Navigating Hockey’s Cultural Challenges, a guest post by author David A. Robertson

When my son, Cole, was nine—he’s eighteen now—he played hockey on a team called the Kodiaks. They were a skilled team with a head coach who demanded a high degree of effort, which made them tough to play against. My son was one of the forwards and had a great year playing with the guys. The Kodiaks finished the regular season near the top of the standings and rolled into the playoffs as one of the teams to beat. That all changed when they lost their first game. Suddenly, they had to win a ridiculous number of games in a row to claw their way to the city final. But they did it, and in dramatic fashion. Every game was a nail-biter. Even though they lost in the final, it was a season to remember. When the playoffs were over, I remember thinking, “The Kodiaks’ playoff run would make a pretty cool middle-grade novel.”

I had that thought, but I didn’t imagine I’d ever write the story. I just didn’t see the educational value in it. For the work I do and the goals I’ve set, I must write stories that teach kids, or adults, something important, whether about mental health or Indigenous people, cultures, communities, and languages. There has to be something more than, in this case, hockey. As big a role as the sport has played in my life as a parent, and as much fun as that has been, I held my imagined hockey story to the same standard. I decided that if I ever thought of a way to tie in something teachable that was in line with my writing objectives, I would return to the story.