Some Canadian teams have had to move to the United States because of financial reasons, most specifically the weakened Canadian dollar in relationship to the U.S. dollar. This has created even more of an impact since all players in the National Hockey League now negotiate their contracts exclusively in U.S. dollars while gate receipts in Canada are still in Canadian funds. The Winnipeg Jets were a Canadian team that had to move to the U.S., becoming the Phoenix Coyotes. The threat, of being forced to relocate to the United States, is becoming more of a reality especially for the small market northern teams. The cities to the south have bigger markets and obviously the dollar value is not a consideration.

Why should this bother Canadians? Why not share their national pride in hockey? Many Canadians feel that hockey is the last thing they can truly call their own. A couple of years ago on Hockey Night in Canada, there was an interview with Ken Dryden, a former NHL player, who said that one by one the things that Canada stands for are being dismantled and homogenized. Hockey is supposed to be to Canada as Soccer is to Brazil, or the bullfight to Spain.

All across the country Canadians see hockey as another precious piece of Canadian slipping away into the American Market. Canada is losing teams, players, and perhaps the Canadian game itself.

To date, all the American influence in our game has caused the implementation of helmets, visors, advertisements on the boards and ice, and the extending of the season into June. This is not the kind of change traditional hockey fans in Canada like. The Americanization of our game has resulted in the focus on the game moving south. While Canada has maintained its high level of skill in its player development and still attracts its best athletes to the game, the Americans a

Some topics in this essay:
Gardens Enterprises, Hockey Canada’s, Phoenix Coyotes, York Rangers, Mario Lemiex, Canada Americanization, Americans Europeans, Canadian American, , Soccer Brazil, york rangers, canadian teams, canadian game, canadian team, athletes game, wayne gretzky, tv programming, american influence, hockey canada’s, phoenix coyotes,