UNews - National Hockey League

Burke to headline Pronghorns Scholarship Breakfast

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 22:08:21 +0000

One of the most accomplished, opinionated and prominent personalities in professional hockey is the featured speaker for the 2014 Pronghorns Scholarship Breakfast, to be hosted by Pronghorn Athletics on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 in the 1st Choice Savings Centre gym.

Brian Burke has spent time with professional hockey organizations in Hartford, Vancouver, Anaheim, Toronto and now Calgary over the last 20-plus years.

Brian Burke, President of Hockey Operations for the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames, will be welcomed to campus for the third annual athletic scholarship fundraising event.

“We’re thrilled to be able to bring in a speaker of Brian Burke’s stature,” says Robb Engen, manager of Business Development, Sport and Recreation Services. “Brian is well known for being outspoken and one of the sport’s biggest off-ice personalities but he’s also an astute businessman, environmentalist and humanitarian. I think his message is perfect for our audience and one that will resonate long after the event.”

Burke has spent time with professional hockey organizations in Hartford, Vancouver, Anaheim, Toronto and now Calgary over the last 20-plus years.

Well respected in the hockey community. Burke’s teams have qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs seven times since 2000-2001. As executive vice-president and general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, Burke guided the Ducks to their first Stanley Cup win in 2007. He was appointed to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s selection committee and is an original member of the US Men’s National Team Advisory group. In 2008, he received the Lester Patrick Award for his outstanding service to hockey in the United States.

Outside the rink, Burke is well known for his community involvement. He is a vocal activist against homophobia in sports, and a strong supporter of first response personnel and military service members.

The Pronghorns Scholarship Breakfast was launched in 2012 during the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s 45th anniversary, and raises money for U of L student athletes now and into the future. Its goal is to continue to provide essential funding as the Horns build and maintain a competitive athletic program.

The inaugural breakfast featured CBC Sports personality Brian Williams as the featured speaker, while last year’s event invited Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewksbury and hall fame swim coach Debbie Muir to campus.

“This event provides a great opportunity for our program to connect with the broader community,” says Engen. “In addition, the scholarship funding achieved through this event is critical to our success as it helps our teams both in terms of recruiting and in supporting our student athletes as they balance their ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with their sport.”

Tickets for the 2014 Pronghorns Scholarship Breakfast (Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014, 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness Gymnasium, 7 to 9 a.m.) are priced at $125 each or $1,000 for a table of 10. To register for the breakfast, visit uleth.universitytickets.com.

Patterson responds with breakout season

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:03:36 +0000

Goaltender Crystal Patterson was challenged by head coach Chandy Kaip to be better than a third-string player. Suffice it to say, she responded.

The second-year Calgary product posted one of the best Canada West seasons ever for the Pronghorns women's hockey team, helping the Horns to their best finish in franchise history and first playoff appearance in five seasons.

"I took that challenge and pretty much proved coach wrong that I was a third string goalie," says Patterson, who was named to the Canada West First All-Star Team and Horns Female Athlete of the Year. "I knew I had to get my fitness up and it was something I worked on and it turned out pretty well."

Patterson started all but one conference game this season, leading Canada West in minutes played (1401:22), shutouts (6) and total saves (607). She was also second in the conference in wins (14), third in save percentage (0.928) and fourth in goals-against-average (2.01).

In her second year with the Horns, Patterson came out of the Edge Hockey Academy in her hometown of Calgary. She says there was never a consideration to play for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary Dinos.

"No, I never thought about it. I actually loved coming to Lethbridge because it is close to Calgary but it gives you your own independence and freedom," she says. "If you need to go home, it's just a two-hour drive. My parents are able to come down and watch me play pretty much every weekend too, and they come on a lot of our road trips as well, so it's great to have that support."

It's a consistent theme on the Horns, with five players from Calgary and a sixth who attended Edge Academy. Canada West Rookie of the Year, Sadie Lenstra, is another Calgary product, proving it is fertile ground for U of L recruiters.

Off the ice, Patterson is studying in the Faculty of Management.

"It's too early to tell what I want to do with my degree," she says. "My dad wants me to do something with the family trucking business but I'm not sure. I just may get a good background in business and see where it takes me."

Patterson will head back to Calgary once the spring semester ends, but part of her summer training will involve further work with Kaip as she takes her first turn at helping up and coming youngsters.

