nordiquesfancorner.substack.com
A blog of about the politics and culture of ice hockey. Exploring a changing hockey culture in a changing world. Quebec Nordiques truther. Je me souviens.
https://nordiquesfancorner.substack.com
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Thanks, feel free to subscribe and comment! Would love to hear your thoughts!
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Coming up, I've got essays in the pipeline on the NHL's gestures towards progressive politics; what it means to be underrated; the aesthetics of Soviet hockey; and the decline of hockey's drinking culture. Stay tuned!
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And then, most recently, I wrote about the origins of the advance stats vs experiential hockey knowledge debate, and how to think about where we are in the history of hockey metrics.
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In the first of what I hope will be an ongoing series, I went to a professional hockey game in Switzerland and wrote about fans, nonfans, and whether hockey is "fractal."
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Then I made some mid-season award picks based purely on narratives, vibes, and how fun and fitting it would be for a given player to win--and riffed on how rare and special it is for NHL players to be Jewish.
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My first real essay was an argument against NHL expansion. The more teams there are, the less likely any given team, and player, is to win the Stanley Cup. If we have too many teams, we risk devaluing the playoffs--but I love the Columbus Blue Jackets, and I don't want them to leave.
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I feel like the essay speaks for itself
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This looks like a great job. But on the other hand, we could question the basis for hockey stats as a way of knowing at all, and dissolve into paranoia:
nordiquesfancorner.substack.com/p/a-brief-hi...
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Hi LT, you're one of my favourite hockey writers and an inspiration for why I got into this. Would love to hear your thoughts on my new blogging project, exploring hockey culture and politics in the 2020s. Keep up the amazing work!
nordiquesfancorner.substack.com/p/manifesto-...
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Really happy for some more Quebec content--and would love to see the PWHL there. This is expansion I can get behind. I wrote about that a couple weeks ago:
nordiquesfancorner.substack.com/p/against-nh...
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Is the NHL more likely to a) avoid giving other players long suspensions for a while so it doesn't have to suspend Connor McDavid, or b) suspend McDavid for a long time to make a point?
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This is the problem the UK had with Brexit. Every idea is great if you only hear the 10 second pitch.
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I don't think the DDR comparison works. East Germany is less competitive on a bunch of economic markers, but standards of living, healthcare, public services, etc, are obviously way higher. I would DEFINITELY vote against joining the US for lots of reasons, but currency competitiveness isn't one.
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7/ And 2) We are often invited to consider what we would have done "during the Holocaust." A more useful question for Douthat to consider: What boring, smarmy op-eds would he have written about Czechoslovakia in 1935 if he thought they might annoy liberals?
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6/ Two better questions for Douthat: 1) If your neighbours, in the midst of a violently abusive marriage predicated on mutual self-loathing, invited you to join for a menage a trois, would you want to join them? Would you board a sinking ship at the moment of its scuppering?
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5/ Of course, Douthat's job is not to produce interesting takes, but to drive clicks and irritate liberals by pretending to have controversial views. Fair enough; I guess I would say this is a dishonourable way to earn a living as a writer, but it is and should be legal.
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4/ His characterization of Canadian identity as merely vapid anti-Americanism mirrors his own vision of conservatism as a morally and ideologically empty container for anti-liberalism without any unifying ideas or values. This is not a recognizable conservatism, but a boring pose
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3/ Douthat claims that Canada should "want to participate in the great drama" south of the border (apt description; no thank you). But why, in Douthat's mind, should there be such a receptive and broad market for anti-Americanism? Why is it so clearly appealing?
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2/ The first point is easily dealt with. Does Douthat believe that Canada, with an independent military, parliament, diplomatic service, and judicial system, currently enjoys more or less domestic and international policymaking independence than North Dakota?
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That's partly why I awarded him the Selke in my 2025 Vibe Awards
nordiquesfancorner.substack.com/p/the-vibe-a...
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This is great, but there's also an argument that we should pick awards winners based solely on the narrative, because it would be awesome:
nordiquesfancorner.substack.com/p/the-vibe-a...