GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Ever since he was a young boy, hockey has been a defining factor in Bruce Berlund’s life. Growing up in Duluth, Minnesota, skating was practically second nature to him.
Now, the Calvin College professor has received a Fulbright Award to research the history of hockey as a global sport.
Berlund learned how to skate when he was just 3 years old, and still remembers how he and the other neighborhood kids would frequent a local ice rink in their spare time.
“When I was playing as a kid, there were still a lot of old arenas in Duluth,” Berglund said. “That was a real connection to the games past, to play on arenas with small rinks and old-fashioned Zambonis.”
Berglund played youth hockey and continued playing the sport well into high school. He’d always had an interest in the sport’s history, even as a young child.
As an adult, Berglund studied history and now holds a doctorate degree in East European and Russian history.
His interest in sports has not wavered as an adult. He hosts a podcast, “New Books in Sports,” and is the editor of “The Allrounder,” a publication of essays about global sports.
As a Midwest native, now living in a state that established the first-ever professional hockey league – the International Professional Hockey League was established in Houghton in 1904 – Berglund has done plenty of research about the sport in America.
The Fulbright Award will allow Berglund to travel the world researching and gathering oral histories of hockey in an international context. He’ll head to Canada, the Czech Republic and South Korea starting in early 2018.
“It goes without saying I have to go to Canada,” Berglund said. “Canada is the home of hockey, where the sport was invented. It’s been the dominant country in terms of international competitions since the early 1900s.”
A seemingly less obvious locale for hockey history is the Czech Republic. With his doctorate degree, Berglund has studied and done research in the country before. During one of his research stays, in 1998, the Czechs won the gold medal during the winter Olympics.
“That was an amazing event to see,” Berglund said. “Thousands of people in the streets to celebrate this hockey victory.”
The country has a long history of hockey, dating back to the early 20th century, Berglund said, and excel in the sport. The Czech Republic has the fifth-highest number of players in the National Hockey League, he said.
“Hockey is spreading to countries that you wouldn’t expect,” Berglund said.
South Korea is one of those countries. The country has had university hockey teams that date back to the 1950s, but 2018 will be the first time South Korea will have both men’s and women’s national teams competing in the winter Olympics. Berglund will be traveling to South Korea to visit PyeongChang for the XXIII Olympic Winter Games.
Berglund’s jaunt around the globe to study hockey will focus on more than the game’s history, but on the stories and the connections people have with hockey.
“My real interest is meeting with fans and meeting with players that most hockey fans have never heard of,” he said. “Learning about their experience with the sport, what draws them to the sport and how the seasons of their lives are connected with this game, that’s what I’m more interested in.”
Berglund said he plans to have his book done by sometime in 2020.