The Hockey Sweater and Roch Carrier

Review by Matthew Proctor

Roch Carrier is a Canadian children's novelist who has published numerous books but his most famous work is the book related to a young man caught in the middle of a heated sports rivalry and a hapless purchase mistake.

The Hockey Sweater, originally written in French, is the story of a young French Canadian who plays hockey with a group of boys out on the pond. All of the children have Montreal Canadians jerseys with the red and white so the boy decides that he is going to buy one as well. Unfortunately, for some reason the wrong jersey shows up and it is for the worst possible team.

The Montreal Canadians are in a fierce rivalry with the Toronto Maple Leafs so any Canadians fan hates anything related to the Maple Leafs. Wouldn't you know it? The jersey the young boy receives in the mail is a blue and white Maple Leafs jersey. The rest of the story follows the boy as he tries to deal with wearing a rival team's sweater in the midst of some of the proudest fans out there.

The book, though recently published in 1979, has become an icon in Canadian literature. The story is read to every young Canadian in school and for bed time stories; it has become ingrained in the culture. A quote from the book can even be found in both official languages (French and English) on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill. This children's book has already proved its worth.

Roch Carrier was born and raised in Quebec in the 1940's. The book he wrote is actually closely based upon an event that happened to him in his childhood. His mother bought him a sweater from Eaton's when his old Montreal Canadians sweater wears out and then refuses to return the sweater when the wrong one arrives and worse yet forces her son to wear the rival team's sweater instead of his old tattered favorite.

The story has since been made into a National Film Board of Canada animated short. There are no two teams that have worse history together than the Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple Leafs. They hate each other and on top of that, their jerseys are nothing alike. No one better understands what sports rivalry means than the boy in the Hockey Sweater and it is thanks to Roch Carrier's skillful presentation that all of Canada and the United States understand it better today.

Interested in more about hockey sweaters? Check out the related article Evolution of Hockey Jerseys and read more about hockey jerseys and their importance to the sport by visiting The Hockey Jerseys Guide.