Hockey Dying in Toronto?

[Don Wassall]

As Toronto becomes less and less white, the "world's best athletes" refuse to take up hockey. The reason of course is that the sport is "too white and too rich." Boo hoo hoo. There's always an excuse blaming whitey.
<H3>Hockey is dying in T.O.</H3>
Kids' leagues are folding across the city as newcomers turn to other games


Imagine a time in this city when most kids don't start off their Saturday mornings by donning skates and taking to the ice.


A time when hockey pales beside soccer and cricket and basketball. A time when Canada's national game is dying a slow and painful death.


Now, imagine that time is now.


Not in Toronto, you say. Not here, in the home of the Maple Leafs, the centre of the hockey universe that has raised the likes of Syl Apps, Ken Dryden and Kevin Weekes.


But what used to be a Canadian rite of passage for most Toronto boys -- and, increasingly, girls as well -- is in grave danger because this city's demographics have changed and the old guard in the amateur hockey world have been too slow and set in their ways to reach out to new immigrants.


"Right now, it's seen as a white sport," says Ken Jeffers, manager of access and diversity for City of Toronto parks and recreation.


"When we look at kids born here from parents who come from warm countries, hockey is not part of their experience. It's not part of their world, the players are not seen as their heroes.


Full article: [url]http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/michele_mandel/200 8/10/27/7216281-sun.html[/url]

 

[jaxvid]

You can take one look at the number of Euro's on every NHL team and see that there is a big drop in Canadian players. However I think hockey is doing OK here in the US as it has always been a private supported sport here, ie very few public programs and schools have hockey teams. That means that each US kid has devoted parents that foot the bill for facilities and equipment, and that is the main reason it is a white sport, non-whites will not pay for their kids to play sports. Name one sport in the world that blacks do in large numbers that is not supported by the governmental/school system.

 

[celticdb15]

Hockey fees are ridiculous!! My friend said he has to pay 2,000 dollars just to sign up! Another friend of mine plays 3a hockey for a jr Milwaukee Admirals team and they pay 8,000 dollars! Even for white people that is expensive! I like\respect hockey but i see it not only as a white sport but a rich sport, which makes it hard for middle class white families and lower class minorities to play it.

 

[Sean]

It seems like the fees are going up to drive the sport down. Hockey shouldn't be a sport just for the rich. How many stories have been told of Hockey players who got started skating (usually on old or borrowed skates) on some frozen puddle to prepare for a future in the sport. The sporting media is doing all it can to take hockey down. Still, the sport is doing very well on the international scene.

 

[Matra1]

The Leafs have consistently been one of the worst teams in the NHL yet every overpriced seat at every game is sold out and there's a long waiting list for season tickets. Talk radio in Toronto is still dominated by hockey. (Much of the talk of late is that the Toronto area needs a second team to cater to the demand).

The article is right to point out the growing popularity of soccer and basketball but cricket is nowhere close. It's also true that in multi-culti Toronto the sport isn't as big as it once was but many of the former white Toronto residents now follow the sport from the suburbs and smaller cities and towns within commuting distance. Hockey is sharing the sports 'space' in Greater Toronto with other sports now. In other parts of Canada it is as popular as ever. The article exaggerates. Hockey will remain the biggest sport in Canada whether non-whites play it or not.Edited by: Matra1

 

[Gi-15]

In fact, there has been talk of a second NHL team in Toronto lately

 

[Ibanez]

Everyone simmer down.

News flash to my American friends-- Toronto is not 'really' a part of Canada. It stopped being a part of Canada in the early 1970s.

It is a giant simmering cauldron holding pen for immigrants and their children, as well as for rural Canadians looking to experience life in the big city.

Hockey is not dying with white Canadians whatsoever. I am from Nova Scotia and let me tell you, hockey is KING there, and in all rural areas throughout our great country.

Although they have many great features, the big 3 cities are not representative at all of what Canada is about in terms of racial makup, culture, beliefs or traditional Canadian values.

Outside of the big 3 cities and Windsor Ontario, Canada is remarkably homogeneous.

 

[Don Wassall]

Iposted that article because it is typical pro-black anti-white propaganda -- hockey is somehow "dying" in Toronto because blacks aren't "taking it up" in a city that is becoming non-white, and whitesare somehowresponsible. It's asinaccurate as the common refrain in the U.S. media that baseball is somehow suffering because fewer blacks are playing it.


We Americans may be ignorant about other countries but we know how popular hockey remains everywhere in Canada.

 

[Ibanez]

Don you are correct. I really didnt read the article in detail-- I just responded quickly to the main headline. Gotta defend hockey!!!

 

[white is right]

Everyone simmer down.

News flash to my American friends-- Toronto is not 'really' a part of Canada. It stopped being a part of Canada in the early 1970s.

It is a giant simmering cauldron holding pen for immigrants and their children, as well as for rural Canadians looking to experience life in the big city.

Hockey is not dying with white Canadians whatsoever. I am from Nova Scotia and let me tell you, hockey is KING there, and in all rural areas throughout our great country.

Although they have many great features, the big 3 cities are not representative at all of what Canada is about in terms of racial makup, culture, beliefs or traditional Canadian values.

Outside of the big 3 cities and Windsor Ontario, Canada is remarkably homogeneous.

Toronto, Vancouver and to a lesser extent Montreal are not like the rest of Canada. If you go 1 to 2 hours outside the city you still see White Canadians doing jobs that only new immigrants do in the city(in large numbers). Toronto is NYC light.....

 

[speedster]

To use Kevin Weekes in the same sentence as Ken Dryden is beyond insane.Michele Mandel who wrote this column is a hottie who knows nothing about hockey and everything about diversity.