"If you wanna really annoy Canadians, by the way, the best thing to do is — Whenever they say that they're into hockey, just say 'Ice hockey?' Because to them, there is no other kind of hockey and they don't know that field hockey is even a thing that adults play. That's the best way I found of annoying all of them."
— Daniel Radcliffenote
Subtrope of Moose and Maple Syrup. When a person loves hockey in fiction, they almost always have a Canadian background (or possibly one of the northern states where American and Canadian cultures blend, like Michigan). Sometimes in American media, hockey players are depicted as being crass and having Quebec accents, perhaps stemming from famous players like Maurice "The Rocket" Richard, Mario Lemieux, and Patrick Roy and the fact that Quebec has basically had no other presence in popular American media.
To be fair, hockey is Canada's national winter sport, while lacrosse is the national summer sport. The latter used to be the sole national sport until a bill passed in 1994 established both as national sports. It helps that hockey is one of the few things in Canada that crosses the language barrier between French- and English-Canadians and is extremely popular with both.
Also, as Daniel Radcliffe explains above, ice hockey is the only hockey as far as Canadians and most Americans are concerned. Don't bother mentioning "field" hockey; its existence is rarely acknowledged.
See also Courteous Canadian and Singing Mountie for other Canadian stereotypes.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- We Stand on Guard: In the first issue, the Two-Fours ask Amber who won the last Stanley Cup in 2111, to determine if she's truly Canadian or an American spy. Averted when she protests that a) she was five at the time, and b) she never really watched hockey anyway.note
- Wolverine: In Wolverine: First Class, Wolverine eagerly watches hockey, and he says "It's my moral right as a Canadian" when he has to deal with rampaging Danger Room robots that barge into the room, interrupting him. This is an in-joke about how he's made Canadian because the writers at the time only expected him to be a bit character in an issue of The Incredible Hulk.
Fan Works
- In the Assassins' Guild of the Discworld as written by A.A. Pessimal, Mlle Antoinette de Badin-Boucher comes from Upper Aceria. Having brought ice skates, a great big stick and protective padding with her, she is dissappointed to realise Ankh-Morpork rarely gets cold enough for proper hockey. The young student Assassin then starts absconding by night and breaking into the Pork Futures Warehouse to practice real hockey. A few years later, she cuts a deal with the owners of the PFW - a very large space where ice forms on a very large flat floor - to host a competitive sport there. Single-handedly, this Acerian brings ice hockey to Ankh-Morpork.
Films - Animated
- In the song "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the Mothers Against Canada criticize Canada for "all their hockey hullabaloo".
- Mostly averted in Turning Red. Despite being set in Canada, none of the main characters appear to play or are fans of hockey. That said, Mei's teacher, Mr. Kieslowski, is a hockey fan as he has a hockey poster hanging in his classroom as well as a stuffed bear of Carlton, the Toronto Maple Leaf’s mascot on a shelf and what appears to be a hockey puck mounted in a glass case on his desk.
- Ironically, the most prominent Pixar character who is a hockey fan— Riley, from Inside Out— is from the United States.
Films - Live-Action
- In The Grizzlies, Hockey is initially assumed to be the national sport of Canada by the Inuit students, but teacher Russ tells them it's actually lacrosse. To be fair, lacrosse is Canada's national summer sport while hockey is the national winter sport.
- The 1967 documentary short A Place To Stand, a visual collage of life in Ontario, naturally had to include a shot of NHL hockey.
Jokes
- Why do Canadians do it doggy style? So they can both watch the hockey game! A variant involves why Canadians favor long Johns with a flap on the bottom as underwear, with the answer being the same.
Literature
- The humor book Nice Is Just A Place In France has a list that describes what sport a college student plays says about him. The entry for hockey just says "Canadian".
Live-Action TV
- In an episode of Full House has Joey imitate a hockey player, complete with a French Canadian accent.
- Robin from How I Met Your Mother is Canadian, so of course she's a hockey fan. When she gets drunk and turns "Super-Canadian", she puts on a Vancouver Canucks uniform and starts trying to play in Ted and Marshall's living room.
- Madam Secretary: When the Canadian government seizes American fishing boats in the "Blame Canada" episode in order to strong-arm the Americans into releasing an environmental report, Elizabeth threatens to cancel the visas of every Canadian national in the NHL.
Elizabeth: Hockey season starts soon. That'll be a short season.
Canadian Ambassador: I'm sure you wouldn't stoop to that. - There was a hockey-based episode of Murdoch Mysteries. Murdoch isn't into sports, and Inspector Brakenreid, not being Canadian, prefers football (soccer), but a lot of characters were shown to be fans.
- In an episode of Boston Public which aired around the time of the American invasion of Iraq, a character says "Canada would only go to war if somebody kidnapped the Stanley Cup."
