The Hockey Sweater () is a short story by Canadian author Roch Carrier and translated to English by Sheila Fischman. It was originally published in 1979 under the title "'" ("An abominable maple leaf on the ice"). It was adapted into an animated short called The Sweater (Le Chandail) by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) in 1980 and illustrated by Sheldon Cohen.
The story is based on a real experience Carrier had as a child in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, in 1946 as a fan of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and its star player, Maurice Richard. Carrier and his friends all wear Canadiens' sweaters with Richard's number 9 on the back. When his mother orders a new sweater from the Eaton's department store in the big city after the old one has worn out, he is mistakenly sent a sweater of Montreal's bitter rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs, instead. Carrier faces the persecution of his peers and his coach prevents him from playing.
The Hockey Sweater is Carrier's most famous work and is considered an iconic piece of Canadian literature. The story has sold over 300,000 copies and has been republished in numerous anthologies. It exemplifies the nation's passion for hockey, and while it is often considered an allegory of the relationship and tensions that exist between francophones and anglophones, the story is popular throughout the entire nation. A line from the story appears on Canadian five-dollar bills as part of the Canadian Journey banknote series printed between 2001 and 2013.
Background
In the aftermath of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, tensions between francophones within the province and anglophones escalated as a provincial movement, led by the governing Parti Québécois, to separate from Canada reached its peak in the late 1970s. Seeking to explain Quebec's independence movement, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Toronto affiliate asked Roch Carrier, whose debut novel La Guerre, Yes Sir had been popular among both French and English Canadians, to explain "what does Quebec want?"
Carrier spent several weeks trying to answer the question, ultimately producing what he described as a "flat essay" that was "dull as an editorial in a newspaper". Three days before his deadline, Carrier informed the CBC that he would not be able to complete the project. He was told that the network had already booked studio time for him and had been promoting his appearance. As he remained unwilling to present his essay, Carrier was asked to write about anything he wanted to fill the time.. When the package arrives, the young Carrier is horrified to discover the sweater of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs was sent by mistake. The film had a budget of CA$199,000 (). The film became one of the National Film Board's most popular works and has won numerous awards. It was named the Best Animated Film at the 1981 British Academy Film Awards.
In 1982 Cohen approached May Cutler, founder of Tundra Books, to create an illustrated children's book of the story. It was published in 1984 as The Hockey Sweater, and by 2014 had sold over 300,000 copies. Following the success of the book, Cutler asked Carrier to write three more stories of his childhood to be illustrated by Cohen, each covering a different sport in a different season. They were published as The Boxing Champion (1991), The Longest Home Run (1994) and The Basketball Player (1996).
During the fall season of 2017, The Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal, staged a musical adaptation of the story. The Hockey Sweater: A Musical world premiered in celebration of Montreal's 375th anniversary. The original cast features an ensemble of mainly children, including Drew Davis, Berkley Silverman and led by Jesse Noah Gruman, among others. The original production was choreographed and directed by Donna Feore, written by Emil Sher and composed by Jonathan Monro. The production made its second appearance on the National Arts Center stage in Ottawa.
Themes
thumb|right|One of Richard's sweaters|alt=A red sweater with a blue band and white trim across the middle. There is a stylized "CH" logo across the middle, the letter "C" at the left breast and the number 9 on the arms.
The passion Carrier and his friends had for the game of hockey, particularly for the Montreal Canadiens, is the dominant theme of the story. In introducing the film for his video anthology Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada, American critic Leonard Maltin noted that hockey is "an obsession, a country-wide preoccupation that dominates many lives", particularly those of children. He argued that The Sweater is one of the National Film Board's best animated works that combined humour with cultural significance.
Of particular emphasis was the children's fascination with Maurice Richard. Montreal's star player from 1942 until 1960, Richard was a prolific goal scorer. In the 1944–45 season – one year before the events of The Hockey Sweater – Richard became the first player in National Hockey League history to score 50 goals in a 50-game season. Richard attended the 1980 premiere of The Sweater in Montreal, and according to Carrier, was moved to tears by the film. Richard also requested copies so that he could show it to his own children.
Sheldon Posen, curator of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, noted during the opening of an exhibit dedicated to Richard in 2004 that he had long been an idol in Quebec, but it was Carrier's story that expanded Richard's reputation in English Canada and sealed his place as a pan-Canadian hero. It is the defining work of Carrier's career, and while he has lamented the fact that it has so overshadowed his other works, Carrier appreciates what its popularity has given him: "There is almost not one day in my life that there is not something nice that happens because of the story." The story has also been set to music by composer Abigail Richardson-Schulte as part of a piece commissioned by the Toronto Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic and National Arts Centre Orchestras in 2012.