Good Sportsmanship
A rural hockey team in the prairie province of Saskatchewan, Canada, recently finished its season in first place and with no trips to the penalty box for fighting. The coach teaches his players to "play by the game" and to "play clean". Even though it was not always easy to play by the rules, and despite other teams calling them "the biggest babies in the league," playing clean ended up being a winning strategy. Avoiding penalties and capitalizing on their opponents infractions actually gave the team an advantage. The teams good sportsmanship even rubbed off on other teams, who decided to also play clean in order to keep up. The coach noted "You don't need the fighting and the hits from behind to play good hockey." The team's conduct made their coach and parents proud. (Weidlich, 2009)