New Don Cherry Book Coming

Doubleday Canada has landed what will sure to be one of the top selling hockey book of 2008.

DON CHERRY'S HOCKEY STORIES AND STUFF, written with veteran sports journalist Al Strachan, will arrive in bookstores across Canada in late October, 2008.

This will be Cherry's second book release, with his autobiography penned a lifetime ago in 1983. This follow up book is very much long-awaited.

"This is the book that Canadian hockey fans have been waiting for," says Maya Mavjee, Publisher of Doubleday Canada. "Everybody here is thrilled to be working with Don Cherry on this book."

"Like any good Canadian, I've spent more Saturday nights with Don Cherry than I can count," says Martha Kanya-Forstner, editorial director of Doubleday Canada. "All the stories he has to tell are entertaining, and many of them are unexpected. Don's excitement at the prospect of sharing them with readers is infectious."

Cherry needs no introduction. The minor league player turned major league coach turned television character and Canadian icon is more recognizable than most Canadian Prime Ministers.

His new book will give his legions of fans the opportunity to share his favourite stories from his incredible career in hockey.

"I'd like this book to be just like we're sittin' down tellin' stories in my own language," says Cherry. "I'll be criticized because for some reason people are not too thrilled with the way I speak... So don't blame Random House or Al Strachan for the way the book is presented," continues Cherry. "I wanted the book to be like a couple of guys sittin' down with a few pops
tellin' hockey stories."

For Writers and Publishers

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The Ballad Of The Whiskey Robber

I have been following the story of Attila Ambrus since the mid 1990s, when a tiny blurb in The Hockey News alerted North Americans about a goaltender who was busted for robbing banks.

Now the story has turned into a best selling book, and, from the sounds of it, a soon-to-be big budget Hollywood production, very possibly starring Johnny Depp.

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, and Broken Hearts was the literary debut for writer Julian Rubinstein, an acclaimed sports journalist. It went on to be one of the most acclaimed books of 2004.

It is almost easy to forget that this is a non-fiction book. Ambrus' story is so outrageous and comical that it is almost tough to believe this is all really happened. And Rubinstein writes such an exquisite narrative that he really should be writing novels for Oprah. He's a fantastic writer.

Ambrus is this charismatic but lost soul who was born in Transylvania, Romania but is very much a Hungarian at heart. That's important because the book has a lot of political undertones to it, serving both as a great history lesson and social awareness piece.

He, like many Hungarians trapped in communist Romania, gets into a lot of trouble and flees to Hungary, which was no easy task. Finally "home," he finds out transition to fast-westernizing Hungary is no easy task. He takes on many odd jobs to survive, including church painter, pelt smuggler and grave digger.

Oh, and professional hockey goalie. As terrible as he is at it, hockey is Ambrus great passion and escape. At the rink, and only at the rink, he can be at peace with himself.

One problem though. He never plays. He's the back up netminder, which more or less means he does janitorial duties around the rink, including driving the Zamboni.

To make ends meets he ends up robbing a post office in 1993. After this success, Ambrus continued a string of 27 robberies of banks, post offices, and travel agents that ended with his arrest in 1999, stealing in all about 200 million Hungarian Forints (about one million US Dollars). He was dubbed the Whiskey Robber because he would have to liquor himself up at a near by pub to get the courage to conduct another heist. Often victims would report the strong smell of whiskey on his breath.

At the height of his fame Ambrus was the lead story in both the news and sports sections of Hungarian newspapers. For a small stretch, coinciding with the height of his criminal activity, Ambrus became the top goalie for his beloved UTE hockey team, although he floundered, once giving up 29 goals in a game.

Ambrus became quite a legend in Hungary. A bit of a modern day Robin Hood because he believed this money, through his own lavish spending, was for the people, the antics he would pull were down right hilarious. He would often present flowers to the tellers that he held up. And he toyed with police, sending them gifts of alcohol. His daring charisma helped him become quite the dashing celebrity amongst the Hungarian population. In the eyes of many he was fighting the good fight against corrupt government masters.

Upon his arrest in 1999, Hungarians were shocked to find out this UTE goaltender was the Whiskey Robber. He would later escape police custody, and continue to live in downtown Budapest for 3 months, before getting caught in another robbery attempt. He was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in a maximum security prison.

Trevor Linden Autobiography Coming?

Trevor Linden, said to be quite the book enthusiast, is supposedly considering writing an autobiography, hints Vancouver Sun columnist Greg Douglas

"Already there's been talk of a Trevor Linden autobiography among the literary establishment, but Sun columnist Iain MacIntyre believes it will still take some time for the passion to die down following the emotional fans' farewell of last week before Linden decides what direction he might want to travel. MacIntyre's opinion matters because he would be a publisher's first choice to write a book with Linden. The two long ago established a relationship built on trust."

By now you all know Linden is a personal favorite of mine, and I'd be first in line to get this book. But Linden is a very reserved person who would never step people's toes, which of course is a tactic used by many self-biographers to sell books. I highly doubt Linden would give us the juicy truth about the 2005 CBA/lockout, about Mark Messier, about Mike Keenan or about Alain Vigneault. In other words, I'm not expecting what I'd like to see.

No doubt a Linden autobiography would be a best seller, especially in Western Canada. Maybe Linden can somehow arrange part proceeds of book sales going to Canuck Place or some other charitable organization.

Sneak Peak: 2008 Hockey Book Releases

Regular reader Matthew Csaszar wrote me with this message:

"Bob Probert and Joey Kocur, along with Bob Duff of the Windsor Star, have a book coming soon. The Bruise Brothers - Hockey's Heavyweight Champions will be released June 1.

