The Big Six, romanticizing an era of the National Hockey League

Abstract

This study is about romanticizing the Big Six Era of the National Hockey League. Romanticizing the past is a particular style of reporting which reveals both aspects of the past and what is salient in the social life of the romanticizer. The latter becomes manifest when the functions of this social practice are analyzed. The argument consists of an overview of the National Hockey League with emphasis on the twenty-five years of The Big Six, a consideration of the categories people within hockey culture employ when they think about the game, an explanation of what it means to romanticize the past, and an analysis of two individual and seven social functions of romanticizing The Big Six.