- A "Black Jeopardy" skit on Saturday Night Live had a clue which was obviously referring to NBA player Kobe Bryant, however Jared the black Canadian (guest star Drake) guesses NHL player Jaromir Jagr.
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver once described Canada as "five ice hockey rinks surrounded by bears".
- Multiple times Whose Line Is It Anyway? used "hockey player" as a character. They're almost always played by Colin Mochrie.
- Tim in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an illegal immigrant from Canada to the U.S. To avoid getting found out he has to "pretend not to like hockey" so he doesn't get clocked as a Canadian.
Music
- Weird Al's song Canadian Idiot, a parody of every American stereotype of Canadians, begins "Don't wanna be a Canadian idiot! Don't wanna be some beer swillin' hockey nut."
- Legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip are hockey fans. Their song "Fifty Mission Cap" is about a hockey player who disappeared when his plane went missing the summer after he scored the Stanley Cup winning goal. One of their more popular shirts is designed to look like a hockey sweater.
- Really, Canadian musicians and hockey are connected so much that during the Juno Awards every year, a team of musicians play an old-timers squad for charity. Along with Gordon Downie, others that have participated include Alan Doyle, Tyler Stewart, Jon Gallant, Mike 'Beard Guy' Taylor, Sam Roberts and organizer Jim Cuddy. As well, a couple hockey players have their own rock bands, notably Darren McCarty
and Henrik Lundqvist.
- The Tragically Hip song "Fireworks" zigzags this trope, first describing how "everyone remembers" the climactic moments of the 1972 Summit Series against the USSR ("we all squeezed the stick, and we all pulled the trigger"), before the Wham Line: "You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey, and I never saw someone say that before." So the 'you' in the song is an aversion to this trope, but it's presented as unusual enough to comment on.
- Really, Canadian musicians and hockey are connected so much that during the Juno Awards every year, a team of musicians play an old-timers squad for charity. Along with Gordon Downie, others that have participated include Alan Doyle, Tyler Stewart, Jon Gallant, Mike 'Beard Guy' Taylor, Sam Roberts and organizer Jim Cuddy. As well, a couple hockey players have their own rock bands, notably Darren McCarty
- The video for Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s cover of fellow Canadian band B.T.O's "Takin' Care of Business" features the band playing hockey against a team of businessmen. Their coach is played by Randy Bachman who wrote the song.
Newspaper Comics
- Subverted in Doonesbury. When Mike engages in trash-talk while playing college hockey, a player on the opposing team cusses him out in French. Intimidated, Mike apologizes, saying he didn't realize the player was Canadian. The other player, as he skates away, smiles at the reader and thinks, "Actually, I'm just a French major from the Bronx."
Video Games
- Civilization VI gives some civilizations a unique tile improvement building that grants various bonuses. Canada's unique building is an ice hockey rink that provides extra Culture for each adjacent tundra or snow tile..
- In Grand Theft Auto 5, the utterly psychotic Trevor Philips, who otherwise hates people knowing that he is Canadian, still loves his hockey, thinking it a more manly sport than baseball.
- One of the better melee weapons that can be picked up in Death Road to Canada is a hockey stick (and has a stronger unbreakable variant in the 'Xtreme Hockey Stick'), and, while driving, one of your party members may attribute their usefulness as zombie repellents to why Canada remained unaffected by the outbreak that gripped the USA.
- Discussed and Subverted in Overwatch, where Lúcio asks Sojourn (a hero from Toronto) if she has a favorite hockey team, only for her to admit she's more of a basketball fan. Oddly enough, it's Lúcio — a hero from Brazil — who is the game's resident ice hockey buff.
- The Judge's brother in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney — Trials and Tribulations, who occasionally uses Canadian tics such as "aboot" instead of "about" and "eh?", refers to his beard as a "glorious playoff beard".note
- Punch-Out!!: In the Wii version, Canadian boxer Bear Hugger uses a few hockey quotes in his banter, such as "She scores!" and "Hat trick!". For his Title Defense slideshow, it's shown part of this training that let him take a level in badass was playing a round of hockey with his coach, a bear.
- In Season 1 of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, when helping another character get a date with Sybil (who is suddenly queen of Canada), one of the lines needed to convince her is to suggest they go see a hockey game. Naturally, she's impressed by her suitor "showing such interest and appreciation for her culture" (despite not even being Canadian and being queen of Canada only being one of her many, many, many, many jobs).
- The creators of Ultimate Chicken Horse are Canadian, so, of course, one of the items you can place is an automated hockey puck shooter. It's also one of the more effective traps in the game, as its projectiles instantly travel across the entire screen, meaning the warning buzzer is the only chance you have of dodging it.