I bet it ends up being book of the year :)"

I bet that that book will be a very popular buy. It also got me thinking: I wonder what other new hockey books we can look forward to in the fall/winter of 2008. Here's what I found:

The Meaning of Puck: How Hockey Explains Modern Canada - Hockey is more than a game or even a way of life in Canada. Its a perfect window into the issues that confront the nation as it nears its 150th birthday with all its achievements and its challenges. Canada is a land of contradiction and curiosity that is best summed up in the national sport. In The Meaning of Puck, bestselling author Bruce Dowbiggin takes a tour of the country using hockey as his itinerary. In a series of essays, he shows how the national passion of hockey reflects the issues of globalization, regionalism, anti-Americanism and militarism in the new century. Using the dominant themes of the sport, The Meaning of Puck shows the challenges before the nation. More than just a sports book, The Meaning of Puck is a look into the fabric of a nation straining to keep old traditions alive and incorporate new national myths.

Hockey Night in Canada: My Greatest Day - Nothing from the publisher yet, but expect another beautifully designed book, just like HNIC's 2007 release By The Numbers. I suspect Scott Morrison collects the stories of NHL greats of the past and present about their memories of Hockey Night In Canada, including their first and/or favorite games played on Saturday night.

The Little Book of Hockey Sweaters Vol 2. Andrew Podnieks and artist Anthony Jenkins return with a sequel to the popular little book The Little Book of Hockey Sweaters. More stories about why players wear the jersey numbers they do are always entertaining. And I can't wait to see more work from the talent illustrator Jenkins.

Honoured Canadiens: Hockey Hall of Fame - prolific author Podnieks returns with another title, this time looking at the careers of all of Montreal Canadiens whose careers were so great that they were enshrined in Hockey's Hall of Fame. That's a lot of players to cover, from Howie Morenz to Rocket Richard to Guy Lafleur to Patrick Roy. Expect a beautifully designed book from HB Fenn.

The Road to Hockeytown: Jimmy Devellano's Forty Years in the NHL The architect of the Detroit Red Wings has been around the NHL for forty years. It shows, because his fashion sense hasn't changed since. But his hockey sense is among the most savvy in history. Now Jimmy D will take a look back at his lengthy career in his autobiography.

I'm sure there are many more. Publishers are just starting to list new titles on online resources such as Amazon and Chapters. I'll update this list after the playoffs

Off The Post by Risto Pakarinen

You can be forgiven if you are not a fan of NHL.com. The website is very busy and crowded, and easy to get overwhelmed, and there's tons of other, more impartial sites out there.

But NHL.com does have some of the best feature writing and feature writers in the business working for them. For a long time I've been faithfully reading Bill Meltzer's "Across The Pond," Phil Coffey's "Ice Age" and Evan Weiner's "Off The Wall."

Another favorite of mine is Risto Pakarinen's contributions to the NHL.com blogging community Only now I've found a more enjoyable and completely new experience in reading it.

Pakarinen has published his blog entries into the book Off The Post: Hockey Stories From Around The World.

Pakarinen is no stranger to the hockey world. He's a die hard fan who turned his obsession with pucks, ice, Valeri Kharlamov and Wayne Gretzky into a career of journalism. The Swedish-based freelance journalist from Finland is a regular at NHL.com and The Hockey News. He's also covered tournaments such as the world championships and world cups. His writing is unique, simple and elegant.

His book is far more than a collection of posts from his NHL.com blog. Each online posting is by itself, an experience to be enjoyed in the immediate moment. But when you pick out the best and put it into a book, Pakarinen's contributions become an entertaining and thoughtful archive of the past couple of years. But it also offers so much more.

It also serves to eliminate any myth that Europeans can not be rabid NHL fans like Canadians can be. The book quickly sets the scene for us North American fans that the European fan experience has some differences and challenges. But the book quickly proves that in many ways there is no difference between hockey fans worldwide at all. Other than those pesky time zones.

Beyond the excellent posts on the happenings of the day, an astute reader can enjoy Off The Post as a journey that must be experienced. It is very much Pakarinen's journey, as hockey for him is a lifestyle. The best part about the book is whenever Pakarinen allows himself to get personal and reflective, sharing childhood memories and wearing his current emotions on his sleeve for all to see.

It's a great, quick read, full of personality and obvious passion for the game. I think the book format of Pakarinen's blog posts works far better than anyone could have imagined.

Bruce McNall: Fun While It Lasted

Bruce McNall is forever a hockey legend, even if he is as infamous as he is famous.

McNall is of course the high roller who bought the Los Angeles Kings and then bought Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers, changing the game beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

McNall also had other influences on the game - in such areas as business and marketing applications, expansion cash infusions and salary inflation - but it was the Gretzky trade that is McNall's long lasting legacy.

He, of course, will also always be known for the collapse of his financial empire and his white collar crimes that landed him in prison.

I recently picked up Fun While it Lasted, Bruce McNall's autobiography, co-written by Michael D'Antonio. I picked up only because of its connection to hockey. I was hoping the book would cover hockey more. Instead it touches mostly upon what is already publicly well known.

Though most of us know of him strictly because of it, hockey is just a small part of McNall's story. Let's face it - we know nothing about him unless it involves the LA Kings, and maybe, just maybe, the Toronto Argonauts football team and the Honus Wagner baseball card he once owned. He also had his hand in some movies, such as Weekend At Bernie's.

McNall tells his story the way he sees it, or at least the way he wants us to see it. Let's face it, this book is partly a marketing campaign to paint himself back into the public's good graces, as well as a cash grab from an interested publisher. I don't know about the latter part, but the book comes up short on the first point.

