When not teaching, researching or writing, for the past three years UVM historians Steve Zdatny and Sean Stilwell play hockey. Their first year playing was rough. Why? Although Professor Stilwell grew up in the Canadian prairies, he hadn’t skated in 30 years. Professor Zdatny had likewise been off the ice for decades. Their team – the Ice Pack – lost every game. The next year, however, the Ice Pack went undefeated and won the league championship. Professor Stilwell, who specializes in West African history and plays left wing, compensates for (much) less than elegant skating by being just mean / dirty / lucky enough in front of the net to score goals. Professor Zdatny, who focuses Modern French history and plays defense, isn’t as quick as he once was, but manages to regularly shut down opponents at the blue line via a combination of guile and good fortune. Both agree that the stresses of academic life can best be worked out on the ice. Professors Stilwell and Zdatny are hoping someday to recruit an all History Department hockey team, although their efforts to do so have not yet proved fruitful. Off the ice, Professor Stilwell has just published a history of slavery in Africa – Slavery and Slaving in African History (Cambridge University Press, 2014) – and Professor Zdatny is completing his fourth book, a history of hygiene in Modern France.
Professor Stilwell explains the the relationship between African history and Hockey on the bench.
Zdatny and Stilwell before a game at Leddy Park Rink. Their team won in a shoot-out 3-2.
