Beating the buzzer: The construction of ageing hockey masculinity

Abstract

In spite of the fact that the media and the public often revere elite male hockey players as exemplars of masculinity, these same groups largely ignore these men when they become old. Moreover, there is very little scholarly research on old(er) hockey players. In contrast, this paper examines the gender expressions of the men who played for the Silver Skaters, an old-timers hockey league in a mid-sized central Canadian city. Although sometimes players met the standard of youthful hegemonic masculinity, they more often broke with it, expressing their own unique forms of ageing hockey masculinity focused on a censure of violence and aggression and an emphasis on an ethic of care and inclusion. In the wake of calls to change the culture of young men’s elite-level hockey, the gender performances of these late(r)-life men, shaped by the structure of their hockey league, demonstrates that alternative hockey masculinities are possible.