The Art of Superstition
Growing up, I was a hockey fanatic, and did my best to follow some of my favorite players and apply some of their everyday habits to my game. This is when I discovered the popular phenomena around many NHL locker rooms influencing some of the greats of our generation from all sports, the art of superstition. At first, I was a little bit unsure at what exactly a superstition was, but of course as curious as a little boy loving hockey could be, I wanted to do more. A superstition is best described as something an athlete does before, during, or even after a game that gives them the ability or the mental impression that they will perform better. There seems to be a lot of negative annotations around sport superstitions, for the simple fact that people believe that they are non-sense and have no advantage whatsoever on performance. Before diving into all of the amazing aspects and little trickle-down effects a superstition has, it is very important to define exactly what the term, superstition means and clear up any nuances.
There needs to be a little bit of clarification regarding two of the most misused terms, rituals and superstitions. A ritual is defined as “a certain behavior or action that a sports performer carries out with the belief that these behaviours have a specific purpose, or power, to influence their performance” (Blackwell, 1). Whereas a superstition is defined as “something that is initially developed in hindsight, almost by accident and then becomes required in future events” (Blackwell, 1). This is a very important distinction, as a superstition is developed based off some kind of previous success or outcome, whereas a ritual is more of a routine that an individual may follow on a certain day. Some examples of some basic superstitions could be listening to a specific song while making breakfast before game day, but always making sure to crack the eggs on the exact same place on the countertop because two inches to the left would completely change everything.
Although I am a firm believer that superstitions are in fact effective and important, I do admit that they are somewhat bizarre in some instances like the one I just presented. I then questioned whether a superstition could be classified as an obsessive-compulsive disorder or commonly known as an OCD. I was a little curious at the beginning of my research about what possible similarities that could exist between the two, because they do seem quite similar at first glance. However, with a deeper inspection, the point of view changed drastically, and I began to point out their differences. An OCD is in fact a serious health problem, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and is a serious addiction that needs to be looked at by medical professionals. This is not so much the case with a superstition as it is not exactly in matter of serious illness but rather used as a means to benefit physical and mental performance on the side of a sports game. I would want this to be clarified as all though some may joke on the fact that people with superstitions can be considered to have an OCD, this is not the case as it is a mental health disease that should not be taken lightly. I believe that in many cases some superstitions may be extreme, and that it can annoy others however there is not enough to classify it as such. To conclude, there is no hockey superstition, demanding enough to be considered to be an OCD.
Now let’s get into the meat of this, the effect of the superstition. Superstitions are real, and they are prevalent in the hockey world and really in the sports world. The University of North Dakota recently did a study that tried to find some kind of correlation between superstitions and confidence and how one affected the other. It turns out that there is in fact a link between the two and superstitions account for approximately 10% of the confidence an athlete has going into a game (Ptacek 34). While this may seem like a miniscule amount, I like to think of it as an athlete would not be able to go into a game with maximum confidence but rather would feel like he missed something he had to during his routine. This 10% confidence is also based on a certain set of athletes and thus does not necessarily accurately represent the confidence it may provide on an athlete to athlete basis, nonetheless very difficult to place a percentage on the performance of an athlete. Going further into the research, lucky charms were found to have the greatest effect on players when talking about superstitions and was something that was quite interesting (Ptacek 33-35). One notorious example of a lucky charm related in the hockey world is Sidney Crosby’s jockstrap which he’s had since his minor hockey days, and while some may have gagged at this mere thought, I find it cool from a hockey player’s standpoint! Continuing with the “Sid the Kid” Crosby, he had something iconic to say about superstitions and was something I marveled at. Crosby is notorious to have numerous superstitions like taking the long way into the arena that would allow him to avoid walking by the visiting team’s locker room. During a featured series from the NHL called the Road to the Winter Classic, he described his superstitions and said, there’s probably a few that are borderline crazy, but I guess we’re all crazy in our own way” (Jens95) with the smile almost as if shy to admit such powerful words. Aside from the goosebumps Sid gave, if one of the best NHL players to ever player is such a big ambassador of superstitions then I’m sure they hold at least some importance in the hockey world. There will be some more interesting superstitions discussed later that may be even more peculiar then the one’s Sid has, but he is one of the founding fathers in establishing superstitions publicly of the last decade or so. It is also important to recognize that “athletes must be careful that they do not become too preoccupied with their superstitions, as the use of too many can become detrimental to their game” (del Rosario 67). This is also very important, as even though I am one of the biggest advocates of superstitions, it is crucial that hockey players do not get too distracted in fulfilling their superstitions.