"Chandy just came to me with the opportunity, and it will be my first chance to work with kids so I'm really looking forward to it," says Patterson.

She understands how a future can be shaped by the influence of a mentor. She recalls an instance where National Hockey League goaltender Curtis Joseph made a lasting impression on her with just one small gesture.

"I got the chance to play between periods at a Flames' game and he was playing for the Detroit Red Wings then," recounts Patterson. "I remember he patted me on the pads and he's been my favourite ever since."

Of course, as a hockey-playing girl growing up in Calgary, current rival Hayley Wickenheiser was also a big factor.

"Hayley Wickenheiser was a big influence for all girls who played hockey in Calgary because she was always involved in camps and things like that," says Patterson. "You'd see her with her medals and she'd come out on the ice with you, so that's why it's so strange to be playing against her now. She was an idol and now she's our competition, I never thought I'd experience that."

After a season of monumental successes, both Patterson and the Horns will be expected to take the next step in 2012-13, but if we've learned anything about "the Monster" as she's been dubbed, it's that the five-foot-10 inch Patterson relishes a challenge.

"Chandy said to us last year that within our time here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, we'll be up there challenging for playoffs and playing with the best teams," she says. "It's pretty astounding that we were able to make playoffs in our second year, but I want to put a banner in our barn before I'm done here."

This story first appeared in the March 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Leading behind the scenes

trevor.kenney — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:39:46 +0000

Forget about spreadsheets and market analysis. If you want to hatch an incredibly successful idea, one of the best ways to do it is to scratch your musings on a paper napkin. The method might be unorthodox, but it's hard to argue with its effectiveness when you consider the list of businesses and ideas that got their start that way. The founders of Southwest Airlines, the professor who came up with trickle-down economics, and the duo who created the game Trivial Pursuit all used napkins as a springboard for their ideas. It's not a bad club, and it's one that Christian Darbyshire (BMgt '99) is happy to be a part of.

Darbyshire is the co-owner and operator of tinePublic Inc. (pronounced "tiny" Public) – an internationally renowned special-events company with a rather prophetic origin.

Inspiration for tinePublic struck late one night in Toronto at a restaurant in Chinatown. Darbyshire was sitting across the table from his good friend Andy McCreath, eating soup and talking the way old buddies do. The duo has known each other since the age of 12 and has a long history together. As fate would have it, Darbyshire and McCreath had professional interests in common, too.

Christian Darbyshire has been able to secure some of the biggest names in the speaking business.

After serving several years in the trenches of the television industry, Darbyshire had carved out a profitable niche as a freelance production manager and publicist. McCreath was doing publicity work for the National Hockey League. As the night wore on, the soup disappeared and the conversation between the friends got inventive. They started to wonder what was stopping them from joining forces and creating their own company. They had been planning events and doing publicity for others for years. Why not combine their expertise and strike out on their own? They envisioned putting together speaking engagements that featured big headline names, producing and promoting the events, and selling tickets for a tidy profit. Darbyshire used the proverbial paper napkin to jot down a business plan. Before the night was over, he and McCreath were partners in a new event-planning venture – tinePublic Inc.

"We wanted to create events for young business professionals," says Darbyshire. "Most of the speaking engagements at that time were big-ticket dinner events that priced a lot of people out of the market. We wanted to produce events that drew a wider audience."

tinePublic's top choice for a first speaker was former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Darbyshire sent a letter to Clinton's organization requesting a meeting to discuss his company's proposal. It wasn't a big surprise that there was no response.

"I knew it was a long shot trying to line up such a big name right off the bat, but there was nothing to lose in trying," says Darbyshire. "I sent at least half a dozen letters to Clinton's office over two years, and made several phone calls, but it didn't get us anywhere. In the meantime I kept looking for another opportunity."

The brass ring presented itself a couple of years later in the form of a reality TV star – one Bill Rancic, winner of the first season of Donald Trump's television show, The Apprentice.

"The Apprentice was a massive success and Bill Rancic was huge," recalls Darbyshire. "It was 2005, and business in Alberta was booming. It was the perfect time to bring the current icon of business success to the public."

Darbyshire and McCreath contacted Rancic's people, scheduled a meeting and flew to New York. There, in Rancic's Manhattan office, the partners laid out a plan for the first speaking engagement the pair would produce. It would take place in Calgary, the epicentre of new business in Canada, and Rancic would be the headliner.

