The Hockey Sweater

The Hockey Sweater

Yesterday I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend Kim.  I am quite open about the fact that I'm not a big fan of baby showers.  I have attended many and enjoyed few.  On the whole I find them cloying at best, and  annoying at worst.  Yet I have been blessed with a the fact that I have a lovely, large home, so when the opportunity presented itself (in that the co-host's home was undergoing major renovations), I didn't hesitate in offering up my home.  I am overjoyed for Kim, since she waited a long time for both her wonderful husband and this much anticipated baby.  Thus I offered to host a baby shower, with one caveat - I would not do baby shower games.  This didn't bother Kim in the least and the event went forward with great success.

Now once I had disposed of the issue of baby games, I was left with the predicament of choosing a gift.  I've never been one of those types of women, who coo all over baby items.  I've simply never have a strong maternal instinct.  Don't get me wrong, I love babies, I can get mushy as the next person when they grab your finger with their tiny fist or delight you with their wide eyed smile.  It's just that babies emit a lot of various forms of liquids and solids that I find rather unappealing.  I was quite happy to become a parent to two teens who were (somewhat) past their eruption stage in life.  Yet I digress (which I do quite frequently) away from the main issue, choosing a baby gift.

As a retired teacher, the choice was somewhat obvious.  I would give the gift of books, which I consider to be invaluable, since the development of a love of reading will bring life long enjoyment.  When I mentioned this to John, my husband, he said, "Of course, you'll have to get him The Hockey Sweater."   I had been thinking about Good Night Moon, Curious George and The Velveteen Rabbit, but The Hockey Sweater really made sense.  Kim's husband, Mike plays hockey and Kim even gave it a shot at my Rehearsal Party (in which we didn't rehearse the wedding, but instead played hockey).

That's Kim in the Avalanche sweater.  She had never played hockey before in life (as you can tell, by the figure skates and knee pads), but she took to it like duck to water.  Kim was even going to start taking some lessons and play hockey with me, when her pregnancy prevented such activity. 

The Hockey Sweater is the perfect story for Kim and Mike's future son (it would also be the perfect story for their future daughter, but the ultrasound says this one will be a boy).  The Hockey Sweater was written by Roch Carrier.  It was originally written in French and bore the title Une Abominable Feuille D'érable sur la Glace which loosely translates into An Abominable Maple Leaf on the Ice.  The Hockey Sweater is based on a real experience of Carrier growing up in an isolated part of Quebec in the 1940s. He, like many boys his age, was a big fan of the Montreal Canadians and their star player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.  When Carrier's Montreal Canadians hockey sweater wears out, his mother writes a note and sends money to the Eaton's Catalogue Service  to order a new one. The mother uses a handwritten letter since the company did not print French-language versions of their order forms in those days, and she could not understand English.  Unfortunately, the company sends a Toronto Maple Leaf sweater, the Canadiens' bitter  rivals. A loyal fan of the Canadians, Carrier protests having to wear the new sweater. But his mother refuses to let her son wear the old worn-out sweater and, apparently unaware of the business's traditional policy they advertised, "Goods satisfactory, or money refunded", insists that if they were to return the sweater it may offend Mr. Eaton, himself a Leafs fan.  As a result, young Carrier is forced to wear the Leafs sweater to his hockey game, feeling humiliated before the other players on the ice, each proudly wearing a Canadians sweater. The coach refuses to let Carrier play, and he angrily breaks his hockey stick on the ice before being sent to church, where he prays for God to send moths to eat the Maple Leafs sweater.

The NFB made a short film out of the story, both in English & French.

A excerpt from the story, both in English & French is on the back of the Canadian Five dollar bill.

I had to get Madie to read it out to me - the print is quite small

Apparently the story is widely considered an allegory for the linguistic and cultural tensions between anglophone and francophone Canadians.  But sometimes a story, is just a story.  I think The Hockey Sweater perfectly embodies the way the game of hockey can become an integral part of your life.  It certainly demonstrates how significant the game was and is to so many Canadians. 

Kim and Mike's baby is not even here yet.  He has yet to draw his first breath, let alone take his first tottering steps on skates.  Kim loves to dance, maybe this child will inherit his mother's love for that.  So much is uncertain and so much potential is awaiting to be explored.  I only hope that The Hockey Sweater does two things:

1.      Help develop a love of reading.

2.      Help develop a love of an incredible game.

Of course, if this unborn child makes it to the NHL and gives some of the credit to me, the person who gave him The Hockey Sweater, when then, all the better.