Character of Canada's hockey stars

[Kreskin]

While driving hom the other night I heard a couple of sportstalk radio guys exchanging theories on why Canada's best hockey players are usually quality character people. I found the discussion interesting. It's true in that usually Canada's hockey best are modest, good with the media, don't get into much trouble, don't appear too stuck on themselves etc. Here were some of their theories:

1) Canadians are humble people
The thought being Canadians are less prone to be glory seekers.

2) Good parents produce hockey stars
Usually kids who make through years of 4am practices etc have dedicated parents who teach discipline.

3) Mentors (ex-Stars) are mimmicked from childhood
From his early days Gretzky wanted be like Howe (nice guy). Lemeiux like Beliveau, Gretzky, Sid like Gretzky etc. A lineage of those traits.

4) A coincidence or luck.

5) A bit of everything.

You don't find too many Terrell Owens or Bobby Bonds in Canadian hockey superstars. Number 5 seems like an easy choice. Aside from it do you think any of the other theories are predominant, or do you have another? Or is it all bs and they aren't any different from any other sports stars.

 

[MikeyDB]

I met Gordie Howe on a social occaision many many years ago. Either he was having a bad day or he isn't all that swell a guy.....

As far as the rest go, you'll have people there, at the rink on the ice playing the best they can at the game because they love the game and you'll have goons at the rink on the ice out there to earn salaries for disabling and hurting other players. Don Cherry is a plague on hockey and the "rock 'em' sock 'em' perspective transmitted to kids is the message of the barbarian. Skills and love for the game will always outshine the goons and 'enforcers', that there is the same element in hockey aficionados as NASCAR who simply watch for the firey crash and possible tragedy like those who attend hockey to watch the brawls says more about the 'business' than it says about the players. Like basketball and other sports, when stadiums and arenas are filled with people who came for the blood, the financing goes to what draws people to the event. If that's blood and brutality then you get a sport that isn't about skill and sportsmanship but about ticket sales regardless of ethics and morals. A bullfight without the bull.

 

[#juan]

There are a lot of things that go into the making of just a good hockey player, never mind a hockey star. First, hockey is one of the more expensive sports. When my son was in hockey the registration fee was about $90 dollars for the year. Hockey equipment for a young player including skates was around $300 dollars or more. Young, growing players can sometimes need two pairs of skates in one season and if you are buying Tacks, they could set you back a hundred and fifty dollars a pair......Thank God for skate exchanges. How about six or seven twenty five dollar hockey sticks over a season. Kids really have to love a sport to get up at 4:am for hockey practice. In almost twenty years of coaching hockey I only saw one player who was NHL material and he quit the game as soon as he discovered girls.
Love of the sport and complete dedication, as well as the God-given talent are what makes a hockey star.

 

[Kreskin]

So why are most Canadian hockey stars nice guys? Is it because of all that? The cost, dedication? Is it cultural? Is it because kids emulate past stars conduct? etc

 

[#juan]

I don't know that there are more "nice guys" among our hockey stars. We see the face they want to show us on the tube during interviews, and they all seem to be nice guys, but Jeckll can turn into Hyde on the ice. We tend to love the big, mean, guys when they are on our team and hate them on the other team.

 

[karrie]

I think our media representation has a lot to do with it.

We expect hockey guys to be big and strong... to kick ass on the ice, be able to jersey a guy twice their size... but greedy, whiny, or otherwise 'unmanly' men are frowned upon, possibly because so many men play the sport in rinks across Canada just for the sheer joy of it.

I'm sure those men are there though. They must be, right? Can hockey players really be a superior race of human? lol. I think the media just doesn't give them any air play (partly because we're not, or didn't used to be, as drama driven in our media as some countries).

But I don't know. My only real life knowledge of any of the hockey greats comes from the regular meetings my hubby has with Lanny McDonald. And he sounds like an awesome guy from all the golf stories and such I hear. But, he wouldn't be in the career he's in now (sales) if he was a pecker head.

It's an interesting question Kreskin... but I think ultimately I'd chalk it up largely to media focus.

 

[TenPenny]

I'm not sure that I'd say that 'most' are nice guys. Some are, and they garner a lot of attention.

Gretzky was known to be that way; Sid the Kid is, as well - respectful and truly interested in the game. Wendell Clark was known to show up at pickup games around Toronto, and just start playing with the kids.

There are, however, still quite a few Bertuzzis, and Downies, and their ilk.

 

[Kreskin]

Perhaps nice guys was the wrong phrase. More like players who no matter how good they they are still appear to put the team ahead of themselves and are very cautious and polite in the media. No Keyshan "Just Give Me the Damn Ball" Johnson. Or Kobe vs Shaq feuds. Or Bonds who openly detested the media and rarely gave interviews. Or T.O., Dennis Rodman etc. Most of the hockey players don't carry the same level arrogance or ego into the media, even though they could be very different off the ice and away from the camera.

 

[TenPenny]

Oh, you mean like 'puck hogs'. They get sorted out when they're 10 years old, because hockey truly is a team sport. Without the team, you're just an easy target for the other side.

Eric Lindros was a pretty self centered guy, from the time he got drafted. Look at his career - never really reached the peak it was intended to, and he suffered quite a few concussions. I think that part of his problem was that, since he was such a well known arsehole, no matter what team he was on, he was somewhat abandoned by his team mates. He also never got the media adulation that others get, maybe because of the person he is.

