It is one of Canada’s best known short stories. It’s called simply. “The Hockey Sweater”
A new 30th anniversary edition published by Tundra Books has just been released. This special edition has 16 additional pages of historical background, photos, and quotes and anecdores from well-known Canadians who have been touched by the story over the decades.
Author Roch Carrier joins me in studio with illustrator Sheldon Cohen.
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Carrier was a rising author in Quebec in the 1970s, a time of political unheaval, when memories of the FLQ terrorist group in Quebec, the which had killed and injured many people were still fresh.
The English language public broadcaster, CBC contacted Carrier and asked him to write an essay on “What does Quebec want?” . Unsatisfied with his attempt, he declined the offer but as the CBC insisted, saying a time slot had been reserved, he instead wrote a short autobiographical story from his youth.
Hockey was quite simply, THE sport in Canada, and in Quebec, the only team was the Montreal Canadiens, and the player who all francophone Quebec children identified with, their hero, was Maurice Richard, with sweater No 9.
Every kid in Carrier’s little town of Ste Justine, wore a Montreal Canadiens sweater with No9 on it. When his wore out, Carrier’s mother ordered a new one from the Eaton’s catalogue. When it arrived, Carrier was horrified, it was not a new Red Canadiens sweater, but the blue sweater of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadiens bitter rival. The reaction of the other kids and even the parish priest, was immediate, and not a happy one for young Carrier.
The story was an instant hit. It later became an animated film and book. Sheldon Cohen was chosen as the illustrator.
It has since become an iconic Canadian story, and both men say it was a major milestone in their lives…and indeed a story that has, and continues to touch thousands of Canadians every year.
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