About the 2007 Conference

The 2007 conference was held at the beautiful Hotel Grand Pacific on the Inner Harbour in downtown Victoria, BC and included keynote and concurrent sessions, paper presentations and refreshment breaks and meals provided by the chefs of the Grand Pacific’s Five Star kitchen.

Who Were Our Keynote Speakers?

Harley Hotchkiss

Harley Hotchkiss is a part-owner of the Calgary Flames and is in his sixth two-year term as Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors. He is a member of the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame, the Calgary Business Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame (Builder Category), is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and holds an Honorary Doctor of Law Degree from the University of Calgary and an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Michigan State University. In his banquet address, Mr. Hotchkiss will reflect upon his personal experiences in helping to bring the Flames to Calgary, the challenges faced by small market NHL teams, and the impact on the Flames and the NHL of the 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

David Whitson

David Whitson is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta, with a specialty in the field of Canadian Studies. He is the author, with Richard Gruneau, of Hockey Night in Canada: Sport, Identities, and Cultural Politics (Garamond Press, 1994), one of the most acclaimed academic studies of hockey, and is the editor, also with Richard Gruneau, of Artificial Ice: Hockey, Culture, and Commerce (Garamond Press, 2006). He has published many articles and reports on subjects such as: globalization and Canadian popular culture, sport and public policy, leisure and tourism in the urban economy, tourism and gentrification in rural Canada, and globalization and dislocation in rural Canada.  He will be a contributor to an opening plenary panel on hockey in the contemporary global culture of today.

Stephen Hardy

Stephen Hardy is Professor of Kinesiology and Coordinator of the Sport Studies Program at the University of New Hampshire, where he is also an affiliate Professor of History. At UNH since 1988, he serves as Faculty Representative to the NCAA and chairs the President’s Athletics Advisory Committee. He is a founder of the Charles Holt Archives of American Hockey, which are located at UNH’s Dimond Library.  His publications include How Boston Played (1982, 2003), Sport Marketing (1993,2000), and numerous articles, book chapters, and reviews in academic presses, several of which address early hockey in America. His reviews and opinions have also appeared in popular outlets such as the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Sports Business Journal. From 1995-1999, he was co-editor of the Sport Marketing Quarterly. In 1997, he was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education. In May 2001, he won the “Lifetime Research Award” from UNH’s School of Health and Human services.  He will be a contributor to an opening plenary panel on hockey in the contemporary global culture of today.

Who Organized the Conference?

The following players comprised the team who put together this showcase of fine hockey writing and talk. We’re pleased to say that most of them were able to tell a hockey stick from a pencil at 50 paces!

  • Doug Beardsley (English—University of Victoria)
  • Bill Gaston (Writing—University of Victoria)
  • Scott Gerrity (Computer User Services—University of Victoria)
  • Lorna Jackson (Writing—University of Victoria)
  • Jamie Dopp (English—University of Victoria)
  • Colin Howell (Gorsebrook Research Institute—St. Mary’s University)
  • Brian Kennedy (English—Pasadena City College)
  • Don Morrow (Physical Education—University of Western Ontario)
  • Morris Mott (History—Brandon University)
  • Richard Harrison (English—Mount Royal College)
  • Andrew Holman (Canadian Studies / History—Bridgewater State College)
  • Mark Jarman (English—University of New Brunswick)
  • Julie Stevens (Sport Management—Brock University)

Click here for 2007 Hockey Conference Program.