Puck to drop on historical hockey exhibit at Manitoba Museum

A cool new travelling hockey exhibit will make its Winnipeg debut next summer.

Hockey: The Stories Behind Our Passion will skate its way into the Manitoba Museum for a July 6 opening.

The exhibition, put together by the Canadian Museum of History where it launched in March, "details the evolution of the sport through historic highlight reels, interactive components and one-of-a-kind artifacts," says a statement from the museum.

"Visitors will find themselves in the places where Canadians live and breathe hockey: from dressing room to press box, rink to corporate boardroom, players' bench to backyard game. They will come to understand why hockey holds such a significant place in the hearts of Canadians."

The exhibit looks at hockey over the past 100 years and more, detailing Canada's development of its professional and amateur hockey athletes and the country's love of the game.

Guest curator Candace Hogue said the exhibit is about 7,000 square feet and she is adding a Manitoba-specific component to it.

"A Team Canada female hockey player that we should all be super proud of in our province is Jennifer Botterill. I've been communicating with Jennifer and she will be loaning artifacts; pretty sure one is a jersey from her Team Canada experiences with the Olympic team."

Manitoba hockey history geeks will also get to check out Jonathan Toews' Olympic gold medals and Stanely Cup rings, artifacts from the Winnipeg Falcons and perhaps other things from the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, said Hogue.

"Regionally and in our rural communities, we're just kind of starting to shake the bushes and see what we can find from some of the hotbed communities in our province," she said, like a jersey from the Flin Flon Bombers and more.

"Lots of one-of-a-kind artifacts are travelling with the show that I think people are going to be super excited about," said Hogue, with at least 200 artifacts on display including hockey-related cultural artifacts. 

People can expect to see Jaques Plante's "pretzel" goalie mask, Hayley Wickenheiser's skates, Maurice 'Rocket' Richard's All-Star jersey and Hall of Fame and Stanley Cup rings, displays about player safety, women's hockey and cultural politics and media in the sport. It even includes the Montreal Canadiens jersey Shania Twain wore while hosting the Juno Awards in 2003.

The exhibit will run until Jan. 13, 2019, in Alloway Hall.