Explain how an EXCERPT from “I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player”…

Question Answered step-by-step Explain how an EXCERPT from “I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player”… Explain how an EXCERPT from “I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player” essays relates to that essay as a whole.I Was a Teenage Hijabi Hockey Player1″When I used to play hockey,” I began telling my co-workers over lunch. All of a sudden, eyes looked up in disbelief. “You played hockey?” asked a friendincredulously. “Yes, ” I replied with a smile, thinking, “Doesn’t every Canadian play hockey at some point in their life?” And then it hit me. Muslim women, especially hijabis, aren’t expected to be interested in sports, let alone play. Perhaps a calming sport like croquet. But hockey?2Come on! I grew up cheering the Montreal Canadiens. My allegiance to the Habs was minted during their phenomenal upset Stanley Cup win in 1971 thatfeatured a law student/goalie named Ken Dryden (I still have his rookie card). My love of the game reached its zenith during that magical September of 1972. still remember cheering passionately with the rest of my school when Paul Henderson scored in Game 8.3During the ’70s, I, like many Montrealers, became spoiled by the Canadiens. Every May, my friends and I would line up on Ste-Catherine Street to see the”annual” Stanley Cup parade. One year, we lingered near City Hall, and were rewarded with meeting Bob Gainey, Yvan Cournoyer and Ken Dryden. My seven-year-old brother refused to wash his hands for days.4I grew up playing street hockey, driveway hockey and table hockey. I was both Danny Gallivan and Yvan Cournoyer, describing the play-by-play of an electri-fying rush leading to a goal with seconds left to play. At the time, there was no organized hockey for girls-only ringette. Later in high school I found a recrea-tonal league and laced up every week. In one game, I had a breakaway from the blue line. I was Guy Lafleur, ready to swoop in on the hapless goalie. As Ilunged toward the puck, I tripped over the pick of my figure skates, falling flat on my face. Goodbye, figure skates.5Once I bought my prized hockey skates, I had to learn to skate all over again. (I kept falling over the front edges of my pick-less hockey skates.) At McGill, I didn’t have the talent to make the varsity women’s team. So I played intramural hockey, joining a women’s engineering team called the Tachyons(named after a subatomic particle by the lone physicist on the team). Some didn’t know how to skate. But that never mattered. We just enjoyed the thrill of hockey. I still remember one pre-game warm-up with a player from the other team. We had both been skating at full speed in opposite directions, passing a puck the length of the rink to our respective teammates-_heads down. You get the picture. Good thing we were playing the med-school team that night.6After moving to Boston for graduate school, I inquired about intramural hockey. There was a league for men, but not for women7Why not start one? And so, a teetotalling Muslim Canuck introduced women’s intramural hockey at Harvard. I was one of the few who could lift the puck off the ice. My friends from California and Florida seemed to have the most fun, even though few knew how to skate. It was the sheer thrill of playing hockey that brought out the smiles.8Now middle-aged, three pregnancies later, I look back wistfully at my hockey-playing days. I am not yet a hockey parent. If I do go down that road, Iwill look to the example of Daniele Sauvageau- the legendary coach of the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team that won gold in 2002-for main-taining grace and poise under pressure9 I have found other Muslim women who share a passion for hockey, including one friend who recently played for a varsity team in Alberta. On the ice, there was no problem. Hockey equipment lends itself to maintaining modesty in attire, as opposed to say, swimming. It was off the ice where negotiations weremade in good faith. Teammates understood when she excused herself from beer outings and the “girls’ night out.” They went out of their way to help her find a place to pray on road trips. But perhaps the most awkward issue she faced- and one that many observant Muslim women still face- -was the casual nudity of the locker room. Modesty is prescribed in Islam, not merely between men and women, but between members of the same gender as well. Locker rooms, showers, open-concept washrooms–all pose challenges to Muslims. Those of us who play sports often dash in and out of dressing rooms, usually with our eyes glued to the floor.10 Having completed a season of pond hockey, my kids and I are now ready to play a few weeks of street hockey The only difference from my childhood days is that now I imagine myself as Hayley Wickenheiser, scoring with only seconds left to play. Arts & Humanities Writing ENGLISH 255 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)