McNall was more or less a self made billionaire, discovering a fascination with coin collecting as a boy. His prodigious knowledge of rare coins financed his way through college and into his own business. While he started out working for high-paying clients, he soon accumulated his own collection and saw his net worth skyrocket, although several outside sources accused McNall of smuggling.

Soon enough he would branch his business interests out to include such antiques as vases, urns, and you know, sports franchises.

McNall also got involved into financing firms, which is where he got in over his head. Soon enough he and business partner David Begelman ran up expenses faster than their net worth rose. They juggled banks and accountants hoping to land that elusive $200,000 deal that would clean their hands of all questionable activities.

Of course that deal never came, and the authorities did. Instead of continuing to be the most visible owner in hockey and a big time roller in business, coins and Hollywood, McNall was off to prison, losing pretty much everything on the way.

McNall's story is interesting, possibly fascinating, though this book does not really impress that upon the reader. I'm not quite sure what it is, but something is missing. In our celebrity and wealth pre-occupied world we live in, this book seems almost pedestrian.

Perhaps fellow book reviewer Budd Bailey said it best when he said "Ultimately, a book like this often turns on whether the subject can generate sympathy from the reader. Here, McNall falls short."

Bailey is right. Perhaps McNall spends too much time bragging about his celebrity friendships and his "sickness" of wanting to be liked. That's great if you retain great friendships through the toughest of times, but wanting to be liked doesn't excuse taking $200 million.

Five Most Important Hockey Books Of All Time

A reader asked me recently to name the top 5 hockey books of all time. Here's my response, ranked in order of importance according only to me.

Our Life With The Rocket: The Maurice Richard Story by Roch Carrier. This book is neither a biography nor a memoir of Quebec's greatest hockey player. No, in fact it is in many ways a thoroughly researched and infectiously proud all grown up version of The Hockey Sweater. It's about what it was like to be French Canadian at a time when the Rocket was hockey's most dynamic player.

Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey by Russ Conway. Investigative reporting by small-town sports editor Russ Conway brought down hockey's most powerful man, Alan Eagleson. The author's legwork uncovered how Eagleson, working as both an agent and as head of the players' union, cheated players out of a small fortune.

The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier. Carrier's most famous story is about a young boy who orders a Montreal Canadiens sweater from the Eaton's catalogue, but receives a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey instead. Brilliantly capturing the cultural tensions between English and French Canada, it is considered to be one of the most important works of Canadian literature ever written.

The Game by Ken Dryden. The enduring classic, Dryden's incredible memoir are brilliantly captures what it is like to be a NHLer, including everything from fame and glory to failure and disillusionment.

The Hockey Handbook by Lloyd Percival. Simply put this has to be the most important hockey book of all time. The Russians treated Dr. Percival's original text as the bible, and used it to transform the game into that we know today.

Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems

It is only March, but I have found the 2008 hockey book of the year.

It's too bad I just can't sit down and read it cover to cover.

Author/university English professor Randall Maggs (brother of former NHL/WHA defenseman Daryl Maggs) and publisher Brick Books have combined to give us Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems. It is a book that will undoubtedly win countless of industry literary awards and should go down as one of the best hockey books of all time.

"Poems," as I call it, is just that. Nearly 200 pages and over 70 individual pieces of poetry that combine to create one long, narrative piece of literary beauty.

Yes, poetry. Hockey books don't tend to rank as literary gems because they're not intended to be. Almost without fail they follow they follow the same formulaic approach, to appease the supposed lower end of the reading public known. The stereotypical hockey book reader still subscribes to the "dumb jocks" theory, more likely to read Slash's autobiography or Hitman by Bret Hart than to read Eckhart Tolle's latest contribution to Oprah's Book Club.

So putting a book of poetry may really test some sports readers, and therefore the book might have trouble catching commercial success. Especially since most of the lines don't even rhyme! ;o)

Yes, I had trouble reading this book. I could only read a couple of poems at a time, and could never sit down and read the whole thing from cover to cover. Yet I thoroughly enjoyed this book. One poem at a time. Some poems more so than others. But by the end not only did I have favorite poems but I realized the whole collection really captured one of hockey's most intense and contradictory characters.

It is obvious that "Poems" was exhaustively researched, but the beauty is how the author then thoroughly re-imagined Terry Sawchuk, arguably the greatest goalie of all time. For all his factual research, Maggs openly admits to taking liberties and using poetic license by getting into the long ago deceased's head. The book is based on the real, but has been masterfully re-envisioned.

Despite the combination of fiction and non-fiction "this may be the truest hockey book ever written" suggests , Stephen Brunt, Globe and Mail sports columnist. "It reaches a level untouched by conventional sports literature. His Sawchuk is real."

The book is primarily about Sawchuk, of course, complete with sporadic photos. The author delves into the goalie's childhood, glory years and tragic demise. Interestingly the book opens with a snippet from Sawchuk's actual autopsy report!

But the book also looks at several other characters, notably goalies, and the Original Six era. More importantly it looks at the game of hockey back then, and particularly examines the game's place in our society.

Do yourself a favor hockey book fans - check out Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems. Keep it by your bed stand and read a poem every night. Before you know it you will have greatly enjoyed the best hockey book of the year.

King Leary is King of Canada

I am pleased to tell you, the winner of the 2008 Canada Reads has been announced, and it is Paul Quarrington’s King Leary!

Percival Leary was once the King of the Ice, one of hockey’s greatest heroes. Now, in the South Grouse Nursing Home, where he shares a room with Edmund “Blue” Hermann, the antagonistic and alcoholic reporter who once chronicled his career, Leary looks back on his tumultuous life and times: his days at the boys’ reformatory when he burned down a house; the four mad monks who first taught him to play hockey; and the time he executed the perfect “St. Louis Whirlygig” to score the winning goal in the 1919 Stanley Cup final.

