What decade do you think hockey had peak popularity in Canada?

[Rapsfan]

Hockey has been arguably the most popular sport in Canada for many years. But if you were to pick a decade or era in which hockey was literally talked about every day year round, what would that be?

 

[Rafafouille]

Probably 80s or 90s? TVs in most houses, no Internet so nights were spent watching the game, immigration hadn't started that much yet so most people were raised in families where hockey was the #1 sport so odds were high your friends and colleges were also into hockey.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Probably the 80s cuz Canadian teams were winning every year

 

[Voight]

Probably 80s or 90s? TVs in most houses, no Internet so nights were spent watching the game, immigration hadn't started that much yet so most people were raised in families where hockey was the #1 sport so odds were high your friends and colleges were also into hockey.

+ Team Canada won the Canada Cup in 84 & 87 along with coming in 2nd place in 81. (also won in 1991 as well).

 

[AWSAA]

80s, probably the last Canadian NHL dynasty ever + Montreal & Calgary winning Cups.
You had the Jays winning b2b World Series, Donovan Bailey winning Gold in the 100m, and NBA expansion in the 90s.

 

[Hennessy]

Whichever decade Canadians needed to feel better about themselves.

 

[Zenos]

Hockey has been arguably the most popular sport in Canada for many years. But if you were to pick a decade or era in which hockey was literally talked about every day year round, what would that be?

I don't think there's really anything arguable about it, is there? Sure, there might be more kids playing soccer nowadays (or adults golfing or whatever) - but coast to coast and across demographics, hockey still reigns supreme. You have to look at not only youth participation, but also the sport in terms of investment and attention. Hockey is a billion dollar entertainment industry with a media empire behind it (Bell, Rogers, and others).

Obviously a lot of people will probably look back on a long-gone era when Canada was smaller, slightly more culturally homogeneous , and a lot more dominant in terms of club success and player-representation in the NHL. But keep in mind that Canada had only 25 million inhabitants in the mid 80's. It's now edging towards 40. If we ever see Canada in another "best on best" gold medal game in prime-time (as was the case in 2002 or 2010), I have no doubt that records wouldn't be broken again.

 

[ricky0034]

the 2050s

Gordie Howe gets raised from the dead but his nickname "Mr. Hockey" causes things to go horribly wrong, a reanimated Howe who also happens to have a puck for a head seizes power and Canada bans all other sports

 

[NyQuil]

Whichever decade Canadians needed to feel better about themselves.

It’s hard to pick just one when we’ve been dominating the sport for decades.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

80s had the Oilers dynasty with Gretzky, and the Habs/Flames also won the Cup in that decade.

90s hockey was largely dominated by Canadian superstars. Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzermam, Sakic, Roy, Brodeur etc.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Whichever decade Canadians needed to feel better about themselves.

Damn all these Canadians winning American teams cup really got em cocky eh

 

[NyQuil]

Damn all these Canadians winning American teams cup really got em cocky eh

I know I think England is the greatest soccer nation on the planet because Man City won the Champions League.

 

[Three On Zero]

Something something Bettman, something something Canada

 

[TKB]

Hard to say "peak" and I am not Canadian, but I would have to imagine the Canada Cup 87 victory is a high water mark. Maybe not quite as memorable as the Summit Series, but to me that was hockey at its finest.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Per capita, perhaps the 60s? But in terms of volume, probably the 80s/90s.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Hockey has been arguably the most popular sport in Canada for many years. But if you were to pick a decade or era in which hockey was literally talked about every day year round, what would that be?

Arguably?

It pretty much always has been...that not changing anytime soon

 

[WarriorofTime]

It pretty much always has been...that not changing anytime soon

Not if immigration/demographic trends have anything to say about it, lol

Currently, annual immigration in Canada amounts to around 500,000 new immigrants – one of the highest rates per population of any country in the world. As of 2022, there were more than eight million immigrants with permanent residence living in Canada - roughly 20 percent of the total Canadian population.

If that trend doesn't reverse, then it'll change VERY SOON, as immigrants by and large are not hockey fans.

 

[jigglysquishy]

The game's popularity peaked with those born in the 1940-1970 time period. A large baby boom. Children of the wealthiest middle class Canada had ever seen.

High levels of disposable income. Limited access to other sports or video games. Easy access to rinks. Easy access to structured hockey. Radio and newspaper access was ubiquitous. TV access ubiquitous in the 60s. In most of Canada, indoor hockey rink construction peaked in the 50s and 60s.

So those NHLers from 1965-2000. Peak ticket buying years of 1970-2015.

Starting in the 80s, but really exploding im the 90s the sports landscape in Canada completely changed. The advent of cable brought basketball and the NFL into Canadian homes. The WWF overtook Canadian federations. MLB became something you could actually watch. Arcades and home video games became ubiquitous. New arena construction dropped off hard. And Canada went from a rural nation with free ice time to a suburban nation with costly ice time.

The stagflation crisis hit much harder in Canada, with the country being in hard economic times from 1973 until the late 90s.

As a result, the 7 year old boy in 1975 lived in a completely different hockey world than 1990. The 1983 birth could watch Michael Jordan or Hulk Hogan or Joe Montana from home. He could play Nintendo at home. He simply had access to not hockey things that he wouldn't have 15 years earlier.

Canada did a really poor job of integrating immigrants after 1990 into the hockey culture too.

As a result hockey isn't even close to as popular now as it was 35 years ago. It'll never get back to what it was in Canada.

 

[Digital Kid]

Definitely definitely definitely the 1980s with the 1970s being a close second (don't forget all the Can adian WHA teams)

I cannot emphasize strongly enough just how tough it was between say 1990 to 1996 being a fan seeing players all sold off or traded away from most of the Canadian teams. Watching teams slowly be dismantled due to costs (low C$) and eventually teams leaving. Dead puck era following that.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

1970s had the best teams in NHL history and the Summit Series

 

[Maurice of Orange]

I’d say probably the golden years of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s with Foster Hewitt’s play-by-play broadcasts on Saturday nights when hockey night in Canada was really a hockey night in Canada.

Remember, "Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland."

 

[crowi]

It's 70-80s.

 

[ijuka]

No clue. But logically, at a time when every home had a TV but computers or smartphones weren't really a thing. Probably around 85-90.

 

[Fatass]

Hockey up here was a religion in the 50’s and 60’s. Demographics changing in big cities affected it.

 

[Oddbob]

Late 80s-mid/late 90s.