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The purpose of this research is to explore how one unsanctioned community sport organization (CSO), AM Hockey, sought to acquire legitimacy in a highly institutionalized minor hockey marketplace at various points in its organizational life cycle.

This study was guided by instrumental case study methodology. Twenty (20) AM Hockey stakeholders from a variety of roles (e.g. executives, program directors and coaches) were interviewed. Document analysis was also utilized to supplement the interviewees. Internal and public documents reflective of the CSO's creation and growth were obtained.

Findings revealed that the CSO had to navigate distinct phases of evolution including the Building, Growth, Competition and Stabilization phases. Although the four life cycle phases identified in this study share similarities with the phases identified by Lester et al. (2003), findings indicated that institutional work mechanisms must be understood in their context as they can vary over the life cycle of an organization. Therefore, start-up sports organizations must approach the pursuit of legitimacy as a continual process rather than something acquired and defended through maintenance work.

Developing legitimacy remains a central challenge for CSOs that seek to deliver alternative sport programming, yet it continues to be understudied. Ultimately, the long-term viability of an unsanctioned CSO in a federated sports system relies, in part, on its ability to continually determine the actions needed to achieve legitimacy within its environment.

In recent decades, significant advances have been made at both the grassroots and professional levels of women's ice hockey in North America. Yet, despite recent achievements, such as the establishment of ‘professional’ leagues, and compelling narratives of progress, athletes and league organisers still face significant challenges. The barriers women face, such as reduced access to resources and opportunity, lack of legitimacy, and league instability, and a continued reliance on relationships with men's sporting leagues, such as the National Hockey League, suggest that women's ice hockey is accommodated into the game in ways that reinforce and perpetuate systems of gender, reproducing a neoliberal notion of failure. Using Halberstam's (2011) notion of failure as the place from which reform and transformation can take place, we offer a critical reading of the (re)formation of the National Women's Hockey League and the developments in women's (semi)professional ice hockey in North America.

The passion of Canadians for ice hockey is well documented; however, university teams in Canada are routinely ignored by consumers and the media. The authors’ goal was to better understand the context in which Ontario university hockey struggles and to address the theoretical question of how best to examine and evaluate the problems of sport‐specific organizations. Using the Value Dynamics Framework (VDF), the purpose of this paper was to examine whether or not this framework fits well with the realities facing not‐for‐profit OUA hockey teams, and if not, to create a framework specific to these teams.

Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 of the 19 (77 percent) OUA hockey coaches during the 2010/2011 hockey season. The interview guide was drawn from the VDF elements and enabled the researchers to understand not‐for‐profit organizational assets, including physical, financial, employee/supplier, customer, and organizational.

This paper offers empirical insights about the assets and obstacles facing the OUA hockey league and its teams. For example, players, coaches, affiliation with universities, and the hockey product are noted assets. Obstacles for strategic growth include arenas, suppliers, media attention, financial sustainability, parity with other leagues in Canada, and leadership. The VDF proved a useful foil to suggest that something is needed that more accurately represents sport management‐specific situations.

The main limitation of this study is that it lacks generalizability. Although motivated to better understand not‐for‐profit sport in general, the authors’ model is specific to OUA men's hockey teams. However, their OUA hockey team‐specific revised VDF does provide insights into the assets available to coaches, and also acknowledges the corresponding challenges or obstacles surrounding the asset classes in the context of OUA hockey.

This paper provides an approach towards making a more generalizable not‐for‐profit sport model that could help explain the success (or lack of success) of such organizations.

This study addresses a need to develop a framework to examine and evaluate not‐for‐profit sport‐specific organizations, such as the teams in the OUA.

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that analyzed use of traditional and targeted sponsorship approaches by eight companies involved in the 1998-99 Canadian Hockey Association women's corporate support program. The study found the sponsors used methods from direct and relationship marketing to support corporate goals of sales, advertising, community-involvement and brand image and awareness. Several factors are discussed that would improve the sponsorships' effectiveness in the women's market.

Although literature exists that profiles the effects of technology on sport, there has been little exploration into the specific effects of media technologies. This case study contributes to the existing literature on the convergence of technology and sport by examining which of five key media technologies will have the greatest impact upon the televised ice hockey product. The results demonstrate the importance of forecasting media technology in sport.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of fighting (in addition to other variables) as it relates to attendance at minor league hockey games (ECHL).

