The sport of ice hockey has long thrilled fans and participants for its high-speed action, physical intensity, and dramatic moments. More than a pass-time, though, hockey can have a deep-rooted significance in individual identity, community spirit, and national pride. In some areas of life it has evolved into a business, a career, and a site for historical, critical, and introspective analysis. It is with these images of hockey in mind that a group of passionate hockey folks developed The Hockey Conference in 2001 to provide a broad-spectrum opportunity to get together and analyze the sport from many perspectives.

Established by Dr. Colin Howell of Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, The Hockey Conference is a biennial event held in different locations throughout North America with hopes of travelling globally. It serves as pivotal forum for academics, professionals, and enthusiasts to explore the multifaceted ways in which we interact with, shape, and are affected by ice hockey. This conference gathers scholars from diverse disciplines such as sports history, sociology, biomechanics, economics, and media studies—as well as practitioners in the field such as coaches, athletic therapists, general managers, scouts, and data scientists—to foster fruitful discussion and advance scholarship on the subject. This is an essential event for anyone interested in the intersection of hockey and society, which can include subjects such as commercialization, gender dynamics, anti-racism, anatomy and physiology, youth development, analytics, and beyond.

The wide range of subjects from various perspectives has attracted the participation of keynote speakers such as: