In Contentious Canada Reality Is Still Six Degrees Of Hockey

There’s an observation that only two things bind modern Canada. The federal equalization scheme and hockey, The past year illustrated that equalization is on tenuous ground with talk of separation in Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Hockey, conversely, drew the nation closer at the moment that Donald Trump read the riot act to Canada’s elites. After the mens junior squad bombed out of the Junior Hockey championships for a second straight year, a new crisis emerged. To cover their purging of Justin Trudeau and insertion of Mark Carney as PM. the notorious Mike Myers’ Elbows Up homage to Gordie Howe’s elbows was appropriated by the Liberals (In true Woke wonk fashion, Howe never carried his elbows in Carney’s crash position. He kept them by his sides for greater power.) 

In February’s Four Nations Cup, played at the height of tension between the two nations, Americans launched a Shoresy brawl in the first game, won easily by Team USA 3-1. As we wrote at the time, “Despite public calls for mutual respect, the sustained booing of the American national anthem and the Team Canada invocation by MMA legend Georges St. Pierre was answered by the Tkachuck brothers, Matthew and Brady, with a series of fights in the first nine seconds of the game. 

Three fights to be exact when former Canuck J.T. Miller squared up with Brandon Hagel. (All three U.S.players have either played on or now play for Canadian NHL teams.)  Premeditated and nasty. To say nothing of the vicious mugging of Canada’s legend Sidney Crosby behind the U.S. net moments later by Charlie McEvoy.”

Perhaps the least-appreciated aspect of the tension was the booing of the Star Spangled Banner.by Canadians who have many Americans playing in their nation’s NHL squads. Leftist Toronto Star scribbler Bruce Arthur, bristled, “You’re damn right Canadians should boo the anthem.”

But in the rematch for the tournament title Canada reversed the tables, winning 3-2 in OT.  The rush of nationalistic pride— from people who just weeks before were at each other’s throats over Indigenous claims and pipelines—fed a demographic topsy-turvy that swung Liberals 20 points in the polls, defeating the stunned Conservatives and coming within a few seats of a majority under Carney. Such was the hockey-fed insanity that NDP voters abandoned their far-left mantras to vote for a man who’d only weeks prior was a director of international giant Brookfield Investments.  

One other byproduct of the Four Nations was the defrocking of Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky, who’d made a public show of his support for Trumping the 2024 presidential election. He was coldly rebuffed as he shook hands with the Canadian players before the Final game. It was not the finish for Gretz. He was reviled for golfing with The Donald in November, and then mocked for his faceplant appearance at the FIFA 2026 World Cup men’s draw. We wrote, “Gretzy apparently thinks there are countries called “North Mack-a-donia” and “Cur-ack-ow.” Other stabs at geography were almost as tortured.

Bitter Canadians could put up with him sucking up to Trump (he was mentioned as being in the crowd at the DC Xmas tree lighting) but failing geography is unforgivable. The week that started with Gretzky in a photo golfing at POTUS’s Jupiter, Florida, golf course was ending with him pummelled for his abuse of nations with different-sounding names. The Wayne Gretzky Center For Kids Who Want To Talk Good. “

In between the Gretzky episodes, two men who’d shaped modern hockey passed away. In September, on the anniversary of his participation in the 1972 Canada/ USSR series, Ken Dryden died at age 78. “For a generation that watched him develop he was likely the quintessential modern Canadian. Son of a charitable community figure. Educated in the Ivy League. Obtained his law degree. Served as a federal cabinet minister. Author of several definitive hockey books (The Game is perhaps the best sports non-fiction in the English language). Executive of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And more.

“He was on the American telecast of the 1980 U.S. Miracle On Ice at Lake Placid. And the radio broadcast of the 1976 Canada Cup. Ubiquitous media source. Loyal to Canada. And crucially, a son, husband, father and grandfather. If you’d created a model for the citizen of Canada of his times it was Ken.”

A less-loved figure in hockey— but no less significant— died the week after Dryden with the passing of former NHL Players Association director Bob Goodenow, who led the union through three momentous labour fights. Our take: “Tenacious, fearless and bold describes his style. Cuddly and sentimental he was not. The former lawyer and player agent for Brett Hull was not impressed by NHL self-dealing, and he said so. The Harvard product made a bad enemy after he succeeded Alan Eagleson in 1992.

“Today’s players owe him so much for finally giving them self respect. While players in other leagues ate steak, NHL players ate KD. Our book on the topic Money Players is an exhaustive catalogue of dirty dealing and deceit.

“Goodenow convinced hockey players that to earn their worth in the market they had to stick together in negotiations. It would be trying as fans and the media took the owners’ line under new commissioner Gary Bettman when they locked out players in 1994. He didn’t suffer reporters who were NHL echo chambers or old-timers who pined for there good old days of making $1000 a year.

CBA negotiations have never been the same. Player salaries have never been the same. Media covering hockey has never been the same. Eagleson was criminally convicted in the U.S. and Canada for the self dealing revealed by Conway and us. That’s an impressive legacy. RIP the man who reformed pro hockey from within.”

In a hangover story stretching back seven years, the sexual assault trial of the World Junior Hockey gold medalists of 2018 was a field day for narratives in the media and the courtroom. The facts, meanwhile, were stowed away beneath the surface of social media. As we reported in our June 28 column: “Outside diligent reporters such as Katie Strang of The Athletic and Rick Westhead  of TSN, the media universe simply assumed guilt in the five players, because. hockey… Social media liberally smeared them as rapists, symbols of women’s degradation.

The five players on trial had been unfairly branded as criminals by Hockey Canada which rushed to condemn them in a quick civil settlement of EM’s charges. HC never consulted them about their side of the story before surrendering the cash. In the end, Ontario Justice Maria Carroccia found EM not "credible or reliable” enough to send the players to jail. While scolding their behaviour she declared the young men not guilty. It was a courageous decision, knowing it would prompt backlash. The Globe&Mail led the charge, declaring “After the Hockey Canada verdict Advocates fear survivors will fall silent”. 

As 2026 dawns the outlook for Canadian NHL teams looks bleak. Just two teams would make the postseason today— Edmonton and Montreal— while Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver wallow below the cut line. Which leaves the Elbows Up crowd pining for a replay of the Four Nations as Canada heads to the Olympic tournament. Don’t expect Wayne Gretzky to ride to their rescue.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his 2025 book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1069802700