Since the NHL is the highest level in professional hockey today, all of the articles deal with this league. The Stanley Cup, hockey's Holy Grail, is the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America, predating by seven years tennis' Davis Cup. It is competed for each year by the two teams that make it to the NHL playoff fin

Many North American players also say that they are learning things from these Europeans. When Kurri was asked about his years playing with Gretzky, he said, "Did Wayne North Americanized me or did I Europeanized him? I think I Europeanized him." Wayne Gretzky himself believes that the way Canadians kids are taught to play hockey is old fashioned. He said, "We used to remark that the way they played was like tabletop hockey-up and down the wing, almost like the kids had levers attached and there were grooves on the ice to keep them on the wing. But that was the Canadian way. And it's still the way they teach kids."

The authors did an amazing job at getting all the different types of people they did to talk about the game. This was one of the strengths of the article. I think they did a terrific job at getting the point across that hockey still is and will always be the life line of Canadians. Without it our culture would not be the same. One can assume that the authors of this article are definitely Canadian because of the extent they went to show how much Canadians adore this game. They also did not go and put down the Americans. They interviewed four Americans that did not have much to say except, "hockey's being taken more seriously in the U.S. People there are very disappointed about this."

als. Dating back to 1892, the Stanley Cup has provided one thing above all else, drama. Although there is no definite place of the birth of hockey, it was definitely started somewhere in eastern Canada. Throughout the years hockey has always had a place here in Toronto. With the Hockey Hall of Fame being located here in our great city, plus all of the greats who have originated from here, people from all over the world look at Toronto as being one of the biggest hockey cities in the world. Toronto, being one of the original six teams along with Detroit, New York, Montreal, Chicago and Boston is the reason that the Maple Leafs has always been greatly respected here.

The author then goes on to interview a few more NHL players. Steve Yzerman for example, commented that although Europeans have great skills and superb skating abilities, "it's still up to them to adapt to the North American game; the more physical game, the grinding schedule." When Pavel Bure was asked about his entrance to the NHL he commented, "The teams in the NHL are all tough." He goes on to say that the difference between playing here an in Europe is that you have to play hard every night. He also remarks that back in Moscow it was not as competitive as it is in the NHL.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Wayne Gretzky, Ottawa Citizen, , World Championship, Maple Leafs, Toronto Immediately, Non-North American, Montreal Canadiens, Jari Kurri, Canada Canadian, european players, national anthem, article author, stanley cup, maple leafs, players coming, steve yzerman, north american, article #, teams nhl, don't agree author, entire article author, european players don't, throughout entire article, players coming europe,
Approximate Word count = 2480
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)