Acknowledgements

This book came together over many years with the help of many people. Andy Holman deserves a special thanks for introducing me to the world of hockey scholarship at his Canada’s Game? conference in 2005. Many of my chapters were first tested, in rough form, at subsequent gatherings of the interdisciplinary Hockey Conference group. Jason Blake, Angie Abdou, Brian Kennedy, Don Morrow, Colin Howell, Julie Stevens, Richard Harrison, and others offered inspiration and feedback at these conferences. The Sports Literature Association has also been profoundly important to me. This group introduced me to the broader literature about sport and its members have offered friendship and support to me at its annual conferences. Special thanks goes to Joyce Duncan, whose incredible dedication has held the association together for many years. I have too many friends and fellow scholars at the SLA to thank individually. Let me just say a collective thank you to all. Without the SLA, this book would not exist.

I also want to thank the good people at Athabasca University Press. This is my third project with the press and each time I have been amazed at the talent and dedication of the people who work there. Special thanks must go to Karyn Wisselink and Pamela Holway, who have been so supportive of this project. Also thanks to Tania Doney, whose fine editorial eye helped to make the book as good as it could be.

On a personal note, I am grateful, as always, to Wendy Wasilewski, the love of my life, who has been my constant companion through so many years. Recently Wendy and I have been lucky enough to become grandparents for the first time, so I would like to dedicate this book to my granddaughter, Lyna Dopp.