"He jumped on board right there," says Darbyshire, describing Rancic's response. "We couldn't believe it. Suddenly we were in business. That was it. The ball was in motion."
The next 30 days were a whirlwind of big-time planning on a shoestring budget. Darbyshire and McCreath cleaned out their bank accounts to pull it off, and a month later Bill Rancic was in Calgary in front of a group of 1,800 eager businesspeople. The success of that first engagement led to five more shows at venues across North America. The Rancic tour was tremendously popular and profitable.

"That's when we knew we were really onto something," says Darbyshire.

tinePublic was enjoying its first taste of success. Darbyshire and McCreath were busy planning a stream of new engagements when one day, out of the blue, Darbyshire picked up a call from the office of the man he'd been waiting for since day one – Bill Clinton. Clinton's office had received all the letters Darbyshire had sent over the years and was impressed by the company's recent success. They offered tinePublic the opportunity to co-ordinate speaking engagements for the former president and Darbyshire accepted the job on the spot.

"It wasn't until I hung up the phone that it occurred to me that maybe we'd bitten off more than we could chew," says Darbyshire.

Putting his worries aside, plans for the Clinton engagement went full steam ahead. The event took place several months later at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont., in front of a crowd of 6,500 riveted attendees. Darbyshire and his partner doubled their investment that day, and went on to produce 10 more events with Clinton over the next two years.

The rest, as they say, is history. tinePublic has gone on to organize touring events for Tony Blair, Alan Greenspan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell, George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani and Lance Armstrong among other cultural and political icons. The company has also expanded its business scope to include concert promotion (they've worked with performers like Elton John and Diana Ross). In addition to his work with McCreath, Darbyshire runs a public-relations firm that works with major finance, cosmetic, oil and gas, and mining companies across North America. In recognition of his hard work, Darbyshire was named to Canada's Top 40 Under 40™ in 2011.

Stories and anecdotes about the famous people Darbyshire has met are just under the surface of his speech, but he's far too professional to let any cats out of the bag. The most he'll tell you is that everyone he's worked with is quite candid, and the insights he's gained from high-profile people are extraordinary. When it comes to sharing the secret of his own success, however, Darbyshire is a lot more forthcoming.

"You can't let fear stop you, in life or in business," Darbyshire says. "I've been scared plenty of times, but I've always followed through. If you really work at something, it will most likely end up being OK, or really good, or even spectacular. You've got to use fear in a positive way. Never give up. And think big."

This story first appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of SAM magazine. For a look at a flipbook version of SAM, follow this link.

Peters joins Babcock with Wings

trevor.kenney — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:24:05 +0000

Former ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's hockey coaches are reuniting in the National Hockey League.

Bill Peters, a Horns coach from 2002 to 2005, will serve as an assistant coach with Mike Babcock after the Detroit Red Wings announced his appointment on Friday. Babcock coached the Horns in 1994, guiding the team to its only ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Cup title.

The two were linked previously as Peters was Babcock's assistant coach with the Western Hockey League's Spokane Chiefs. Peters joined Babcock's Spokane staff during the 1996-97 season and returned to the same post in 1999 – Babcock's final season with the Chiefs – where he stayed until joining the Horns.

Peters spent three seasons with the Horns from 2002 through 2005, guiding the team to a 17-59-8 record and one post-season appearance. In 2005 he returned to the Chiefs, eventually leading Spokane to a Memorial Cup title in 2008, the same season that Babcock and the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.

Most recently, Peters was the head coach with the Rockford IceHogs in the American Hockey League. He was the longest tenured coach in IceHogs history, spending three seasons behind the bench while compiling a record of 122-97-7-14. The Three Hills, Alta. native guided the Hogs to a winning season during every campaign he coached in Rockford.

Trend-tracking in action

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:30:09 +0000

Dr. Reg Bibby knows a thing or two about today's teens.

You may not like their asymmetrical hairdos, nose piercings or ironic t-shirts, but today's teenagers aren't turning Canadian culture on its head, as per the prevailing stereotype. On many levels, today's youth are actually looking better than previous generations, says sociologist and trend-tracker Dr. Reginald Bibby.

