it's Hockey Day in Canada!

...as opposed to the other 364 days a year, which of course are all about curling? well, anyway, all 6 Canadian NHL teams are matched up today in exciting Canadian-on-Canadian action...er, if that includes the Oilers-Flames game. Oilers have lost 12 in a row, Flames 9, which means the province of Alberta has had one winning NHL game in 2010 so far. unless there's some way for both teams to lose, it goes up to 2 tonight.

oh, and it's also Hockey Weekend in America, but this post is all-Canada, starring scans from booklets I picked up at a fantastic used bookstore in the charming college town of Champaign, IL, this month. I hadn't been to the Jane Addams Book Shop before. the place is so huge I didn't even notice the 3rd floor till an hour before my bus home. they had a sale on everything, so I picked up a few of my usual faves (vintage recipe booklets and railroad stuff), and browsed the impressive Canada section.

 

Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1961

"the most powerful team"? Blackhawks blogger notes this was published in 1961, laughs, then quickly falls into existential despair

there are lots of skiing photos, but I like this better:

enough Quebec/Montreal. let's go west!

Natural Color Productions, Ltd. & a bunch of other credits but no date (mid-1980s?)

 

great transit photo, but figuring out what it is is more work than I'd thought. it's not light rail, exactly. according to Wikipedia Vancouver uses the SkyTrain, the first line of which opened in 1985, and uses fully automated trains, the longest automated rapid transit system in the world. but this isn't called SkyTrain? my last trip to Canada was actually my first trip to Vancouver, in 2001. I wondered why the transit system seemed unfamiliar, then remembered there was a transit strike during my visit (luckily I was visiting with people who had cars).

  

this was easier to figure out--BC Place, opened in 1983, built in part to attract a major league baseball team (oops), used for football and soccer. GM Place, the arena opened in 1995, is nearby. 

can't say I enjoy this type of stadium (based on one Minnesota Twins game I went to in the Metrodome) but they can make for nice photos

now: Toronto!

 

well, I didn't find anything sports-related, but I got this survey by the Toronto Public Library from 1960. one more actual hockey photo, and this is again from the 1969 book, Hockey:

The 1920 Winnipeg Falcons. Hockey rinks were beginning to come into their own. Note high rafters, long stands to the left.

I like the rink, and the sweaters with Canada, and (unlike the NHL) didn't want to leave Winnipeg out...