Official Guide to the Players of Hockey Hall of Fame

Official Guide to the Players of the Hockey Hall of Fame is one of two new hockey books from the Hockey Hall of Fame for the 2010 season. The others is The Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Goalies.

This book definitely surprised me. The Hall of Fame has put out several books about it's honoured members over the years. They tend to be quite similar - beautiful coffee table sized books blessed with photos right out of the Hall of Fame vaults.

This new release is almost better categorized as a pocket book. I was almost shocked! After years of bigger books I'm still trying to get used to the new format.

This book is a whopper at 544 pages. Included are point by point profiles on every inductee and more than 400 photos! And it's cover price is just $19.99 which means you should be able to get this book under $15 most places. Just look at the beautiful production value in this featured profile below:

After seeing these beautiful pages, you'll definitely be looking to add this to your collection. Here's how:

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Here's the specs:

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (August 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554076625
• ISBN-13: 978-1554076628

And here's more information from the publisher, Firefly Books:

Detailed profiles of every player in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame is the greatest individual honor that can be bestowed upon a professional hockey player. Since the first class in 1945, the Hockey Hall of Fame has inducted 244 players to its hallowed halls -- recent inductees include Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Luc Robitaille and Steve Yzerman.

Here are just a few of the Hockey Hall of Fame's most famous inductees:

• Wayne Gretzky
  
• Bobby Orr
  
• Maurice Richard
  
• Guy Lafleur
  
• Patrick Roy
  
• Tim Horton
  
• Johnny Bower
  
• Ken Dryden
  
• Mark Messier
  
• Frank Mahovlich

Official Guide to the Players of the Hockey Hall of Fame features every player that has been honored with induction into the hall. The book profiles each Hall of Famer in a two-page hockey card-style spread, complete with stats, facts, quotes and other interesting snapshots from the star's career.

The book also includes first-person accounts of what it means to be a member of the Hall, as well as artifacts and memorabilia from the Hockey Hall of Fame's extensive archive. Complete with more than 400 photos and illustrations, Official Guide to the Players of the Hockey Hall of Fame is an essential reference for any hockey fan.

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The Year of the Canucks . . . wait a minute!

Vancouver Canucks fans wish this book was a reality. Chapters actually has a listing for it, although it does say "temporarily unavailable for order." Mind you, the publishing date is 2035. That's an awfully long time away Canucks fans.

The Year of the Bruins

Good news Bruins fans. The Year of the Bruins: Celebrating Boston's 2010-11 Stanley Cup Championship Season has hit bookstore shelves everywhere!

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For the first time in Stanley Cup history, a team has won game seven in three series en route to winning the Stanley Cup. The Boston Bruins, champions for the first time since 1972, beat Montreal in seven in the opening round, Tampa Bay in seven to get to the Stanley Cup Final, and then Vancouver, 4–0, in the final game of the Stanley Cup Final to win hockey’s most prized trophy.

The team was led by the goaltending of the Conn Smythe Trophy winner Tim Thomas, timely goals from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, great leadership on the blue-line from captain Zdeno Chara, and tremendous inspiration from Nathan Horton.

The Year of the Bruins is a celebration of Boston’s incredible 2010–11 season, from training camp through the rigours of the eighty-two-game regular season, and then four rounds of challenging Stanley Cup Playoffs. Lavishly illustrated with more than one hundred colour photographs, this is a must-have keepsake for any fan of the Bruins or, indeed, the history of the Stanley Cup.

Bargain Books At Chapters

Be sure to check out Chapters.ca's Bargain Bin for some great hockey books at amazing prices.

The Art of Scouting by Shane Malloy

Scouting has always been the back bone of every successful hockey team. In the salary cap era it is even more important than ever. Yet it remains quite secretive and almost universally under-appreciated by virtually everybody in hockey, especially the fans.

That all changes now thanks to author Shane Malloy and his book The Art of Scouting: How The Hockey Experts Really Watch The Game and Decide Who Makes It.

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Malloy offers us a sneak peak into the world of scouting, gathering insider information from dozens of current and former hockey scouts. We get to learn how the scouts watch the game, and more importantly, what they are looking for to determine whether they believe certain players are prospects or not.

