Hockey culture in Canada is no different than basketball culture in Indiana
or football culture in Texas.  It is the way it is,because it is a way of
life in small towns.  In Norwood, MA (hometown of good friends of ours),
southwest of Boston, there is a wonderful high school sports tradition.
Norwood High is now by and large a commuter town but it has always fielded
representative teams in everything from football, to hockey, to girls'
lacrosse.  Norwood has a little townie type restaurant where all the locals
go rather than the chains out on Rte. 1. Tthe first thing you see when you
walk in is a blown up picture of a young Richie Hebner (former great hitter
for the Pirates and other teams) celebrating the winning goal in some
tournament game 35 years ago.  The expression on his face (this is before
facemasks remember) is priceless.  The joy of high school sports
immortalized.

What Clay speaks of is more of a small town culture rather than a hockey (or
football, or baseball, or basketball) culture.  What that picture
represented is, unfortunately, not as prevalent today as it was a generation
ago.  With the ever increasing mobility of folks and things like this
discussion list, towns like Norwood are a lot more faceless now than they
were when that picture was taken.  They still exist of course, mostly in
rural areas where the high school basketball or hockey team provides some
warmth on a cold winter's night.

Greg Ambrose