The best game we can name: the good

The best game we can name: the good old hockey game?

By all accounts, nationally and internationally, Canadians are believed to be hockey aficionados. Keep Calm and Carry On? Nope. Keep Your Stick On The Ice. At least, so says Canadian icon Red Green.

However, hockey is not the sport Canadian adults play the most, according to Statistics Canada.

Taking the top spot is golf, played by just over five per cent of adults, according to 2013 data. Hockey is in second place, at just under four and a half per cent. Many people play both, wielding clubs in the summer months and sticks in the winter. Of adults who report playing sports, 23 per cent of men and four per cent of women play hockey.

Still, more than 50 per cent of NHL players hail from the Great White North, though only seven of 30 franchises are located in Canadian cities. More than 600,000 Canadian youths under 18 are registered for minor hockey leagues.

A poll from November 2012 by the Association for Canadian Studies found 48 per cent of Canadians felt hockey gave them a sense of national pride. Close to the same percentage of Canadians, or more than 15 million people, watched at least part of the game when Canada won gold over Sweden at this year’s Winter Olympic Games.

Bottom line: Try to find a Canadian who doesn’t know the former Hockey Night in Canada theme by heart, or who hasn’t heard of Don Cherry.