VIDEO: Poor Len Canayen: The Ultimate Six hockey stars

Fans of professional hockey will be aware that the National Hockey League was founded 100 years ago, in the fall of 1917. It is 8 years younger than the Montréal Canadiens, founded in 1909, but a 100th anniversary is still something to be celebrated, and when the organization has a promoter like (((Gary Bettman))) (no hockey man, he) at its head, you can be sure the PR machine will be in top gear. Which it is.

Canada Post has been quick to jump on the hypewagon. They've been issuing stamps featuring hockey and hockey players since 1955 -- top that! NFL --
and this year have published a set of six stamps commemorating the Ultimate Six Canadian Hockey Legends. Here they are.

These are the six Canucks (meaning their nationality, not their team!) whose names, numbers and achievements recall legendary moments in the history of the game. This being a project of the Canadian government, it will be noted that there are three French-Canadians (Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, and Mario Lemieux) and three Anglo-Canadians (Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky). Which is as it should be. (OK, Gretzky is a Polish name, but No. 99 was born in beautiful Brantford ON.)

It will also be noted that two of the Ultimate Six played for the Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge. Not one Toronto Maple Leaf is included in the group. Why the picture of Rocket Richard is in black-and-white and the rest in colour is a mystery, but hey, that's Canada -- a land of mystery. Walt approves of the choices, and recommends that you buy some of these stamps, not to put on letters -- who does that, in 2017? -- but just to look at them when you feel sad that hockey ain't what it used to be. Where else can you get a picture of Jean Béliveau (my personal favourite) for just 85 Canadian cents (plus tax, of course)?

BONUS VIDEO: I am shocked, shocked that Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] have never shared with you the excellent story of "The Hockey Sweater", written and narrated for the National Film Board video by Roch Carrier. Here it is. No subtitles. If you gonna come on top da country `ere you better learn to talk like we do!



Cliquez ici pour voir la version française.

Who's Canada's team? Eh?? EH!!

Ed. here. It's been a while since we did the mailbag bit, wherein I answer readers' questions about Walt or WWW or whatever. Today we have space for just one. Justine Truedough writes: I notice that Walt seems to be a fan of the Montréal Canadiens. Can you tell me why?

Bonne question, Justine! By way of answer, I've selected a passage from The Unfinished Canadian, by Andrew Cohen (McClelland & Stewart, 2007), a fine book mentioned by Walt in his second post today. He highlighted these paragraphs in the last chapter, "The Future Canadian". I've added an appropriate photo.

Hockey is Canada's high church. For this is the country of the Trail Smokeaters, the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs -- and the Olympic women's hockey team. Most famously, it is the country of the Montréal Canadiens. Even their name says something about us. Up the late 1800s, les Canadiens were the real Canadians, those who spoke French and lived in Québec. It is fitting that the name of the greatest team in hockey should marry Montréal, once the foremost city of Canada, and les Canadiens, the first Canadians. They have come to represent not just the city and Québec but something greater than that, the country itself.

For les Canadiens are what we were, what we are, and what we may be. For years, they were French and English in perfect balance, one of those few national institutions that brought us together. They were Harvey, Harris, Worsley, and Moore. They were Savard, Rousseau, Tremblay, and Plante. They were the country itself, winning and losing, but mostly winning. In the history of the sport, no team has won more professional championships. Twenty-four pennants hang from the rafters of the Bell Centre in Montreal.

And how they won! They were élan itself. The fire of Maurice Richard, the moxie of Doug Harvey, the tenacity of Henri Richard, the power of Bernie Geoffrion, the wings of Yvan Cournoyer, the tentacles of Ken Dryden. Most of all, there was Jean Béliveau, the quintessence of class itself, floating above the maelstrom, his stick a paintbrush sweeping across an incandescent white and blue canvas. Their retired numbers hang from the rafters, too. This is our national portrait gallery.

Their language was not so much English and French, but success. They were what we were. Today, the Canadiens are not just English and French; in fact, they are hardly either, any more. Today they are the world -- Swiss, Finns, Russians, Americans, French, Czechs and Kazakhstanis.

They have no identity crisis. They have no resentment or jealousy or ambiguity and show moderation in everything but the pursuit of excellence. They do not ask who they are and no one asks them. Their temple is cloaked in history -- the championships they have won, the torches they have passed. They know where they are from and who came before them. They do not agonize over divided loyalties or different nationalities. They know instinctively where they belong, in the Dominion of Success. These are les Canadiens....