#DonCherryFired (Se 2 Ep 3)

 

It’s official. Don Cherry, the long time host of Hockey Night in Canada, has been fired. FINALLY. It comes after his most recent racist tirade (far from his first) on live TV against immigrants in Canada.

We break down Don Cherry and his penchant for biggotry with Kristi Allain. Kristi teaches in the department of sociology at St-Thomas University in Fredericton, NB, and has penned several articles and studies on Cherry’s hate-spewing rhetoric. Find her on Twitter @Kristi_Allain.

Plus we hear some of the words of sports commentator Shireen Ahmed via a beautiful piece she wrote for the Globe and Mail.

Decolonization, Reconciliation & Hockey w/ Chief Wilton Littlechild (Se 2 Ep 2)

 

Wilton Littlechild is a Cree chief from Maskwacis, Alberta. He is a lawyer, a former hockey player, a residential school survivor, and more recently he was one of the commissioners of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He joins us as a special guest on this episode of Changing On The Fly to talk about his own life story, how we can use hockey to promote nation to nation dialogue and understanding, and how we can move towards decolonizing sport, particularly through the Calls to Action of the commission.

Season 2 Episode 1: The State of Women’s Hockey w/ Erica Ayala

 

Welcome back to Season 2 of Changing on the Fly! Our guest on this episode is Erica Ayala. Erica is an NWHL analyst, broadcaster, and an expert on women’s hockey. We talk here about the women’s hockey strike in Sweden, the Dream Gap tour in women’s hockey in North America, and so much more.

Follow Erica on Twitter @elindsay08

If you like this podcast, then support us! www.patreon.com/changingonthefly

Read Hemal Jhaveri’s article about Auston Matthews here.

Episode 13: The Story of Fred Sasakamoose (Season 1 finale)

 

This is our last episode of Changing On The Fly for season 1! We’ll be back with season 2 in the fall.  So as we head out for the summer, we leave you with this very special episode.

Fred Sasakamoose is a Cree elder from the Ahtahkakoop Cree reservation in central Saskatchewan. He famously became one of the first Indigenous people to ever play in the NHL, putting on a Chicago Blackhawks jersey and playing 11 games for the team in the 1953 season. But the road to there was paved with trauma, tragedy, and resilience. Fred, like so many other Indigenous people of his generation, is a survivor of Canada’s Residential School system. He learned to play hockey at St-Michael’s Indian Residential School, but also suffered great abuse there. Still, he kept up with his passion, and went on to make it to the highest level for a hockey player.

Episode 12: Pucks, Punks, & Politics with Propagandhi

 

On today’s episode, we’re finally bringing you part 2 of a 2 part series called Pucks, Punks, and Politics – conversations with punk rockers on hockey, radical politics, and the art of getting loud. Our first part of this series was with Chris 2 from Anti-Flag, and if you missed that you can go back and listen to Episode 10.

Today’s episode is with Jord Samolesky, the drummer of the seminal Winnipeg punk band Propagandhi. Aside from being a very busy touring musician for the last few decades, Jord is also a dedicated human-rights activist in his home town, and joined me for a discussion to talk about Propagandhi’s latest album, how to stave off impending climate doom, and why he just can’t cheer for the Winnipeg Jets.

Episode 11: From #OneLeague to #NoLeague – The Future of Women’s Pro Hockey in Canada

 

On episode 11 of Changing On The Fly, we tackle the devastating news that the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) is shutting down its operations after 12 seasons. The announcement from the league came just one week after the Clarkson Cup championship match, and the day before many players from the league were set to fly overseas to Finland for the women’s world hockey championships. Bad timing to say the least.

We break down and analyze what this all means with two of the most passionate voices in women’s hockey media.

Shireen Ahmed is a writer, public speaker, and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.

Erica Ayala is a New York-based child advocate, sportswriter and  analyst covering the National Women’s Hockey League.

Episode 10: Drop Pucks, Not Bombs with Anti-Flag

 

Chris Barker (aka Chris #2) from the long-standing Pittsburgh punk band Anti-Flag joins us on this episode to talk hockey, punk, and politics! Chris is a busy guy, and is often found playing bass and singing for Anti-Flag, recording album after album, and touring the world playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. But while he’s not on stage, he looks for every opportunity he can get to play or watch hockey. Chris came on the podcast to talk about his working-class Steel City, the anti-fascist & anti-war politics of Anti-Flag, and why hockey AND punk rock mean the world to him. He’s a Penguins fan, I’m a Habs fan, but we set aside our differences in the name of our mutual love: PUCK ROCK!

Episode 9: Hockey Riot in Canada

 

A History of Le Smashy-Smash

There have been at least 8 recorded hockey riots in Canadian history. While often dismissed as simply drunken hooliganism, these events actually reveal important social & class tensions, and we can learn a lot from them. On today’s episode of Changing on the Fly, we walk you through a brief history of hockey riots, starting with the Maurice Richard Riot in Montreal on March 17, 1955, and ending with the most recent, the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot of June, 2011.

Our guests on the program today are Dr. Jenny Ellison, Curator of Sports and Leisure with the Canadian Museum of History, and co-editor of the anthology “Hockey: Challenging Canada’s National Game”, as well as Franklin Lopez, independent journalist and founder of the anarchist video collective Submedia.

Roundtable on Racism in Hockey – March 30th — Hockey in Society

Last fall, Bob Dawson reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in co-organizing an event to address racism in Canada’s game. Naturally, I said YES. Bob was the first Black player to play in the Atlantic Intercollegiate Hockey League in 1967 with St. Mary’s University. As a diversity consultant and Black […]

via Roundtable on Racism in Hockey – March 30th — Hockey in Society

Arenas on Stolen Land – Edmonton’s Rogers Place & Gentrification

 

 

Today on the podcast, we go to Alberta.

 

 

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are sworn enemies on the ice, their rivalry known as the ‘Battle of Alberta’. And off the ice, the way these cities approach their hockey infrastructure couldn’t be any more different. Calgary residents recently voted in a referendum to refuse the city’s bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the city is also adamantly refusing to pour public money into building a new arena for the Flames. Meanwhile 3 hours up the road in Edmonton, the Oilers moved into their shiny new digs at Roger’s Place in 2016, at a cost of $313 million to local taxpayers. And to top it off, the new arena is contributing to the forced displacement of an urban Indigenous community just down the street.

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Rylan Kafara and Jay Scherer from the University of Alberta, who have both been studying the impacts of Roger’s Place on their city. Rylan gives us a tour of the surrounding area, and they both break it all down for us.