‘You feel at home’: Playoff hockey helps newcomers feel more Canadian

Mykhailo Ivanov never thought he'd become a diehard hockey fan.

The 42-year-old had immigrated to Winnipeg a little over two years ago to escape the war in Ukraine. He didn’t know much about hockey, he said, but after he was given tickets to a Jets game he fell in love with the sport – and the community that comes with it.  

“I like that kind of emotion and support from other fans, from the people nearby you,” he said in a phone interview. “It's an important part of my life now.” 

"It decreases or even erases those boundaries, those limits newcomers normally face.” 

As three Canadian teams fight their way through the NHL playoffs, fans across the country are cheering from the sidelines, including those who newly call Canada home. 

Some immigrants say that just as hockey is a part of Canadian identity, celebrating the sport during playoff season helps them become part of it, too.

Christine Munsch said when she and her husband first moved to Toronto from France about 18 months ago, they tried watching football and basketball to help them adjust to Canadian life. But it was hockey that had them hooked, she said.

"We knew it was a big part of Canadian culture," she said in a phone interview. "I was really amazed by the quality of skating and this balance between well-done choreography and a sometimes violent game." 

Munsch added that she was surprised by the hockey fans' sportsmanship. In Europe, rival soccer fans are strictly separated in the stands, she said, but at hockey games the fans all sit together in good spirits, even amid playoff tensions. There's friendship in the sport, she said.

"When people learned that we were hockey fans, they really paid more attention to us, and we got integrated a lot easier," said Munsch, adding that she and her husband often watch playoff hockey games with friends and neighbours.

Now, Munsch said they never miss a match and they closely follow all the teams. They really like the Edmonton Oilers, she said, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are their favourite.

She even has her own little Carlton bear, the Leafs' mascot.

"Sometimes when I watch a game, I take him with me," she said.

Meanwhile, as the Jets make their own bid for the Stanley Cup, the atmosphere in Winnipeg feels “like a permanent holiday,” Ivanov said, as fans cheer on the streets and Jets flags wave all over the city. 

Ivanov now has a collection of several Jets jerseys, and he also has friends from a fan club to talk all things hockey. They even make posters before playoff games that say, “Go Jets go!” 

The sport has helped him become part of Winnipeg’s community, he said, and it "completely changed" his life.

“You feel more integrated into Canadian society, you feel at home. You don’t feel like an immigrant,” said Ivanov. “You feel more Canadian, more local. It helps a lot.” 

For Munsch, as soon as the Leafs clinched home advantage, she and her husband quickly bought tickets for the first round showdown against the Ottawa Senators. They sat in the upper level of Scotiabank Arena, she said, because "that's where I was told the real fans are."

But Munsch isn't just a fan. On game days, when she tells people she has to rush home to catch the puck drop on TV, they tell her the same thing every time.  

“They say, ‘You’re a real Canadian.’”  

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Mykhailo Ivanov