Topic: NHL

Cash-strapped communities routinely pay through the nose to keep a pro-sports franchise in town. The justification has always been that a pro team brings other business and economic development. Studies have shown that this argument is false. Places like Newark want a professional sports team because it offers them a source of civic pride.  But can Newark afford sports?

As Mike Dowse's hockey blockbuster makes it stateside, we're left asking ourselves whether the action of the sport is resistant to cinema—and whether that's necessarily a bad thing. Goon, which convincingly taps into hockey's ultra-violent culture, gets at the inherent paradox of putting hockey on the big screen.

A list of every symbol appearing on NHL goalie masks. The more you know, et cetera. We're not sure how this will help you grow, but we promise it will.

For some of the teenagers playing in the rough-and-tumble Western Hockey League, all those endless bus trips will eventually lead to a NHL city. For most of them, though, the ride's the thing. The second piece in our series, The Archetype.