- Wrestle Quest: Stag Logan is a Canadian moose, and is a big fan of hockey even though he’s a wrestler, his home is littered with hockey memorabilia, plus he’s almost never seen without his hockey stick.
Webcomics
- In Dumbing of Age, when Billie learns Ruth is a hockey fan she asks "What are you, Canadian?" When Ruth says she is, Billie says she thought Canadians were supposed to be nice. Averted with Billie herself, who is not Canadian, but starts following hockey in order to mock the team Ruth supports (Toronto Maple Leafs).
Web Video
- The Canadian Matt Santoro once joked that if a robber entered a Canadian's house, the homeowner would probably invite them to have a beer and watch the Toronto Maple Leafs game with them.
- In Everything Wrong With Justin Bieber: Never Say Never by CinemaSins, this is the narrator's response to a photo of a young Justin Bieber in a hockey suit.
Narrator: No way. Justin grew up in Canada and played hockey? Now this movie is just fantasyland.
- WatchMojo are based in Montreal. One of their Top Ten List videos counts down iconic Canadians. Number one? Wayne Gretzky.
Western Animation
- The Canadian cartoon Being Ian has Ian and his family being fans of the Vancouver Canucks.
- Canadian Chilly Beach features numerous characters fulling different stereotypes, including being devout hockey fans.
- Canadian series Jacob Two-Two has Jacob's family being big hockey fans, specifically for the fictional Montreal Marvels.
- In the Mickey Mouse episode "Bad Ear Day" a hockey announcer with a obvious Canadian accent (voiced by long-time Hockey Night In Canada commentator Don Cherry) exclaims, "Mickey Mouse wins it for the home team, eh!"
- 6teen, which takes place in a Canadian mall, has a shop called the Penalty Box, a primarily hockey-themed sports store.
- An episode of SpongeBob SquarePants has a hockey player scream, "There's the puck, eh!"
- South Park:
- In the song "Canada On Strike", there are a few shots of Canadian hockey players singing the song.
- Also, in the episode "Stanley's Cup", Ike is put on Stan's pee wee team because "they need a Canadian".
Real Life
- Even in US arenas, you can often see Canadian flags hanging from the ceiling next to the American flag. NHL rules mandate that both countries' national anthems be played if an American team is playing a Canadian team. The Buffalo Sabres play both national anthems before every game regardless of opponent as a tribute to the team's sizable Canadian fanbase (Buffalo itself is directly on the border; the KeyBank Center where the Sabres play is about 3.5 miles/5.6 kilometers driving distance from the Canadian town of Fort Erie, ON).
- When an ice-hockey pro league was first set up in Britain, it was noted that the Manchester Storm home crowd appeared to be 80% composed of every expatriate Canadian in the city. A Storm home game was like a Canadian party.
- Truth in Television, as it's not really that much of an exaggeration. Hockey is really popular in Canada. The 2010 Olympic Gold Medal Game against the US (which Canada won in a 3-2 overtime thriller) set—and still holds—the record for the single most-watched television broadcast in Canada evernote . 26.5 million people (or about 80% of the population, four of every five people) tuned in to watch at least part of the game. Hockey is kind of a big deal to Canadians. For comparison, for that same game, the American broadcaster NBC reported 27.6 million viewers—so just slightly more than the Canadian numbers, in a country nearly ten times the population of Canada (about 308 million to Canada's 34 million as of 2010). In other words, in a country ten times the size of Canada, there are barely any more hockey fans. This is borne out by statistical estimates, leading to a very popular argument for more Canadian hockey teams (made by an American, no less!)
- Also, most of the NHL players are Canadians, even if since the 1980s more and more Europeans have come to the league. 2015-16 marked the first time less than 50% of players were Canadian.
- Quatchi, one of the mascots of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, combined multiple stereotypes by being a kindly Sasquatch with dreams of being a hockey star.
- Also, most of the NHL players are Canadians, even if since the 1980s more and more Europeans have come to the league. 2015-16 marked the first time less than 50% of players were Canadian
- In an interview, Russell Crowe stated he was surprised to learn Ryan Gosling was a subversion:
- When the old Champlain Bridge over the Saint-Lawrence river in Montreal needed to be dismantled due to its poor condition and replaced with a new one, there were serious talks of having it be called the Maurice Richard bridge after Quebec's most famous hockey player. The new bridge was ultimately named for Samuel de Champlain just like the one it replaced. But still, a famous hockey player was a serious contender to naming a bridge, enough to rival the guy who founded Quebec City and effectively founded Canada as a result.
- The third crossing of the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, currently set for completion in 2025, will be the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The name fits perfectly, as Howe was a Canadian (a Saskatchewan native to be exact) who spent most of his record-setting NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings.
