For the first time in eons, the city that was once the heart of hockey (with Montreal being the soul) was back in the Stanley Cup playoff picture. All told, it was good for the franchise, good for the fans, and good for the city. Hell, it was good for hockey...

---------------------------------------- Think of that much-overused (and sometimes incorrect) line, "It's not personal. It's business." Well, the...

Forget March Madness. Or the run for the Stanley Cup. And you can keep your Super Bowl, Grey Cup or World Series. For my money, the most exciting spo...

MONTREAL - Slapping a Canadian Maple Leaf on your backpack when travelling abroad may have its perks, but Craig Klinkhoff has found an even better way...

We get it, hockey people (myself included). We know you like to act tough. But, please, please, please... Everybody in the NHL, for the love of whatever imaginary friend in the sky you believe in WEAR A VISOR! Fact is, visors don't save you from everything. They're not supposed to. But, they can still save your career. They can save you from something far worse.

It doesn't really matter what happens or how the standings change. For the foreseeable future, the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks are semi-p...

Don Cherry's regressive rhetoric betrays Canada's reputation as a nation of inclusiveness and cultural tolerance. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has tolerated this treatment for too long. Don Cherry's distasteful diatribes belong in hockey's past, not in the Canadian national pastime's present or future.

One benefit of the National Hockey League strike: it gave people time to play outside on real ice! But outdoor skating could face the same difficulties as the NHL -- a drastically shorter season or outright cancellation. Research from Montreal's McGill and Concordia universities shows global warming is already having an effect on outdoor rinks in Canada.

As I'm sure you all know by now, a tentative deal has been reached between the players and the owners of the NHL. For most of the world, this means absolutely nothing. I find the NHL more and more irrelevant every time it returns from another one of these temper-tantrums. As a recovered NHL addict, I can't help but wonder why we want to put so much energy and passion, offer so much devotion and piety, to a league that has done this to its fans four times in the past 20 years. Why do both the league brass and the players' union continue to overestimate Canada's passion for the NHL?

I know the NHL is really happy with itself right now, and I can't stand for that. The Lockout may be ending -- pending approval and some seriously important paperwork -- but the NHL still has to answer for the past few months, and the years before that. The league betrayed its product and millions of its own fans.

The World Junior Hockey Championship has captivated Canadians again this holiday season. But the sight of Team Canada's goalie's skin colour was met with laughter, bemusement, confusion and contempt in Canada and abroad. Thankfully, the long-ignored vestiges of disdain for diversity in hockey have been gaining attention nationwide, in the USA, and across the pond as hockey fans and foes band together to address long-standing pressures that still blight the game.