Moving onto how exactly are superstitions received around the hockey dressing rooms? This is a little bit of a complicated topic, as most players will almost be reluctant on giving what their superstitions are because they feel that perhaps it may lose the so-called magic it provides if they divulge their secrets. Superstitions are in fact personal and are more valuable from player to player but the general rule with superstitions, is to not mess with them. When you mess with a player’s superstitions like say moving their hockey sticks around when you know they like them in a certain place. This can cause a pretty big conflict between teammates and is better to be left alone, because you don’t want to be messing with them. This highlights to me just how important these superstitions are to certain players and how much it can impact their performance. This is how the individual feels about the superstition, but what about the effect it has on the overall dynamic of the hockey locker room as a whole? Turns out, that superstitions can be sometimes annoying as it’s almost like the guys with the really extreme one’s are constantly making others cautious to not mess with their superstitions. There are some that are not disruptive to teammates not matter how weird they may be, even if it’s former player Jeff Halpern leaving his skates in a fridge before the game (Close 3).
Now for the most fun part of it all, showing off some of the most historic and interesting hockey superstitions of all time. The most famous superstition and the one that is most recognized across the hockey world is that of not touching the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl or the Prince of Wales and are awarded when teams from respective conferences reach the Stanley Cup Final. This is one of the more symbolic one’s with a general purpose as to why they don’t touch it, and the answer is simple. The players only want to touch the Stanley Cup and anything else is not worthy. I find this tradition a little bit of odd because if both teams are to not touch the other trophy, then automatically one of their superstitions doesn’t really work since there is only one Cup winner. This tradition was broken recently during one of the Pittsburgh Penguins runs to the cup final, where they eventually won the Stanley Cup twice, so it goes to show that not every superstition is valid. Now I will show you some of my favorite NHL superstitions around the NHL, that I believe are excellent for young and older fans to cherish while they get to know the personalities behind these fantastic players. One of my personal favorites is the game of rock paper scissor between Tyler Seguin and Mark Scheifele when the Stars and the Jets clash to decide who is the last person to get off the ice. Scheifele even went on to say that “that’s the fun part of hockey” and I couldn’t agree more (Close 2). I like to think of a little kid watching the game and perhaps being a fan of the Stars or the Jets or even any other team, and just seeing the interaction between these two is really just tremendous. I feel like showing off their personality is something NHL players are limited to because of some of the older hockey minds and mentalities and how professional they claim the sport to be. Evander Kane is a big advocate of this as he recently expressed his thoughts on this, claiming players should be able to express themselves a little more and market themselves better. I couldn’t agree more with his statements and I feel like these cool superstitions can be a kind of gateway for this to happen. In all honesty the list of superstitions around the NHL locker rooms are quite exhaustive like Ovi’s “carb-powered Italian combo” (Close 2) or the classic chicken and pasta pregame meal amongst players (Close 1-3).
Superstitions are vital to some of the world’s best hockey players to ever play the game and as well as numerous other athletes. This is needless to say that they serve a purpose within the hockey world and must be recognized. There is a special connection that can be made between fans and players when brought together by superstitions. I like to paint a vivid picture when it comes to this, I imagine a little boy or girl who is a die-hard hockey fan who can only make the trip to see his favorite player play hockey and I can just see him with that magical smile on his face when he finally gets to see Tyler Seguin wheeling a quick game of rock paper scissor with Scheifele as he/she has seen so many times on TV. That bond that can be created is something spectacular and will be remembered forever by the child. As players begin to become more and more comfortable with the media and they are able to express their personalities more, superstitions will also be at the forefront of it all.
Works Cited
Blackwell, Liam. “The Power of Superstitions and Rituals In Sport” believeperform. 2010. https://believeperform.com/the-power-of-superstitions-and-rituals-in-sport/ Accessed May 5th, 2020.
Clinton, Jared. “The NHL’s 10 Weirdest Rituals and Superstitions” The Hockey News. February 13th, 2015. https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-nhls-10-weirdest-rituals-and-superstitions Accessed May 5th, 2020.
Del Rosario, Danyel. “Superstition in Sport: A Phenomenological Study” Ithaca college Digital Commons. December 2017. https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1391&context=ic_theses Accessed May 5th, 2020.
Feature on Sportsnet. Found on Jens95 (YouTube) August 24th, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpIGJ0olGI&t=101s Accessed May 5th, 2020.
Ptacek, Taylor Jon. “The Relationship Between Superstition and Confidence in Sport” UND Scholarly Commons. May 2016. https://commons.und.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=thesesAccessed May 5th, 2020.
Feature on Sportsnet. Found on Jens95 (YouTube) August 24th, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpIGJ0olGI&t=101s Accessed May 5th, 2020.
Luca Caprio 