Of Course It’s Time to Write About Hockey

If ever there was a reason to get all syrupy-eyed about being Canadian, this past weekend of the Olympics was it. The home turf, the hockey, the record number of gold medals, the surge in national pride, the hockey, the not too sucky closing ceremonies – did I mention the hockey? Damn, not even having to watch Nickelback stink up the Sunday night festivities could take the nuclear glow off that overtime hockey win.

So, in honour of our hard-earned stick supremacy, and the stress ulcer I probably developed while watching the last half of the men’s gold medal game, let’s take a look at the famous short film that best explains why our hearts are held together with skate laces and hockey tape: The Sweater.

Sheldon Cohen’s ten-minute-long animation, which celebrates its 30^th anniversary this year, was produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The tale, which was first heard on the radio in 1979 (and in 1985 was adapted into a children’s book), is based on a childhood recollection by Roch Carrier. In the crudely but endearingly animated short, a boy living village of Ste. Justine, Quebec, in 1946, joins all the other boys his age in worshipping Montreal Canadians superstar Maurice “Rocket” Richard. They listen to the games on the radio, they know all of his stats, they cut his picture out of the newspaper, and they all wear his #9 jersey. Our narrator explains that hockey, particularly The Rocket’s Canadians, formed that backbone of his childhood. The Sweater follows the boy’s reaction to the ultimate catastrophe when his mother orders him a new sweater from Eaton’s but the company accidentally sends the jersey of – gasp! – The Canadians’ biggest rival. Disbelief, angst and hilarity ensue. It’s such a vivid depiction of certain place, time and feeling, all tied into the sport, that you couldn’t ask for a better explanation of exactly what the hell it is about Canucks and pucks.

Along with The Log Driver’s Waltz and The Big Snit, The Sweater is one of those classic animated short films you’ve seen played time and time again on the CBC. This one, however, even gets referenced on the back of our five dollar bills, with a kid skating on a pond while wearing a #9 jersey.

It might be a #87 Sidney Crosby jersey instead of a #9 Rocket Richard sweater, and it’s probably being ordered online instead via mail, but The Sweater still speaks to the feelings of every Canadian kid out there dreaming of glory on ice. Cheers to both men’s and women’s Olympic hockey teams for a job well done.

(FYI: you can also watch The Sweater and the above mentioned films on the NFB website, here, which hosts loads of homegrown shorts, and has a bunch of stills from the film, including the one above.)

-Dave Alexander