The notion of teenagers as threats to the well-being of Canadian society is a prejudicial stereotype that unfairly generalizes all teens. "There seems to be such a pervasive mindset that teens are simply not that likable and lovable," says Bibby.

In reality, quite the opposite is true, according to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researcher who has been monitoring the attitudes and habits of Canadian teens and adults for three decades. Today's youth are solid citizens and are adjusting well to the new Canada, Bibby reports in his latest book, The Emerging Millennials: How Canada's Newest Generation is Responding to Change and Choice.

Working on Project Teen Canada, a series of national surveys that have examined Canadian teenagers' behaviour and values since 1984, Bibby and Associate Director James Penner completed the most recent installment in 2008. The survey of 5,500 teenagers across the country shows that the millennials are doing well. They're generous and polite. They report the most positive relationships with parents in three decades. The prevalence of vices like smoking, drinking and marijuana use have declined, as have depression, suicide and bullying.

Also on the decline is young people's interest in professional sports, including the beloved National Hockey League (NHL). Only about 50 per cent of young men and 20 per cent of young women follow the NHL. According to Bibby, their lack of interest demonstrates the acceleration of choices, but for an allegedly hockey-crazed country, it's a rather startling discovery that caught the attention of media outlets ranging from the National Post through Canada AM to the New York Times.

All in all, the baby boomer generation's "social experiment" of having both parents employed outside the home has known increasing success as older boomers and post-boomers have improved on how they balance careers and family life.

To quote a famous baby boomer lyric: the kids are all right.

While the large majority has been receptive to Bibby's overall good-news findings, not everyone is convinced. Bibby has found that invariably there are those who are down on teenagers, people who "don't want to be confused by the facts."

But such responses don't phase him. Dismantling tired stereotypes is important to the researcher who has explored social trends since coming to the U of L in 1975. Bibby's areas of myth-breaking have included attributing much teen-adult conflict to adults; questioning the extent to which people are abandoning religion; the importance of not only praising but tapping into our cultural diversity; documenting the limited growth of interest in the National Football League and National Basketball Association and the ongoing interest in the Canadian Football League; and making his most recent case for the elevation of the quality of teenage life in Canada.

Bibby's research philosophy has always been that it doesn't make sense to study trends abstractly; rather, it's essential to question Canadians directly.
"In my mind, if one wants to understand what people are thinking, there's no substitute for asking them," he says. "Therefore, a survey that is carried out well is simply a good conversation with people. It results in learning what Canadians are thinking – rather than telling them."

Disseminating the research is also an important aspect of Bibby's work. Over the years, he's consciously shared and explained his findings with Canadians through his books, media coverage and public presentations across the country.

His commitment to public awareness has not gone unnoticed. This fall, Bibby will receive the 2009 Distinguished Academic Award from the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), an award that recognizes the success of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ bringing their scholarly work to the broader community.

Not surprisingly, this isn't his first accolade. Bibby holds a U of L Board of Governors Research Chair in Sociology, has an honorary doctoral degree from Laurentian ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and in 2006 was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of his research contributions to the country.

In the aftermath of the 2008 survey, the prolific researcher plans to take a breather from his survey-research. "I want to sit on a rock in some beautiful place and write poetry," he jokes. Instead of focusing on data collection, Bibby plans to spend more time analyzing the data he has accumulated and turn his attention to a new book on religion in Canada – Beyond the Gods and Back.

And, of course, he'll continue to hold up that mirror to Canadians.

"I really have been fortunate not only to do research but also to teach and make presentations that allow me to see to what extent people recognize themselves in the findings. It has made the research come alive."

Bibby is the author of 12 best-selling books with total sales of close to 150,000 copies. His research has received extensive media coverage and has been seen as the feature story on the cover of Maclean's on several occasions.

Well-grounded, well-rounded

trevor.kenney — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:10:44 +0000

We think we know Mike Babcock by who we see on our television screens. He comes off as a steely-eyed competitor, a taskmaster who pushes and prods his players to strive for an on-ice perfection that, by the nature of the game, is unattainable. In the end, we see a hockey coach and a man who has won at virtually every level of the sport – a champion.

That Mike Babcock is for public consumption. He is the button-down, blazer-wearing Stanley Cup champion and coach of Canada's 2010 Canadian Olympic Men's Hockey Team. He is just a sliver of the true Mike Babcock. For as much as Babcock strives to be at the pinnacle of his sport, his upbringing and family values tell him that true success is measured off the ice.