Now all but forgotten, Leary is only a legend in his own mind until a high-powered advertising agency decides to feature him in a series of ginger ale commercials. With his male nurse, his son, and the irrepressible Blue, Leary sets off for Toronto on one last adventure as he revisits the scenes of his glorious life as King of the Ice.

King Leary was successfully championed by Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics. You can catch the full story at the Canada Reads website.

Our Life With The Rocket

Roch Carrier is a successful novelist and playwright but he is famous (and undoubtedly rich!) for his quintessential children's hockey book The Hockey Sweater.

But if you ask me, his most important title has to be Our Life With The Rocket: The Maurice Richard Story.

This book is neither a biography nor a memoir of Quebec's greatest hockey player. No in fact it is in many ways a thoroughly researched and infectiously proud all grown up version of The Hockey Sweater. It's about what it was like to be French Canadian at a time when the Rocket was hockey's most dynamic player.

In many ways it is more a story of Carrier's youth than Rocket's exploits. But Carrier's youth is mirrored by countless other Quebecers who experienced the same social and political circumstances. Richard was the bigger-than-life albeit inadvertent super hero who came to symbolize Quebecers plight.

This is what the back of the book says:

"Roch Carrier captures a world in which a brooding, taciturn athlete, who hated to speak publicly and rarely expressed opinions on anything, became a powerful, enduring symbol for French Canadians at a time when they felt painfully vulnerable amid Canada's English majority."

The Vancouver Sun nailed the book review when they said:

"In orchestrating the saga of Rocket Richard, (Carrier) composes the epic of his people's and his own coming of age, interpolating these refrains so ingeniously that they become a single."

But no one said it better than the Montreal Gazette:

"...this is much deeper than a hockey book - it's a profound social and political history, a study of a turbulent time as much as a game and one of its most charismatic players...."

Unless you were French Canadian and grew up in the era, it is almost impossible to truly appreciate the transcendent legacy of Rocket Richard. This book comes as close as possible.

If anyone wonders why more than 100,000 people filed through the Molson Centre to see the Rocket lying in state, this book should explain everything.

This book should even be read by non-hockey fans who are seeking a better understanding Quebec, the Quiet Revolution, and the separatist movement.

Bottom line - it is incredibly rare that a hockey book could be termed as important and essential.
Carrier's Our Life With The Rocket is perhaps the only one.

The Little Book Of Hockey Sweaters

This is Mark Napier. Napier is a long forgotten goal scoring wizard. He was as feared of a sniper ast there was in junior and in the WHA in the late 1970s. He would join the Montreal Canadiens and by the early 1980s it was Napier who assumed the offensive reigns after Guy Lafleur slowed down.

Interestingly, Napier finished his career with a stint in Buffalo, wearing jersey #65 back when such NASCAR numbers were not so common place. Since his favored #9 was already in use courtesy of Danny Gare, Napier chose 65 because of his involvement with the charitable Cystic Fibrosis Foundation where he was an honorary chairman. The terrible disease is often mispronounced by its youngest victims as Sixty Five Roses, leading to the annual fundraising and awareness campaign by the same tagline. Napier brought further attention to the cause by donning the jersey number.

That is just one of the many jersey number oddities I unearthed when I recently picked up the book The Little Book of Hockey Sweaters by Andrew Podnieks and Rob Hynes with the illustrations of Anthony Jenkins.

Podnieks and Hynes look at the personal reasons why NHLers chose the jersey numbers they did. There is about 100 NHLers of various eras featured, each with a caricature by the talent Jenkins. The book came out in 2005 and now sells around the $16 mark for a brand new copy.

That's a pretty good price. I had initially held off from buying that book because I felt if I waited a couple of years I could find it in a used book store. I LOVE used book stores. I had hoped to find for $10.00, or if lucky less.

I guess you could say I won the lottery of used books then when I picked this up at donated used book charity book sale at a local grocery store for the princely sum of $0.25! I got three others too even though I already had them. But at $0.25 each who could resist.

Well I'm obviously very pleased with the $0.25 purchase price, the book is well worth getting even at $16. The caricatures by Jenkins are funny and enjoyable, and many of the stories of why jersey numbers are quite fascinating. There's a lot of stories of number reversals or some other reincarnation because original favorite numbers were already in use, but plenty of great stories like Napier's.

Here's some more examples:

Eddie Shack wore 23 because in a mirror 23 looked like his initials, ES.

Neil Sheehy wore 0 because his family's original name was O'Sheehy.

Steve Heinze and Shawn Heins both wore 57 in reference to the famous sauce.

Bobby Clarke always wore 16, except for one game when he wore 36. His jersey was stolen and 36 was the only jersey available for the road game.

Ace Bailey was so impressed with the play of Ron Ellis that he asked the Leafs to unretire his jersey #6 so that Ellis could wear it.

Theo Fleury and Martin Rucinsky are the only two known players to wear two different jerseys numbers in the same game. In both cases their original jerseys were destroyed. Fleury came back wearing 74, but only after referees refused to let him borrow a fan's autograph-covered 14 jersey. Rucinsky returned wearing #41.

Rocket Richard chose 9 because his first daughter was born at 9lbs.

Gordie Howe chose 9 because in those days players with the lower numbers got the lower bunk bed on the long train rides for road games.

Doug Gilmour wore 93 because that was his softball number while in Calgary.

Jaromir Jagr chose 68 to honor the year the Soviet tanks invaded his country.

Alexander Ovechkin chooses #8 because that is the number his mother Tatiana wore #8 in two gold medal winning Olympiads with the Russian basketball team.

Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems

From The London Free Press:

Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems recounts the life, in and out of hockey, of arguably the best goaltender who ever played the game. He also was one of hockey's most tragic figures, dying in 1970 at the age of 40 after fighting with teammate Ron Stewart in the off-season. He suffered from untreated depression.

Maggs is a professor in Newfoundland. His book is being published by Brick Books in London and will be released during the next few weeks. It's a unique look at Sawchuk's thoughts and fears and by extension, looks at the world of hockey in a much different light.

The book brings Sawchuk back to life for long-time hockey fans, and introduces him to a new generation. Sawchuk's name will surface more often as New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur closes in on Sawchuk's record for most shutouts. Sawchuk had 103 regular-season shutouts. Brodeur is at 96.

Read the full article by Morris Dalla Costa, including a sample poem.

The Hockey Sweater

Le Chandail de hockey. The Hockey Sweater.

Roch Carrier's most famous story is about a young boy who orders a Montreal Canadiens sweater from the Eaton's catalogue, but receives a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey instead. Brilliantly capturing the cultural tensions between English and French Canada, it is considered to be one of the most important works of Canadian literature ever written.

The book is based on the real experience of Carrier growing up in an isolated part of Quebec in the 1940s. He, like all boys his age, was a big fan of the Montreal Canadiens and their star player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.

When Carrier's Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater wears out, his mother orders a new one from Eaton's. Unfortunately, the department store giant sends a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater instead, the Canadiens' bitter arch rivals.

A loyal fan of Les Habitants, Carrier protests having to wear the new sweater. But his mother refuses to let her son wear the old worn out sweater and, apparently unaware of the business's traditional policy they advertised, "Goods satisfactory, or money refunded", insists that if they were to return the sweater it may offend Mr. Eaton, himself a Leafs fan. As a result, young Carrier is forced to wear the Leafs sweater to his hockey game, feeling humiliated before the other players on the ice, each proudly wearing Canadiens sweaters.

Getting your first hockey sweater is one of the truly great Christmas gifts one can receive. I'd love to hear your stories of Christmases past or present about giving or receiving a special hockey jersey.

By the way, the previous pic of a Habs jersey under a Christmas tree is part of Erle Schneidman's Montreal Canadiens Christmas card collection. The Habs have annually issued a Christmas card dating back to 1946, and he has many of them digitized on his website CanadiensMemorabilia.com. Registration is required to view his vast collection of Habs materials, but it is free and totally worth the 30 seconds of your time.

Here's a couple more pics from his collection:




And with that, I think the website will be shutting down for a few days break for Christmas. I wanted to thank everyone for helping to make this website something special. It is you the readers that truly make the site.

Merry Christmas everyone! I'll see you next week.

The Winnipeg Jets - A Celebration Of Hockey In Winnipeg

There is a book out there this Christmas called The Star Wars Vault. For any fan of Star Wars movies (I hear there's a few out there), this is the ultimate book. It covers the history, the hidden stories, the quirky facts, and is loaded with memorabilia (much of it removable) and two audio CDs. I'm not even a huge fan of Star Wars, but I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through this title. It is the must have Star Wars item for Christmas 2007.

Why am I telling you this here at Hockey Book Reviews.com? Because I've found the hockey equivalent!

Studio Publications has produced The Winnipeg Jets - A Celebration Of Hockey In Winnipeg. I call it The Winnipeg Jets Vault.

Everything and anything Jets is inside this HUGE and beautiful book. So huge that it is almost cumbersome, and so beautiful that any fan of the Jets or of WHA hockey or hockey in the 1980s will want this book on their coffee tables.

When I say everything I mean everything. From Bobby Hull to Swedish imports to Avco Cups to Dale Hawerchuk to White Outs to Goals For Kids to the great farewell, all the great memories are covered. So are the odd moments, such as the infamous hairpiece incident, hockey's only deaf hockey player, blue pucks, Gretzky's near arrivals, Pokey and the Bandit, Benny the mascot, and the Queen's portrait. The stats are here, the collectibles are documented, the photographs...

I must say I am continually totally blown away by this book. It really is too bad that Studio Publications is a Manitoba based publishing house, because every team in pro sports deserves too have a book this good available for their fans. Amazing job!

By the way, if you're looking for a book on Winnipeg's other extinct hockey team, check out Eric Zweig's Long Shot: How the Winnipeg Falcons won the first Olympic hockey gold.

Winners Announced

The two winners of our Future Greats and Heartbreaks book giveaway contest are L. Allen of North Carolina, and Mattias Svensson of Malmo, Sweden.

Ranking the 2007 Hockey Book Titles

It is a question I've been asked commonly this hockey book season: Which of the new hockey books is the best?

Unlike in 2006, I did not feel that there was truly a must-have title that would go on to be a classic. Of course such books are rare in jock literature, but last year I felt Stephen Brunt's Searching For Bobby Orr will achieve that lofty status.

Without that clear number one, it really is tough to say which hockey book I would deem to be the best. The content should be the bottom line, and therefore any listing is really based on personal preference.

But people want to know, and Christmas shopping time is running out. So without further adieu, here's my ranking of the best newhockey books published in 2007.

#1 World of Hockey - I really enjoyed this IIHF release because I felt it offered the greatest educational experience. No matter what age or level of fan you may be, this book will wow you but not overwhelm you with information. It is also a beautifully laid out book with great historic photography. All in all, I have no second thoughts on naming this book as the best of the 2007 hockey book season.

#2 King Of Russia - From a literary stand point, this is probably as close as any book gets to the classic label. It is a fascinating look into one year of a great coach, a strange but passionate hockey land, and many characters.

#3 Gretzky To Lemieux - Another rare literary contribution. The iconic moment sells itself (has it really been 2o years already?), but a very nice job by Ed Willes here. He captures all the moments and lays them out nicely.

#4 Clancy With The Puck - It's supposed to be a kid's title, but this is probably the most beautifully produced hockey book I've ever seen. Great work Raincoast! Casey At The Bat hits the ice.

#5 Walking With Legends - A typical jock book, but from a unique vantage point. Hockey Night In Canada has been the voice of hockey for generations, and author Ralph Mellanby saw it all. He shares he memories of the players, the great moments, and the broadcasters who help make our favorite moments so memorable.
#6 Maple Leafs Top 100 - Beautiful book, interesting project. Could have been even better, but it is certainly a great addition to your collection or your coffee table.

#7 THN's Top 60 since 1967 - The Hockey News didn't put a lot of money into production quality, which was a disappointment, but the scope of their project is interesting nonetheless. And no, its not a regurgitation of their Top 50 Players Of All Time project from 10 years ago.

#8 McCown's Law - Controversy sells, and lots of hockey books attempted to stir some up this season. But no one does it better than Bob McCown

#9 Future Greats and Heartbreaks - A great author with a great idea, but no real defining moment or conclusion. The author attempts to get an inside look in the world of scouting. This book has potential to be a good read a few years down the road as we begin to look back at the draft classes of 2006 and 2007.

#10 Red, White and Blues - A real nice project here by Timothy Gassen, and a real unexpected surprise that would be a great addition to any collection. The topic of Indiana hockey is probably too small to warrant a higher ranking, which is unfair to Gassen I know. A must have for WHA fans or those curious about Gretzky and Messier's days in Indy.

#11 By The Numbers - I like this book because it is different. The topic is unique, thoroughly researched and a great conversation starter. The book is beautiful in it's layout and photography. Every hockey fan can enjoy this book.

#12 H.E.A.R.T - Cassie Campbell's juvenile entry is part autobiographical and part how-to. A great Christmas gift idea for a young athlete in your family, male or especially female.

#10 Reflections - Incredible photography, and a good cause. But no captions and no reading.

#11 Maple Leafs A-Z - I'm not a big fan of this book.

2007 Hockey Books not yet reviewed:

As the Puck Turns by Brian Conacher
Minnesota North Stars: History and Memories with Lou Nanne by Bob Showers
The Complete Hockey Dictionary: More than 12,000 Words and Phrases and Their Specific Hockey Definitions by Andrew Podnieks
Hockey's Young Guns: 25 Inside Stories on Making It to "the Show" by The Hockey News
Lord Stanley: The Man Behind the Cup by Kevin Shea and John Jason Wilson
New Game: How Hockey Saved Itself by Steve Paikin
Travels with Stanley by the Hockey Hall of Fame
Cold-cocked: On Hockey by Lorna Jackson

All in all, 2007 has been a decent hockey book season. Depending on your personal tastes, I'm certain there is at least a couple of great titles for every hockey fan this Christmas season.

Walking With Legends by Ralph Mellanby

As a man who spent his entire adult life in show business, Ralph Mellanby knows controversy sells.

So when promoting his new book Walking With Legends: The Real Stories of Hockey Night in Canada, the 73-year-old former executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada hasn't shied away from sharing his thoughts on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

"Bettman to me is the real problem for hockey," said Mellanby.

"He's done so much damage to hockey it may never recover. We don't have time to go through the litany of errors."

Mellanby backs his case citing teams in bad hockey markets, ignoring Canadian and European opportunities, a deteriorating product, turbulent labour relations, the reluctance to embrace change and some controversial TV deals.

"Hockey has never been in worse straits," Mellanby said. "I'm an elder statesman now and I feel at times like a lone voice in the wilderness, but I'm not completely alone. The great minds of the game I talk to agree on these things, but no one is listening at the top."

Over his 2 decade career as the man behind Canada's most famous television show, Mellanby has talked to many of hockey's great minds. In fact, he hired many of them.

In his book Walking With Legends, Mellanby pays tribute to the many faces of both HNIC and the NHL. It is somehow fitting that the man behind the most influential program in hockey history is quick to give credit to the people he employed as opposed to getting higher respect himself.

The 5 time Emmy winner Mellanby remembers all the greats on HNIC, looking back at Foster and Bill Hewitt, Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin, Dan Kelly and Bob Cole and Dave Hodge. Mellanby saves his two best chapters for his two biggest risks and two biggest rewards - Howie Meeker and Don Cherry. And, interestingly, he admits he was completely wrong in thinking that Ron MacLean, arguably the best face of the show, was doomed to fail.

Mellanby also takes a look at the 1972 Summit Series, the 1980 USA Miracle On Ice, Harold Ballard, Gary Bettman, several of the NHL's greatest players over the years, and his son Scott Mellanby, a long time NHL star himself.

All in all Walking With Legends is a solid read with some nice insights, particularly on the HNIC faces we all have welcomed into our homes every Saturday night.

Future Greats And Heartbreaks by Gare Joyce

Gary Joyce is a literary gift to the sports world. He is just a marvelous writer, able to paint beautiful imagery with his keyboard. And hockey fans should count themselves as very lucky that Joyce accidentally became a hockey writer.

That's one the earliest of revelations in his new book Future Greats and Heartbreaks: a Season Undercover in the Secret World of NHL Scouts. He also reveals a life long passion of studying and analyzing sports drafts, a passion that many fans share.

For some fans it is all about hope. Hope of what is to come. For others, like Joyce, it is about academics, which in the sports world doesn't always have a place.