 

[Kreskin]

Eric was a funny dude. I think his parents controlled him, and he couldn't speak in public worth a damn. Even when he tried to be good in the media he didn't have the verbal skill to. The concussions couldn't have helped. Definitely he was on the wrong side of this, and as you said a true team sport will weed them out.

 

[#juan]

This might be seen as sacrilege but Bobby Orr could be a bit of a hot head on occasion. Wayne Gretsky was known to milk an infraction to draw a penalty. Gordie Howe in his prime was known for his sharp elbows. Bobby Hull beat up his wife at least once, but if I had my druthers I would want all of these players on my team. As someone said, "hockey is a team sport". If you're not a team player, your team mates know it in minute. All the real "stars" are team players and that is what makes them great.

 

[talloola]

The hockey game of 'today' is for the hard worker, fast skater, good learner, team player all the way, fit and strong, eat well, not a drinker, and I'm sure I have left out a few good habits. That in itself will weed out players along the way, and in the end it is the most determined, patient, talented players with parents to match, (who have taught them well, in life skills).

There are many athletes in many different sports, who have so much potential, who, at
the age of 14 or so, turn their heads to the social side of life, meet girls, and their original dream goes out the window, so be it, that is life. My grandson is 17 now, and has been through all of that, and any girl who demanded his time and complained about his 'golf' dedication was 'turned away', as his first love is golf and nothing will come between that for him. He is well adjusted, gets total support from his parents (no pushing at all), and
next year he will be heading to a u.s. college with a scholership.

And as far as the media is concerned, they talk cause they have a show to run, and their opinions and conclusions are for them alone, and if you listen carefully to the players talk, they make much more sense than any media person when it comes to thoughts about the game and 'why' they do what they do on or off the ice. The players say it like it is, down to earth and sensible, the media sensationalize everything, for their own benefit, to keep listeners tuned to their station. I listen to team 1040 quite a bit, and they have a couple of ex players who are great, but Pratt is totally looking for 'dirt' and 'negativity', for his own benefit, to keep his job and to have something to talk about.

For all the hockey players who have laced up skates with a desire to make the NHL, there
are only a few who actually make it. Sometimes it is just being in the right place at the right time, or, a crucial injury which prevents one from continuing on.

Yes, the hockey players are a good bunch, and as the years go by they get better, as they lead a cleaner life-style than those of past years, as, if they don't, they won't make teams, as they won't be in top physical condition, as is needed for todays NHL player.

One example is "Tiger Williams", who, if he was trying out today wouldn't make the
Manitoba Moose team, let alone the Canucks or Toronto, and there are hundreds who played in the past who could never skate with todays players, as, in all sports, it all gets better and better as it goes along.

Hockey doesn't have room for 'exploding egos', or spoiled 'selfish brats', as we see below
the 49th parrallel. I have my opinion as to why that is, but that is not for this post, it
will remain in my thoughts.

 

[Nuggler]

Hi Kreskin: Geordie Howe was every bit a true Canadian gentleman...........who would take your head off or teeth out, with his elbows, in the corners.........but, one had to watch closely to catch it. Most refs never did. Or, at least admit they had :lol:

:angry3:.......if me memory serves me correctly..........an it's startin not to......8O

:canada:........someone hurt Don Cherry, please........

 

[MikeyDB]

I'm confused....situation normal.

Weren't hockey players and baseball players and baskball players once regarded as idols for youngsters?

Perhaps once again its the 'carte blanche' given to sports celebrities by the gawking salivating morons who will pay hundreds of dollars into the pockets of franchises and sports emporiums in the pursuit of having their bloodlust satisfied....

We won't make an issue of the money paid to sports celebrities...while we complain about corruption and malfeseance in government and big business....we won't juxtapose the decay of our social institutions, infrastructure and atmosphere with the readiness we seem prepared to hollar obscenities at our children for not exacting sufficient blood from another player who'd delivered our aspiring young gladiator a bone rattling "check"....

Now with the obvious once more being made loudly apparent by the media, we confront the fact that baseball (and I'd wager all major league sporting events) are rife with drug induced expertise...a great model for our kids....

Yay HOCKEY....

Rubish.....

The connection between sweatshops churning out Nike and Rebok and a plethora of sportswear in third world nation sweatshops is never NEVER ever made....ignorance is bliss it seems.

There's simply so much wrong with organized public spectacles called "sports" today that it takes a special caliber of selective vision to "enjoy" brutality and unmitigated greed...

 

[Nuggler]

I'm confused....situation normal.

Weren't hockey players and baseball players and baskball players once regarded as idols for youngsters? "

Yes they were Mikey, indeed so. But, wasn't that before the internet, and before we could Google up every sports star's: sexual, violent, drug, drinking, non drinking, wife beating, church going, non church going, habits.

Indeed, before we knew, or wanted to know..........the truth. Propaganda was good enough.

But.............fact is, not too many followed Geordie into the corners.

Not to say all our heroes were bad. Just to say we didn't know.

Whatever.

:grommit:

 

[gopher]

Gordie Howe a nice guy?

Did you see him play?

He was known for his atomic elbow which he would gladly use to crack anyone's jaw!!!

 

[EagleSmack]

Kordic.

 

[lone wolf]

Anyone remember Johnny Bower's "poke check"?

Woof!

 

[gopher]

I saw JB late in his career when he was with Toronto but don't remember the poke check. The Maple Leafs used several goalies at that time. Good team, though.

 

[gopher]

Years ago the NHL used to make a big deal out of the Lady Byng Trophy but you don't hear of it anymore.

Is it still awarded??