HEATED RIVALRY (2025-) Canada-Russia final showcasing the two most talked about prospects in the world: Canada’s Shane Hollander and Russia’s Ilya Rozanov.
very confusing times we live in where the term hudcon is being used by everyone from publications and journalists to legit rpf shippers all at the exact same time. seth meyers could be using it as we speak
it’s genuinely scary like I started saying that because I’m crazy and I have people I talk to online about stuff I would never mention in my normal day to day life. And now it’s just like “hudcon tops vanity fair’s ‘best moments of the globes’ list” bro what. you can’t be talking like that Legacy Media Publication
not sure if other people will weigh in, but my two cents as a hockey fan: i think in canadian hockey culture in particular they perceive russian hockey and russian hockey players to be different/inferior (this is true of euro hockey in general, but especially in the 2010s the vitriol was really reserved for russians). russian hockey players are considered flashy and selfish, not like the good, hardworking canadian boys. it probably sounds ridiculous but these xenophobic narratives are so baked into hockey discourse. to me, things like "cock-sucking russian" is not saying anything about sexuality so much as "guy who is willing to draw attention to himself" which is deeply frowned upon in canadian/north american hockey culture
LOVE this contribution and I think the idea that calling a guy a “cock-sucking russian” has nothing to do with his sexuality works WONDERFULLY in parallel with there being a russian word for faggot that isn’t actually meant to imply someone is gay. because like but that’s the POINT! the homophobia is so at the foundation of the thing that it isn’t even the actual thing being commented on. the notorious ladies’ man who is confident in his masculinity isn’t being called gay because he seems like he might be, he’s being called a cock-sucker because FUCK that guy! and love all the information typifying russian hockey players—it’s interesting to think that ilya has some awareness of these perceptions and has decided to just play into them or at least not waste time worrying that he might be coming across as a typical arrogant russian player when he’s getting the job done. perfect cross-section of xenophobia and homophobia—for the other players, he’s not a faggot because he’s gay, he’s a faggot because he’s RUSSIAN!
Yes (obviously) actual racism and homophobia are much bigger issues in the NHL but the league as a whole absolutely can’t stand that Russians are good at hockey, specifically that they’re good at hockey in a non-Canadian way.
There’s a whole language to it, Russians are “enigmatic” and “show boats” and “not ‘room’ guys;” they’re “selfish players chasing glory” they don’t work hard, they aren’t team players, they aren’t leaders. (If you want proof of this read any article written about Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin from ~2006 to ~2014)
((Like, okay Russian to English is one of THE HARDEST linguistic transitions and you didn’t hire a translator, of course that guy isn’t going to be a leader in the room right away.))
“Ilya made the first move” as if unsociable Shane Hollander didn’t search the entire facility for Ilya and then go out back and shake his hand and then stand there, breathing in secondhand smoke