To further educate himself and his readers, Joyce sets out to explore the tightly locked hidden world of talent scouting. He is in search of the theory behind scouting, looking for trends as surely there must be some careful strategy when handing out million dollar contracts to junior players and college kids.

Frankly, there isn't. Apparently. The author concludes "There was no unified theory, no logic." In that sense, I felt what the author must have ultimately felt - disappointment.

Not disappointment in the book, as it is a gem by Doubleday Canada and worthy of your purchasing consideration. No, the disappointment lies in the scouting institution.

I think Joyce, like myself and probably many other fans, entered into this book with some assumptions about the depth scouts go to dig information on the players. Sure, we all know they dissect their on ice performance to no end, but I always figured what separates the best drafting teams from the worst drafting teams was the in depth background checks, personality analysis, parental and other outside influences, and any last circumstance that might affect their play and their development. When ranking 100s of players on a draft list, I figured it was the human intangibles that more often than not separated players of equal value.

Wrong.

Or at least that is the way it was with Doug MacLean's Columbus Blue Jackets organization, the only team that would grant the journalist mostly unfettered access to the scouts, the meetings and the war room for the 2006 and 2007 NHL draft.

The Jackets were a notoriously poor drafting team under MacLean, and when I read it was Columbus who Joyce was shadowing, a warning flag immediately shot up for me. And I think I was right.

You almost hope Joyce's findings were skewed by this poor organization. In all likelihood any skewing is not terribly significant, given the NHL's crap shoot history at the draft, but it sure would be interesting to see how Detroit or Ottawa does things in comparison.

Joyce looks at what life is like to be an unheralded scout - low pay, constant travel, terrible motel rooms and no thanks. He also exposes it as surprisingly political, and, not surprisingly, old school. He then tries to use his journalism training to scout player, with the intent of comparing his findings with that of the traditional bird dogs.

I think Joyce's look at the scouting world has the potential to let that old school scouting world look at itself and it's archaic ways. I'm almost shocked at the lack of off-ice background work done by the scouts. In many ways the trained journalist was able to see more than the scouts.

Not that that helped matters in the end, though. Joyce was not high on Phil Kessel, based largely on character. It is still early, but Kessel is now proving his detractors all wrong in Boston. Joyce also gives us some interesting and personal looks into the lives of prospects like Angelo Esposito and Akim Aliu, and his own thoughts on many, many other prospects. By doing so he lets his readers get a hint of what it must be like to on the opposite end of the scouting spectrum: to be the player everyone is tearing apart.

After reading this book, the draft will remain about hope for me. But I'm not certain it is about academics now, if it ever was. Perhaps the best drafting teams have already figured that out and corrected it.

Though many of the mysteries of NHL scouting remain unsolved (or perhaps unsolvable?) Gare Joyce's Future Greats and Heartbreaks: a Season Undercover in the Secret World of NHL Scouts is an excellent hockey book. Check it out today at your local bookseller.

Win A Copy Of This Book! Hockey Book Reviews.com in conjunction with Double Day/Random House publishing is giving away 2 signed copies of this book. All you have to do is tell me two other hockey books published by Double Day/Random House in 2007. Here's a good place to look. Then email your answers and to hockeybookcontest@hotmail.com. A draw from all correct answers will take place on December 1st, 2007!

Also See: Gare Joyce is once again trying his hand at blogging, offering http://scoutshonourbygarejoyce.blogspot.com/ as a post script of the book. Who knows, over time it may be just the beginning of the next chapter.

H.E.A.R.T. by Cassie Campbell

When the topic of hockey's greatest leader comes up, the usual suspects are always named: Mark Messier. Steve Yzerman. Phil Esposito. Joe Sakic.

I think the greatest leader in hockey may not even have been a NHL guy. In fact, the greatest leader may not have been a guy at all.

As the long time captain of Canada's national women's team, Cassie Campbell led the nation to two Olympic golds and a world championship. She is one of Canada's all time most decorated athletes, adding 5 more world championships, as well as an Olympic and world championship silver medal to her medal count. She is the only Canadian hockey player to captain back to back Olympic gold medal championships.

And she did all that while earning an honours degree in Sociology and raising 100's of 1000's of dollars for charity.

No one earned more respect as a leader than Campbell. Wayne Gretzky was very complimentary of her as a great hockey leader:

"I was totally impressed with her ability to motivate the Canadian women's team both on and off the ice. Not only did she work hard as a player during the actual games, but she seemed to go above and beyond her duties as captain to try and keep her team together off the ice."

Now that she has retired, Cassie Campbell has dedicated herself to being a true ambassador to not just women's hockey, but all of hockey. She is truly an amazing and inspiring person we can all look up to.

One of Campbell's initiatives is the new book H.E.A.R.T . In the book Campbell shares her secrets of success, and how we can all use not only to be better athletes, but better people.

H is for hard work. E is for experience and education. A is for attitude. R is for responsibility and respect. T is for teamwork. Combined they form the word heart, but they also form success.

And this book isn't all self help talk. She also talks about her many experiences she had while on the national team for 13 years. She includes several great stories, and talks about her teammates and her opponents.

Though the book is considered juvenile literature, this book isn't specifically geared towards kids, although they will be easily draw by it. Adults can also take a lot from this book.

Kids and adults, girls and boys, women and men, hockey fans and non hockey fans will like it and hopefully latch on to the principles quickly.

When asked the question 'who should read this book?' the answer is simple: Everybody.

Hockey Trivia Anyone?

Hey what sports doesn't like a little hockey trivia? And it makes for a perfect small Christmas gift or stocking stuffer.

Well there's no shortage of options of trivia books again this Christmas.

