THE GENTRIFICATION OF CANADA’S GAME
... it’s in the teeth, dentist says
If there’s sign of just how gentrified hockey has become in this country, it may be in the pearly whites of the youngsters playing the game.
Nalin Bhargava is the dentist for Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group teams at Lansdowne — the CFL’s Redblacks, the Fury soccer teams and the OHL’s Ottawa 67s.
He’s seen his share of athletes’ teeth. Yet he was dumbfounded by this: the 67’s hockey players had near-perfect teeth. Straight. So he asked, “Did they wear braces growing up?” Yes. Nearly all.
While hockey players are known for losing teeth to sticks and pucks, football players, often from disparate backgrounds in America, lose their teeth to cavities and lack of care.
One Redblacks player from the United States, Bhargava recalled, had lost virtually all of his upper teeth because he stopped going to the dentist after his grandmother died.
It was this contrast that convinced him hockey at that level had become a rich man’s sport — based on the fact they could all afford braces.
Bhargava’s belief ? Hockey can’t survive on this one demographic: well-off, white kids.
“I don’t think hockey has caught on to the diversity that is now us,” Bhargava says.
Local numbers bear him out. Registration for Hockey Eastern Ontario (HEO) fell by nearly 6,000 children over the past two years, to 24,748 this season from 30,266 in 2015-16.
That’s against the backdrop of a growing population: Between Oct. 1 and Jan. 1, Canada’s population increased by 78,000, according to Statistics Canada. Nearly 70 per cent of the growth was due to international migration. To wit, Canada accepted nearly 50,000 refugees in 2016, including more than 33,000 from Syria.
Hockey organizations, aware of the problems and the opportunities, are making efforts to reach out to children who might lack the opportunity to play, whether it’s due to culture or cost.
A couple of years before the recent HEO/Hockey Canada push with floorball and skating, the Ottawa Girls Hockey Association completely outfitted about 50 girls from Lowertown with full gear to engage them in hockey. Then they provided seven to eight on-ice sessions. The girls had a blast (evidenced by a 2015 YouTube video titled ‘Learn to Play Program’).
That OGHA initiative was followed up by an after-school skating program for which 85 per cent of the learn-to-skate participants signed up.
Bhargava, a former president of the OGHA, has been recognized for his community work with an Ottawa Citizen of the Year Award and a United Way Community Builder Award. He founded the Maharajah’s Ball, which has raised nearly $1 million for local charity initiatives.
TD Bank got involved as a sponsor. Bhargava says he was speaking to a corporate bank representative who told him, “Anyone who does not pay attention to cultural diversity in this country will not exist in 20 years.”
Bhargava likes to ask people three questions, to which the answers are nearly always yes, yes, no.
Question 1: Do you know who Muhammad Ali was? Question 2: Mike Tyson? Question 3: Do you know who is the current heavyweight boxing champion?
The last one stumps everyone. The punchline — “sports can become obsolete very quickly.”
While there is little chance of hockey becoming obsolete, it can no longer assume families will line up on registration day. Embracing a broader demographic only makes sense, on many levels.
Bhargava believes that if new Canadians learn about hockey, they will not only participate but also become fans of the 67’s and Ottawa Senators. He’s convinced the immigrant families want their kids to play Canada’s national game.
“You know why? It’s their ticket into Canada,” Bhargava says. “Hockey has to change. At the end of the day, it’s still a great game. It’s here because, in the winter, it’s the best thing to do.”