He does by gathering quotes and opinions from some of the game's very best scouts. He focuses on 10 specific hockey traits and dedicates a full chapter to each one: Hockey sense, skating, puck skill and movement, shooting, the physical game, the defensive game, goalies, defensemen and forwards, and intangibles. He also gives us an inside look into prospect meeting and the psychology of it all.

In the opening chapters the author also provides some great reading in his look into the anything-but-glamorous life of a scout.

Malloy is a columnist and broadcaster who has been covering hockey prospects, scouting, and player development for the past decade. He is currently a co-host of Hockey Prospect Radio and Business of Hockey on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Home Ice 204). He is also a scout and consultant on the NHL video game for Electronic Arts. He has previously written for Rogers Sportsnet, TSN, Fox Sports and NHL.com, along with being a feature columnist for Goalie News, CNN/SI, The Sporting News, CHL Prospects Magazine, and several NHL team websites.

This is actually a pretty fascinating look inside one of hockey's most secretive worlds. Hardcore hockey fans will definitely want to consider purchasing Shane Malloy's The Art of Scouting: How The Hockey Experts Really Watch The Game and Decide Who Makes It.

The book, which features a foreword from Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, is published by Wiley in March 2011.

Raising Stanley by Ross Bernstein

Todd Denault (author of Jacques Plante and The Greatest Game) emailed me late Sunday night to let me know of a late entry into the hockey book market. A late entry, and a potentially spectacular one at that.

Denault, who spends a lot of time in bookstores (usually signing his own titles), discovered the interesting title Raising Stanley by Ross Bernstein. He was so excited about the book, he emailed me about it right away.

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"I'm in the hockey book section when I came across a book that I hadn't recalled seeing. The name of the book is Raising Stanley and the author is Ross Bernstein. I must admit that seeing a new book this late in the game really surprised me."

It is amazing. Supposedly the release date was supposed to be back in September. Perhaps there have been distribution problems in Canada, because Ross Bernstein is a big name hockey writer. How big? He's got Scotty Bowman writing this book's introduction as well as Phil Esposito, Brett Hull and Joe Sakic writing forewords.

Raising Stanley is a book, as the subtitle states, about "what it takes to win hockey's ultimate prize."  Bernstein looks at true meaning of winning the Stanley Cup through defining moments, great teams, great coaches and great celebrations.

But the absolute best part - the part that makes this book so potentially awesome - is Bernstein has somewhere around 100 hockey legends interviewed and, in their own voices, they discuss their Stanley Cup memories. Not so much the game details, but more about the moment they actually won. Some talk about the moment they hoisted the Cup for the first time. Others talk about the celebrations later on. Some discuss the pain and anguish they went through, and how it was all worth it just to get a chance to kiss the Stanley Cup.

Some of the players interviewed include Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman, Rob Blake, Ken Dryden, Peter Forsberg, Igor Larionov, Jacques Lemaire, Frank Mahovlich, and Brendan Shanahan.

Mr. Denault added in his email "it is amazing that something like this has flown so under the radar" and that it "is well worth the money and time."

When a prolific hockey author like Todd Denault speaks so highly of another hockey book, I think well owe it to ourselves to check out Ross Bernstein's Raising Stanley for ourselves!


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Queens of the Ice by Carly Adams

Another new book in James Lorimer and Company's fine RecordBook Series is Queens of the Ice: They were fast, they were fierce, they were teenage girls by Carly Adams.

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Here's more from the publisher: In 1931, a group of ten teenage girls from Preston (present-day Cambridge), Ontario, enlisted the help of the top women's sport journalists of the era, and the Preston Rivulettes hockey team was born. Within a decade the team became so good that no other team would dare to play against them. Yet the struggles these young women faced are ones that women can still relate to today, including criticism for aggressive play and fighting, lack of financial and fan support, the right to govern their own sports organizations, and ice time that went to boys' and men's teams first.

Here's the specs:

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Lorimer (September 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552777200
• ISBN-13: 978-1552777206
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.4 inches

Finger Hockey: No Poke Checking!

In what may be the most unusual hockey "book" release of 2011, Running Press Miniatures Editions releases the 32 page Finger Hockey: No Poke Checking!

