Bargain Book Alerts!

Summer is a great time to pick up some of last year's books for great deals, whether it be for your personal library or for early Christmas shopping. Bookstores and publishers are looking to clear room for new titles so they often blowout older stock. In some cases you can get last year's hard cover release for cheaper than the upcoming paperback offering.

Chapters.ca/BargainBooks is a great place to look for deals on hockey books. Here's what they're offering right now.

• The China Wall: The Timeless Legend of Johnny Bower. Jacket price: $27.95. Sale Price: $5.99
• Gretzky to Lemieux: Story of 87 Canada Cup: Jacket Price: $34.99. Sale Price: 6.99 
• 2009 NHL Official Guide and Record Book: Jacket Price: $29.95. Sale Price: 2.00
• TSN 25 Years. Jacket Price: $39.95. Sale Price: $7.99
• Legendary Stanley Cup Stories: Jacket Price: $27.95. Sale Price: $6.99
• Dominant Dany Heatley: Jacket Price: $14.95. Sale Price: 3.99 KIDS
• Spectacular Sidney Crosby: Jacket Price: $14.95. Sale Price: 3.99 KIDS
• Sensational Jarome Iginla: Jacket Price: $14.95. Sale Price: 3.99 KIDS 
• Brad Richards: A Hockey Story. Jacket Price: $17.95. Sale Price: 3.99 KIDS 
• Travels With Stanley:  Jacket Price: $21.95. Sale Price: 4.99
• St. Michael's College: Jacket Price: $40.00. Sale Price: 6.99 
• Best of Hockey Night In Canada. Jacket Price: $29.95. Sale Price: 5.99 
• Brodeur: Beyond the Crease: Jacket Price: $29.95. Sale Price: 5.99
• Going To The Net. Jacket Price: $32.95. Sale Price: 6.99 
• The Meaning of Puck: Jacket Price: $29.95. Sale Price: 5.99
• Colour Commentary by Brian McFarlane: Jacket Price: $29.95. Sale Price: 14.98
• Leslie McFarlane's Hockey Stories: Jacket Price: $19.95. Sale Price: 4.99
• 100 Greatest Canadian Sports Moments: Jacket Price: $39.99. Sale Price: 7.99
• Great Canadian Hockey Phrase Book: Jacket Price: $13.95. Sale Price: 3.99

Be sure to check these titles out the next time you are at Chapters/Indigo. If you wish to buy online, click on my affiliation link as proceeds help to support this website.

2010 Stanley Cup Champions DVD - Chicago Blackhawks

Available on July 27th, 2010, the NHL's official DVD celebration of the Chicago Blackhawks and of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs hits store shelves. It is titled NHL Stanley Cup Champions 2009-2010

Order yours today: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

The disc is also available in the popular Blu-ray format:

Blu-ray edition: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

Also, for your bookshelf:

• The Year of The Blackhawks
• Hawkeytown
• The Mighty Blackhawks
  

The Battle of Alberta Trivia Book by Mike Leonetti

For a good stretch of time in the 1980s hockey's two best teams came from small cities in the oil rich Canadian prairies of Alberta. The Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers and the always scrappy underdog Calgary Flames battled for hockey supremacy even though the two teams could never meet in the Stanley Cup finals.

Some of my finest hockey memories of my youth came from the Battle of Alberta. Gretzky's slap shot over Mike Vernon's shoulder in overtime. Theo Fleury dramatically matching that a few years later. Dave Semenko and Tim Hunter wrestling, Marty McSorley spearing Mike Bullard, and Craig MacTavish and the whole Harvey the Hound tongue incident. Of course who will ever forget Steve Smith's goal.

So it comes as no surprise when I say I am very excited by Mike Leonetti's new title, The Battle of Alberta Trivia Book by Red Deer Press.

Buy The Book - Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com


Here's the specs:

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Red Deer Press; 1 edition (Sep 1 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889954364
• ISBN-13: 978-0889954366

Here's more from the publisher, Red Deer Press:

When the Atlanta Flames became the Calgary Flames in 1980, it gave hockey one of its greatest all-time rivalries. The Edmonton Oilers, just 160 miles up the road, would now go head-to-head for the "Battle of Alberta." Hockey fans everywhere would witness some of the fiercest, toughest, and most highly entertaining brand of hockey not seen in the NHL in decades. Edmonton was loaded with superstars like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Grant Fuhr, Paul Coffey, and Glenn Anderson, who led the Oilers to five Stanley Cups. The Flames were not far behind with the likes of Lanny McDonald, Mike Vernon, Al MacInnis, Gary Roberts, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Doug Gilmour leading them to the finals in 1986 and a Cup win in 1989.

