Puckheads

Yet another reason to admire (or relocate to) Canada: hockey as civil disobedience.

Yahoo! News - Vancouver street hockey players protest B.C. government's new highway plans:
VANCOUVER (CP) - About 300 spectators and hockey players of all ages blocked a section of a main Vancouver street on Sunday to protest a proposed highway development.
The street hockey game shut down a part of the city's trendy Commercial Drive for just over an hour on the sunny afternoon.
The puck - actually a green tennis ball - dropped at 1 p.m. with players as young as five battling it out to score a goal in the friendly match.
The hockey group, Cross Pedestrians, refused to let cars through but did clear the way for buses.
'By stepping out on the streets to have a bit of fun, we're empowering ourselves to make the necessary changes,' said organizer David Fields.
He said the group was there to deliver a message to the provincial government.
'We don't want to see Highway One expanded. There are other alternatives available. If they're going to sink a billion dollars into transportation, we'd rather see it put into public transit instead,' he said.
The B.C. Ministry of Transportation has proposed twinning a section of the Trans-Canada Highway between Vancouver and the Fraser Valley community of Abbotsford.
A major concern is the development will cause more cars to be on neighbourhood streets, said player Richard Brooks, 30.
'It's a good opportunity on a beautiful day like today to show people that we should take back our streets, back away from the cars and use streets for what they are meant for, playing hockey," he said.