Building upon previous research on hockey attendance, a regression model is specified with attendance as the dependent variable and fighting (measured as a running average of fights-per-game) as an independent variable. The sign and statistical significance of fighting is tested through the regression model.

Despite recent tragedies in the hockey world and public outcries against fighting, fighting is found to have a positive and significant effect on attendance at ECHL games.

Findings suggest that if fighting is removed from hockey in North America that teams will suffer attendance wise and it will hurt the overall profitability of teams and leagues. Teams in the ECHL that do not fight often may wish to have more “enforcers” on the team which would increase the number of fights and increase attendance.

Despite calls for its outright ban, fighting is popular with hockey fans. Even in a world where many game-day promotions are aimed at families, fighting appears to have a place in the game and is a desired attribute of this sport in terms of its entertainment value to fans.

First study of the ECHL (AA-equivalent minor league for professional hockey) on a game-by-game basis. This paper examines the role of fighting and violence in the world of professional sports. The regression model also includes highly detailed data on game day promotions used by all of the teams. The value of the paper lies in the public debate about fighting in hockey. The findings and implications of this paper are also of value to team and league management as it relates to fighting in hockey.

It is unclear from Canadian case law what the appropriate legal standards of care and regulation should be in athlete injury cases. This chapter provides an overview of existing legal standards and explores the question of participant liability in sport, especially ice hockey. It reviews the applicability of tort law, including both intentional torts and unintentional torts, and considers the applicability and impact of the notion of ‘volenti non fit injuria’ (or voluntary assumption of risk).

The chapter is based on a review of Canadian case law.

Canadian courts have adopted varying standards whereby it is seemingly easier to prove negligence in certain provinces than others. We discuss the implications of these conflicting jurisdictional standards and the need for clearer and more consistent legal guidelines. Further, we show why appropriate legal standards should extend beyond purely objective and legalistic interpretations to more subjective and sociological factors that place sports violence and sports injury in social context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the social impact of an initiative (Hockey FIT) aimed at improving the health and well-being of sport fans and their community.

Fans (n=80) participated in 12 weekly health promotion sessions hosted in local hockey club facilities. Objective health measurements, diet and physical activity levels of fans were measured at baseline, 12 weeks and 12 months, to determine the intermediate, long-term, individual and community impact. Furthermore, one-on-one interviews with 28 program participants were conducted to further understand the program’s social impact.

The intermediate impact was noticed as improvements in weight loss, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure (BP), steps per day, healthful eating, self-reported overall health and fatty food scores at 12 weeks. The long-term individual impact of Hockey FIT was realized as participants maintained or continued to improve their weight loss, waist circumference, healthful eating, systolic BP and diastolic BP 12 months after the program had been offered. The program was also reported to increase family bonding time and improved the diet, daily physical activity, and general awareness of health promotion programs and components for friends, family members and coworkers.

The positive health-related results from this study contradict prior research that has suggested there is minimal evidence of any substantial contributions from social programs in sport. Through a collective approach to corporate social responsibility, this research demonstrates the ability for sport organizations to contribute to meaningful social change and the positive role that they play within the community.

Franchise relocation and sport introduction are becoming commonplace in professional sports. However, many franchises have found that developing fan acceptance is often challenging. The fan adoption process is presented as a systematic framework that guides strategy development from creating fan awareness through adoption. An examination of the Carolina Hurricanes inaugural season (1997‐1998) provides a variety of examples of how marketing strategy evolves throughout the fan adoption process.

Current offerings for women's ice hockey equipment are compared to the data collected in a 1993 study conducted on fit and performance of impact protection equipment for female ice hockey players. The growing athletic participation of women in a variety of sports has led to the need for female specific protective clothing, specifically in the sport of ice hockey where women have made large strides worldwide in the last decade. Anatomical differences between men and women, the injury occurrence when playing ice hockey and the current system of sizing hockey equipment were reviewed. The SizeUSA data, which includes the body scans and measurements of over 7,000 American women, is discussed and compared with current sizing information. The size and fit of protective equipment is crucial to providing adequate impact protection to the ice hockey player. Female ice hockey players were surveyed: evaluations were conducted on the current equipment, and research on a system of impact protective clothing is analyzed. A system of protection using garment layers to protect specific areas of the body, allows for ease of movement and sized in a manner consistent with the most current information available is recommended. Further research is needed concerning the performance and acceptance of such equipment.