Captured in these pages are recollections of great games, notable records and awards, memorable trades, and a host of other fascinating Battle of Alberta facts and lore. As an added bonus, an entire chapter is devoted to NHL players who come from Alberta. From the famous (including Hall of Fame players such as Norm Ullman and Johnny Bucyk) to the obscure (players like Autry Erickson and Greg Joly), the "Alberta Boys" chapter will bring back memories of players who call Alberta home. The Battle of Alberta Trivia Book is also completely up-to-date, with questions and answers about current players like Jarome Iginla, Miika Kiprusoff, Ales Hemsky, and Gilbert Brule, and events that occurred in the 2009-10 season.

Past or present, The Battle of Alberta Trivia Book provides hundreds of trivia questions sure to please any hockey fan!

My Summer Reading List

Summer is here, and I am about to head out on vacation. For me that means lots of camping and, this time around anyways, beaching. When  I'm not eating marshmallows or exploring the rugged British Columbia coast line, I will be reading.

Here's the three books I will be reading:

The Game by Ken Dryden. It has been a few years since I've read this book, so it is time to revisit this old friend. It is hailed without much disagreement as the best hockey book ever written. When I interview authors I always ask them what their favorite hockey book is and unfailingly they all - Jack Falla and Michael McKinley most notably - say Dryden's The Game is hockey's greatest piece of literature. This title also available on Kindle.

Speaking of Michael McKinley, I definitely plan on reading his first novel, The Penalty Killing.. For all of it's unmistakable place in our culture, hockey has failed to catch on in the world of fiction (outside of the Young Adult category anyways). This has not been a problem for other sports, especially baseball of course. McKinley's offering has had great reviews so perhaps this is the book that spawns a golden age of hockey fiction? As a rule I do not read fiction, but I will stretch my boundaries and tackle Michael McKinley's The Penalty Killing. This title is also available on Kindle.

I will also pack a non-hockey related book with me. Trust me, I don't get a lot of time to read non-hockey titles, but there are quite a few I would like to. I'm going to read Bastards And Boneheads by Will Ferguson. It is a look at Canadian history specifically through the actions and legacies of Canada's Prime Ministers over the years, all of whom are neatly categorized either as a bastard or bonehead by our comedian author. Ferguson certainly had a unique outlook and a funny text, but his book is also overflowing in history that I, as a Canadian, think I should know. Ferguson is without a doubt my favorite non-hockey author, and he very possibly could rank on top of a list that included hockey authors if I were to really think about it. This title also available on Kindle.

Tell me what's on your reading list. Or suggest other books I should add to mine. Use the site comment form, or chat with me on Twitter @HockeyLegends.

The Penalty Killing by Michael McKinley

Michael McKinley is a noted journalist and documentary film maker who is highly regarded in the hockey world. If there is one trait that best sums up the Oxford educated McKinley it is he likes to undertake new and different projects. For example, he has produced middle eastern religious documentaries for CNN while also producing episodes of South Park.

Hockey fans of course know McKinley for the TV/DVD documentary Hockey: A People's History and it's accompanying book, as well as one of my all favorites Putting A Roof On Winter. Now he's pushing the hockey literary boundaries with his first novel, The Penalty Killing: A Martin Carter Mystery.

Buy the book - Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

Hockey, unlike baseball, has not really transcended into the world of fiction which is why McKinley's leap into the genre is so noteworthy. True, hockey mysteries have been tackled for the Young Adult market thanks to Roy MacGregor and the fantastic The Screech Owls series. But this is a great test of an unconquered market.

McKinley accomplishes the leap wonderfully. Listen to this glowing review from Quill & Quire:

McKinley’s prose is punchy. Many light touches, from the motley array of nicknames to Carter’s nose sporting a “hat trick” of breaks, bring the author’s chosen milieu to life. You can smell the stink of the locker room and hear the shouts of the fans. As a character, Martin Carter strikes just the right balance of abrasiveness and charm. However, the supporting characters not deeply entrenched within the sports world feel more thinly drawn. Still, after a soft middle, which finds amateur sleuth Carter fumbling through both his ad hoc investigation and a romantic subplot, The Penalty Killing returns to New York and builds toward a riotous ending.

What's the novel about? Here's McKinley's own description courtesy of an earlier interview with HockeyBookReviews.com:

(It) is a crime novel about a former great player names Martin Carter who suffered a nasty head injury, couldn’t play anymore, and was given a job by his team, the New York St. Patricks. When we meet him, he gets framed for a murder, and has to solve it to save his life.

You can read the first chapter on www.michaelmckinley.com. You can also hear McKinley talk about the book in great detail with CBC's Shelagh Rogers for the radio show The Next Chapter.



The story is a hard hitting twister of intense action and is getting literary acclaim from well outside of the hockey world. Because McKinley, of whom I am a tremendous fan, went outside of the hockey realm with this project I feel it is necessary that I, too, need to go outside my comfort zone and do something I never do - I'm definitely putting the novel The Penalty Killing on my summer reading list.