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ÿþ<titleÿþ>ÿþNew Socialist Magazine, Hockey Mania - Reviewÿþ</title>ÿþ

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ÿþ<bÿþ>ÿþHockey Mania

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by Walter Snowÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

ÿþ<iÿþ>ÿþNew Socialist Magazine, May - June 1996ÿþ</i>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

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ÿþ<fontÿþ ÿþsize="1"ÿþ>ÿþReview of ÿþ<iÿþ>ÿþOpen Ice: The Tim Horton Storyÿþ</i>ÿþ, by Douglas Hunter. Penguin Books, 1995. ÿþ</font>ÿþ</font>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ



Growing up in Brantford, I was surrounded by hockey mania. Toronto and the Leafs were only 60 miles away and in 1972 the Buffalo Sabres were born down the Niagara Peninsula. 

ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

Tim Horton died in a car crash on the highway between Toronto and Buffalo. This led to fevered speculation in our 12-year-old brains about how he had met his death. Braggarts among us claimed later to have visited the exact spot where Horton spun out. With over 1,000 donut shops bearing his name, this guy is a franchising legend. 

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But who was Tim Horton? This book is more than a dry rehash of how Horton's name came to be on the Stanley Cup four times or how he'd opened 35 donut shops by the time he died in 1974. 

ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

Open Ice details the system of indentured servitude that was professional hockey before the days of players' unions. Boys would be signed to an organization like the Leafs at the age of 13 and would be expected to play, barring trades, for the rest of their careers with the Leafs. Free agency was unheard of. Players were paid no more than a white collar wage. Meanwhile, owners like Conn Smythe grew rich from the players' labour. 

ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

Hunter's book is especially good in detailing the social history of Northern Ontario from the 1920s on. Mining companies dominated towns and were known for their discrimination. Italian miners, not allowed to live in INCO-owned housing, were forced to build their own houses on land leased from the company. But should an Italian boy show hockey promise, the barriers he normally faced would fall away, at least at the rink. 

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Many NHLers came from the north, Horton included. Horton played 29 years of professional hockey, and at the end of his life was finally starting to see some rewards going to the players rather than only to the team owners. Even today players get drafted into junior hockey at 15 and most never make it to the NHL. The system of exploitation of hockey labour continues. 

ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ<brÿþ>ÿþ

Open Ice is a good primer on the professional hockey system from the 1940's to the 1970's including some of the history of how players began to fight back against their bosses. 

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