"My wife always laughs — she sees me wearing a suit behind the bench and wonders who that is because I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt and ball hat most of the summer; I'm just like everybody else," says Babcock. "It's just that when people see me, they have me in that different light – my kids don't know who that guy is, either."

That guy is the one who never saw himself as a hockey coach but rather an academic and educator. He's the guy who resurrected a seemingly stalled coaching career by rejuvenating an on-the-ropes hockey program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and guided the Pronghorns to an unlikely 1994 national title.

"I never dreamed I was going to be a coach in the first place. I thought I was going to be in the college world the rest of my life. I thought I'd go on and get a PhD and teach," says Babcock, who has an undergraduate education degree and graduate degree in sports psychology from McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. "I liked being in the college environment. I thought it'd be a great job to be around young, excited people getting better and going places. I thought I'd always be a part of that."

After previously taking Red Deer College to a national final, Babcock accepted a coaching challenge at the U of L. The 1993-94 Pronghorns were not considered a championship contender. The program itself was in trouble and faced the prospect of being cut from the U of L athletic landscape. The Horns had never made the playoffs or even finished a season above the .500 mark.

"When I came to the U of L I had a pretty strong belief in how I thought hockey should be played and what we needed to do to have success; we instilled that from day one," says Babcock.

"I believe there's a right way to play the game and there's a right way to approach life, and I tell that to my kids all the time. I'm not a very cautious person; I'm not a very careful person. I believe in living and getting the most out of every day, and I believe that's also how you play the game."

It's a philosophy that has stood the test of time. Following his one-year stint with the Horns, Babcock guided the Spokane Chiefs for six seasons, twice advancing to the WHL championship series. In 1997, he led Canada to a World Junior Championship gold medal. Two years later, after a brief stop in the American Hockey League, he was coaching the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the National Hockey League. In his first season he took the Ducks to the Stanley Cup final and in the five years since, he's been to two more Cup finals with the Detroit Red Wings, capturing hockey's Holy Grail in 2007-08.

"You have to get better each and every year if you're going to be successful in all walks of life," he says. "It's all about lifelong learning. The things I did at the U of L, technically I might not do anymore, but believing in people and getting them to work hard, to commit to one another and to the team are exactly the same things we talk about today in Detroit."

With the 2010 Olympic opportunity just around the bend, Babcock's approach will not vary. Why would it?

"What a great thing, eh? I'm excited like you can't believe. It's a dream come true to have the chance to be an Olympian," Babcock says, relishing the expectations of, and pressure from, a nation of rabid hockey fans.

"The reason we have expectations is because we have a chance. The tournament now is going to be closer than it's ever been, everybody has a chance to win; we're just big believers that we're going to find a way to get it done. I don't know exactly how we're going to do that, I just know we are."

It's been 15 years since Babcock guided the U of L Horns to that national title, and while everything around him has changed, he still sees himself essentially as the man he was in the fall of 1993, hunting in the foothills every day following practice, looking after his family and striving to be a better person and coach.

"I've always been a little fearful of not being good enough, so that gives me a little bit of drive to try and be better," says Babcock.

Born in Manitouwadge, Ont., Babcock spent much of his childhood in the Northwest Territories, where his father worked as a mining engineer. When Babcock was 12, his family moved to Saskatoon, Sask., where his father still lives today. In the off-season, it's also the area where Babcock, his wife and three children call home.

"I want my kids to be grounded," says Babcock. "My kids are growing up different than I did, but in saying that, we're hoping to raise really good people who are confident and who are going to be difference-makers in the world. That's how my mom spoke to me, and that's how I speak to my kids."

He lost his mother to cancer in 1992, but the lessons she taught still resonate with him today. They are part of the values with which he raises his family and that he also takes to the rink.

"I always say I learned to work hard from my dad, and I learned to talk to people from my mom," says Babcock.

His growth as a coach has garnered the respect of the hockey world and allowed him to work with the most talented players and personalities in the game. Still, despite his rise in professional status, he manages to stay true to the principles by which he was raised.

"It's been a work in progress, and I like to think that I keep getting better, and I'm going to be a better coach next year than I was last year," says Babcock. "You have to be in a constant stage of development if you want to be the best you can be.

