Today was Valentine's Day. It was also Hockey Day In Canada. For those of you not familiar with the latter, it's a day when all the Canadian teams in the NHL play each other, with all the games televised, with the CBC (and now Sportsnet) hosting the whole deal at some small wholesome town, with the coverage interspersed with heart-warming stories about local hockey.
Of course, that's an odd pairing. It says a lot about Canada that we wouldn't have a problem with celebrating hockey on the same day we celebrate love. But it's also fitting: modern Valentine's day is often criticized as an artificial celebration motivated primarily by business. And essentially, that's what Hockey Day In Canada is. They're also similar in that they are celebrations of things that don't need celebrating. Valentine's day has long been seen as an odd idea, since it is trying to bring joy to people who already have joy. And as I've said before, we in Canada just love telling ourselves how much we love hockey.
Perhaps what we should do is have Hockey Day on the feast day of the patron saint of hockey. Unfortunately, there isn't one. So our next task is to get Maurice Richard recognized as a saint.
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