Climate change endangers pastime.
Canada’s new five-dollar bill, introduced last March, features an excerpt from The Hockey Sweater, Roch Carrier’s classic pean to the sport, and an image of several youngsters playing hockey on an evergreen-ringed pond.
The bill is a testament to the importance Canadians lend to hockey and , especially, shinny– played on outdoor rinks and ponds. Shinny’s significance is such that marketers use its imagery to appeal to our patriotic allegiances in selling us everything from doughnuts to credit cards.
In Montreal, shinny has been an important part of winter life for generations, with the drama of Carrier’s book played out on every winter day and night on the outdoor rinks across the island.
But recent events– ranging from municipal to meteorological — have contributed to the decline of the game in Montreal.
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