The king of hockey trivia is Don Weekes, author of (by my count) 24 hockey trivia books! In 2007 he's teamed with Greystone Books for two new titles: Shootout Hockey Trivia and Crease-Crashing Hockey Trivia, both selling for under $10!

By the way, here's some Don Weekes trivia for you - Weekes is an award winning television producer-director at CTV Montreal, and his trivia has been used by TV stations, radio stations, websites and magazines all around the world. Most interestingly, his hockey trivia has ended up on cartons of Post cereal and Jell-O Pudding Cups!

Jesse Ross and Raincoast Books offers something a little more geared towards younger fans in the new title: Hockey: Games, Trivia, Quizzes and More! There's trivia, crosswords, matching games, word searches and puzzles. Its a fun book from the author of The Amazing Allstar Hockey Activity Book

There's one more book I think you shouldn't be too hasty to pass over. If you like to read my lead stories at Greatest Hockey Legends.com, you'll probably enjoy Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Shoots and Scores!, published in Canada by Raincoast Books. It's an eclectic collection stories, facts, and more often than not hockey history, the type of stuff I love to headline over at Legends. You'll learn lots in short bursts, and have a lot of fun doing it.

World Of Hockey

In 2008 the International Ice Hockey Federation is holding the world championships in Canada for the very first time. Obviously the worlds clash with the NHL playoffs from a timing stand point, and traditionally the worlds aren't as overly accepted in Canada as they are over in Europe, but somehow it seems odd that hockey's world championships have never been held in the sport's motherland.

What makes it even weirder is 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the IIHF, a fact I don't think a lot of North American fans realized until recent marketing campaigns.

With the games coming to Quebec City and to Halifax, the IIHF has many commemorative projects in the works, including special events, ceremonies, and interactive exhibits both in person and online. A full list of events can be seen here.

For hockey book lovers, the IIHF has just released a beautiful 228 page coffee table book, World of Hockey: Celebrating a Century of the IIHF. The project was closely directed by Szymon Szemberg and largely written by veteran power writer Andrew Podnieks. The project also had special contributions from some of international hockey's foremost experts, including my buddies Lucas Aykroyd and Patrick Houda.

The book chronicles the worldwide growth of the game hockey, concentrating most of its attention outside of North America. It examines how hockey developed in Europe and elsewhere from an aristocratic game into a 65 member nations that comprise the IIHF today. Every nation, even Argentina, India and South Africa, are given time in this undertaking.

The book is incredibly readable, and highly educational. It opens with a look at the birth of hockey in Montreal, and moves to the birth of what became the IIHF.

Houda writes chapter 2, "Canada shows Europe how to play the game." It is simply eloquent writing, smooth and flowing, but with typical Houda trivia facts thrown in. As with anything Houda contributes, you will find yourself learning the most interesting of facts, such as the story of Romania's Prince "Bazu" Cantacuzino, decorated athlete and war hero.

The book moves on through the decades, looking at the rise and collapse of an early Czechoslovakian powerhouse and then the sheer dominance of the Soviets. The modern era featuring the end of hockey's power balance is perfectly featured, with looks at recent successes by Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada and Sweden.

The book is laid out beautifully, with a great selection of photos. The opening collage of all the various national team jerseys captures your interest immediately, but my favorite image has to be that of the Hungarian hockey fan on page 176.

The book includes an extensive statistics section, as well as in depth looks at key international hockey legends such Paul Loicq, Harry Watson, Jaroslav Drobny, Harry Sinden, Viktor Tikhonov, Borje Salming, Vladislav Tretiak, Dominik Hasek, Jari Kurri, Ryan Smyth and Peter Bondra. The women's game also is given great coverage.

The IIHF's greatest moments are all featured, including Peter Forsberg’s 1994 Olympic-winning shootout goal, Poland’s shocking 6-4 win over the Soviet Union at the 1976 IIHF World Championship, America's Miracle On Ice in 1980, and, even though it wasn't an IIHF event, the 1972 Summit Series.

All in all World of Hockey a beautiful book and an educational joy for any hockey fan. I highly recommend this book.

By The Numbers: From 00 To 99

Hockey is a game of numbers. Goals. Assists. Penalty Minutes. Salaries, nowadays. But no numbers are more revered than a player's sweater number.

Sweater numbers not only identify players, but forever etch a player into our memory. Think of Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Orr or Mario Lemieux. The numbers on their backs are often as iconic as they are.

Hockey Night In Canada with author Scott Morrison has come out with Hockey Night in Canada By the Numbers: From 00 to 99. The book looks at the great personalities for every number, from 00 to 99. Incredible photography and fast facts make this a beautiful book to thumb through.

Controversy is always a great seller, so this book attempts to do so by ranking who was the best player to wear each number. Such strategy is a brilliant way to spark a lively debate and rekindle a lot of fond memories.

Can anyone catch Bobby Orr for jersey number 4? Not even Jean Beliveau? How fast is Vincent Lecavalier climbing the list?

How about jersey #9, once the most revered number of all? How do you choose from Gordie Howe, Rocket Richard and Bobby Hull?

#19 is another topic of hot debate. Steve Yzerman? Bryan Trottier? Joe Sakic? Larry Robinson?

And how can you possibly choose from all the goalies who traditionally wore #1 or #30?

The story of each player's choice of jersey number is often explained. And there is tons of antectdotal information through out the book. Who else wore #99 and #66? What skaters wore jersey #1?

This is a real fun book, blessed with great production quality and photos, and fascinating information. I really enjoyed this title.

2007 Hockey DVDs

By now fans know me now as The Hockey History Blogger. But my long time readers know me as a big fan of international hockey as well. There's two DVD releases just in time for Christmas 2007 that will have international hockey fans stoked.

The first is '72 Complete gift set is the sec