How does hockey help Saul survive in the residential school, with the moose, and during his healing?

When Saul plays hockey, he becomes a shape-shifter, feeling as though he is a bird flying across the surface of the ice. This freedom contrasts with the ways St. Jerome’s endeavored to control his body through regimentation, abuse, and sexual assault. Saul is such a skillful hockey player because he is able to see through the chaos of the game and into its internal rhythms, the rules that govern the disorder on the ice. This sight is the same sense that lets him see Shabogeesick and his other ancestors. Saul describes his vision as a mystery, like the mysteries Naomi saw at the center of creation. It therefore connects him to his Ojibway heritage and ways of knowing the world.