Being able to identify people inside of a Hockey Discourse

A Discourse of Hockey is a small world that some people live in. There is its own language involved and only people who are inside of it are able to speak it. Some of you might think — what is it so special that separates a hockey player from a non-hockey player besides that the one could skate and shoot the puck with its stick and the other could not? There is not only just that much that makes hockey special and difficult to understand for the others. But how you communicate with other players, what’s your style on the ice and type of equipment you use and obviously how much you know about the game is important.

One of the barriers that separates a hockey player or a person in the Discourse of Hockey from just someone who has seen the game on TV is communication or “hockey language”. Example, “Can you get those done 9/16 for me, please?” Some of you have no idea what this sentence means and it is not suprizing to me. In simple words, 9/16 is a type of sharpening that you could get on your skates and it all depends on your style of play, whether you like your skate edges more hollow or less hollow. “Bender”, “bending ankles”, “sauce”, “dangle” and “dump and chase” are all the terms that could be used in the Discourse of Hockey and are not expected to be recognized by the non-hockey players.

After all, there are a couple of different variations of a hockey style and I made it pretty obvious by posting this two pictures where it shows, which one is acceptable and which one is a “bender” style. Just by looking at someone’s equipment it is possible to identify what kind of hockey player that person really is if you speak “hockey” and know enough about it.