Is hockey really Canada's game? A look at the numbers shows that more Canadian adults play golf than ice hockey, while for kids under 14 almost twice as many kids play soccer than hockey. There are also more ice hockey participants in the U.S. today than there are in Canada. And the game is growing much faster south of the border than it is here. To top it off, a poll last November found less than half of Canadians saying hockey is a source of personal or collective pride in Canada.

With the NHL season getting underway Tuesday, we're marking the event by compiling this page of numbers about non-professional hockey in Canada, from how many play the game to how much it costs.





We have some comparisons to other sports, too. See how much it costs to outfit a kid for hockey compared to other popular sports, and check out the participation rates in the ten most popular sports that adults play.