"Am I still the same person? I'd sure like to think so. I tell people all the time, the measure of me as a man isn't going to be about the number of games I win, it's going to be about the family I raise."

Trend-tracking in action

trevor.kenney — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:23:03 +0000

To quote a famous baby boomer lyric: the kids are all right.

Bibby's research philosophy has always been that it doesn't make sense to study trends abstractly; rather, it's essential to question Canadians directly.

"In my mind, if one wants to understand what people are thinking, there's no substitute for asking them," he says. "Therefore, a survey that is carried out well is simply a good conversation with people. It results in learning what Canadians are thinking – rather than telling them."

And, of course, he'll continue to hold up that mirror to Canadians.

Bibby Finds Major Decline in Teenage Interest in Pro Sports

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:39:23 +0000

Every league – including the NHL – suffering a drop in market share

Canada is supposedly a hockey-mad country with an insatiable appetite for the National Hockey League. But surprising new research findings reveal that Canadian interest in the NHL has actually declined over the past two decades.

What's more, the proportion of teenagers who follow the National Hockey League (NHL) is lower in Toronto than in any of Canada's six NHL cities.

The research, carried out by sociologist Reginald Bibby of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and published in his new book, The Emerging Millennials, shows that since about 1990, teenage interest in the NHL has dropped from 45% to 35%.

Among adults, the percentage of fans has slipped from about 35% to 30%. The teenage decline in interest extends to all other major sports as well.

- During the glory days of the Blue Jays in the early 1990s, 33% of teenagers said they were following Major League Baseball (MLB). Today that figure stands at only 10%.

- Despite the presence of the Toronto Raptors, interest in the National Basketball Association (NBA) among teens is actually lower today (21%) than it was in the early 90s before the league expanded to Canada (27%).

- For all the exposure the National Football League (NFL) has been receiving, teenage interest has fallen from 26% to 19% over the past two decades.

- In the case of the Canadian Football League (CFL), just 14% of teens say they are currently following the league, down from 22% in the early 1990s.

"What these findings point to is the fact that the entertainment choices of young people and the rest of us have exploded," Bibby said.

"In addition, growing numbers of teens have come to Canada from countries where their sports choices have been led by soccer and basketball, rather than hockey, baseball, or football. And then there has been the ineptitude of the Maple Leafs. The result is that, in Ontario alone, the proportion of teenagers who closely follow the NHL has dropped from 40% in 1992 to 28% in 2008."

Bibby said that the patterns reflect in large part what some observers of social trends refer to as the "death of the monoculture" – where diverse consumer options are resulting in ever-increasing individual choices. It's true of music, fashion, lifestyle – and pretty much everything else.

Bibby's latest youth survey has found that "the monocultural casualties" extend to things like drinking, smoking, and sex. "Even 'vices' now have to compete for teenage attention," Bibby said. So it is that interest in the National Hockey League has taken a serious hit.

"Forget the rhetoric about the NHL needing to add teams in Canada because the country is in love with hockey," Bibby said.

"These findings suggest the NHL needs to add teams in Canada in order that more Canadians – starting with young people – will fall in love with hockey. As a key part of their attractiveness, of course, those new teams need to be competitive and entertaining – shortcomings that have been particularly blatant in the case of the Maple Leafs."

Bibby said his research also indicates that, as teens move into their 20s and 30s and beyond, their following of any given league or sport will come and go in keeping with what they consider to be of interest and value.

"For example, in the past two decades, teen interest in the NBA has waned as they have aged, while their interest in the CFL has increased. Obviously the sports one follows as a single teenager are not necessarily the sports one follows as a married parent."

The research message? Canadians' interest in hockey is hardly innate. The NHL, like every other sport, is going to have to work harder to retain and expand its market share. More Canadian teams, more accessible and affordable tickets, and a winning team in Toronto might be good places to start.

Reginald Bibby has been monitoring Canadian social trends since the mid-1970s, making his findings available through eleven best-selling books. His most recent book is The Emerging Millennials: How Canada's Newest Generation is Responding to Change and Choice (for details visit http://www.reginaldbibby.com).

The current Project Teen Canada survey was concluded in late 2008, and consists of a highly representative sample of more than 5,500 teenagers. Results are accurate within about plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

Graphs which outline the research findings can be found below.

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UNews - National Hockey League

Burke to headline Pronghorns Scholarship Breakfast

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