anyone over 18 years of age holding a UK passport. The members of the 10th Mountain Morris Dancing Regiment of the Upper Hellhole-istan SSR Army were classed as amateurs. The English object, but they are outvoted.

Since Morris Dancing is an Olympic Sport, the IOC gives deference to the IFMD, and causes the name of the sport and the Olympic rules for the sport to be those of the IFMD. The English object, but they are outvoted.

So after a while, the very term "IFMD" becomes a bit of a swear-word in England.
__________

The"rest of the world", eh? Yeah. Right.

I am not sure what the current data is, but roughly speaking, Canadians make up 65% of the players in the league, Americans are the next largest group, then Russians, Swedes, Czechs and Finns, with a smattering of others.

At the level of popular participation, it is not unlikely that Canadians make up an outright majority of all players in the world, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. Russians, Americans, Swedes, Finns and Czechs, make up the vast majority of the remainder.

Certainly in Canada and the US, which by themselves make up a clear majority of players, the game is "hockey" and nothing else. So there's your majority argument gone. I know a number of Russian kids who play, and they never call it anything else, whether they are speaking Russian or English. Americans we respect. Russians we respect. Czechs and Finns we respect. Even the Swedes we respect, notwithstanding a funny ad in which Don Cherry has a nightmare, only to be saved by a bracing does of a particular brand of after-shave. But people who call it "ice hockey"? Pretty much the only places we see "Ice Hockey" are in places where the game has little or no resonance.

But years and years and years ago, we stupidly agreed to one country, one vote, instead of weighted voting by level of participation. So we lost control of our own game at the international level. So even though we pay for nearly everything (because the commercial money that drives it comes very nearly entirely from North America), even though we account for a majority of the players worldwide, and even though fewer than a dozen countries play the sport seriously, we (and the Americans, and the Russians) have to tolerate nonsense from people who don't know what they're talking about.

It's actually even worse in curling: 90 % of all players on earth are Canadians, yet we agreed to one vote for each member.

And we did almost the same thing in the NHL itself when the head office was allowed to move from Montreal to New York. Odd how before the move, Canadian teams won the cup most of the time, and since the move they have hardly won, and not at all since 1993. Did I mention every Canadian's favorite American, Gary Bettman?

Well, that was quick.
Write a long post on the inanity of international hockey one day, and the following day there is a big article on the Globe & Mail "NHL's Bettman feeling body checked by IOC" that provides yet another glowing example of exactly what I was talking about.

The NHL provides players whose current year contracts run to $ 2B, and the IOC expects everyone will dance to the IOC/IIHF tune. Ridiculous.

The hockey tournament provides a $ 10M bump in revenues for the IOC when the NHL players are included. But the IOC expects to call the tune. Ridiculous.

Who in blazes is Rene Fasel?
Which NHL team did he ever play for?
Which AHL, IHL, WHL, QMJA, or OHA team did he ever play for, coach, manage or own?
What has he ever achieved in hockey that has any credibility with anyone?

What authority does he have to speak for anyone in hockey?
Who owns the IIHL?
Who owns the IOC?
Where do all these licensing fees go?

I'll go back to the basic point:

Nobody who has any credibility in the sport ever refers to it as "ice hockey".

Congrats to Canada!! The Ice Dancing team was fantastic last night, so elegant and graceful. In fact the whole show was a thrill and a joy to watch, all teams were young, lovely and brilliant. I am a New Englander and totally thrilled with the result. Maybe those who say USA is not as involved in the Medal count are right....I could not tell you right now what it is other than I do know our teams are doing very well indeed. Bode Miller's wins make me happy...I would have been happy for Plushenko if he came back and did a perfectly elegant skate and won....but he did not and then made it worse by being immature and defensive about it. probably not his fault...Lord knows what pressures he was under in terms of Mother Russia. Please do not get me wrong, I admire and sincerely like the Russians I have worked with in the scientific community and do not know how they lived through the Wars and the Stalin years, etc. Plus...their music/art/ballet,etc., is incredible.....anyway...just want to share my joy with all of you, our young people (globally) are our future and I thank them, and honor them. Best of luck to the HOCKEY/Ice hockey teams...thanks for giving us the thrills and chills -- helps us forget reality for a while! I lived in Winthrop, MA when Mike Eruzione came home from the games ...it was Awesome...30 years ago this week!!!! Where did the time go anyway????