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Here's more from the publisher: Why get bruised and bloodied playing the treacherous sport of hockey on an ice rink when you can do it right on your desktop? This is a game that the millions of rabid hockey fans around the globe will love. Kit includes a set of finger “goalie” pads, net, hockey stick, puck, skating rink playing mat, and a 32-page rule book on Finger Hockey.

Here's the specs:

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Running Press Miniature Editions (Aug 30 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762442573
• ISBN-13: 978-0762442577

Summit Series '72: Eight Games that put Canada on top of world hockey

Publisher James Lorimer and Company and author Richard Brignall bring us Summit Series '72: Eight Games That Put Canada On Top of World Hockey.

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Like all books in the RecordBooks series, this is a quick, easy read. It is brief and does not offer anything new on the much written about Summit Series, but it is a good introduction for new generations of fans looking to learn about one of hockey's most important events.

Here's more from the publisher: It wasn't until Canadian teams started losing in international tournaments in the mid 1950s that an epic hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union began. Canadians believed hockey was "their game." So Canadians were in for a rude awakening when they lost Game One of the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets. The eight-game tournament quickly became a "war on ice" fuelled by competing Cold War ideologies. Hockey fans will enjoy reading about: small-town teams that represented Canada in international tournaments before there was a Team Canada; Father David Bauer and the first National Hockey Team; the birth of Hockey Canada; Canada and the Cold War; Canadian style of play in hockey versus the Russian style of play; and Bobby Clarke's dirty slash on Kharlamov.

About the Author: Writer and former sports reporter Richard Brignall lives in Kenora, Ontario. He is the author of several other titles in the Recordbooks series, including Fearless, Big Train, Forever Champions, Big League Dreams, and China Clipper. His also a frequent contributor to Cottage Life and Outdoor Canada.

Here's the specs:

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Lorimer (August 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552778835
• ISBN-13: 978-1552778838
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches

Hockey Firsts: Volume 2

Lobster Press presents Hockey Firsts, Volume 2

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Also see: Hockey Firsts: Volume 1

Hockey Firsts: Volume 1

Lobster Press presents Hockey Firsts, Volume 1

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Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

John Ralston Saul is the series editor for the exciting new series Extraordinary Canadians by Penguin Books. The biography series features 20 great Canadians, including Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Louis Riel, Lester B. Pearson, Rene Levesque, Wilfrid Laurier, Tommy Douglas and Emily Carr. The series' mandate is to "rediscover twenty Canadians — rebels, reformers, thinkers, writers, painters, political leaders - who built modern Canada."

Also included in the series, somewhat out of place at first glance, is Rocket Richard, the only hockey player. Although as we all know, Rocket Richard's legacy far transcended hockey. Charles Foran penned  this 166 page book, arguing "that the province's passionate identification with Richard's success and struggles emboldened its people and change Canada irrevocably.

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This book is not so much about one of the great hockey players in the history of the great game. It is more about his influence - mostly symbolic and unintentional, accidental even - on Quebec's political and cultural transformation, as a nationalist icon and even a revolutionary catalyst.

The book is expertly written by Foran, who recently won the prestigious Charles Taylor Prize for non-fiction for his biography of Mordecai Richler. He wonderfully - although at under 200 pages a bit too briefly - tells the story of Richard accurately with a novelist's brilliance.

The influential life of Rocket Richard has been the subject of some truly wonderful books over the years. Charles Foran's entry is yet another epic text well worth your time. His passages on the 1955 riots and Richard's farewell to the Montreal Forum in 1996 are excellent reading.

Grilling With Salming

Just in time for the summer BBQ season, here comes Borje Salming with his own cookbook! The Swedish "King of Barbecues" has put together Grilling With Salming where he cooks up steaks, fish, veggies and even deserts. I'm not sure if there is any Harold Ballard egg recipes.

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This book will test the theory that any book somehow involving the Toronto Maple Leafs will succeed. With the promotion machine behind it, I suspect the book will sell well.Speaking of the marketing machine, you can meet Borje Salming at a book promotion event on May 19th at the Indigo Books store at Toronto's Eaton Centre.

Here's more about the book from the publisher, HarperCollins:

Borje Salming is known for being a real tough guy. One of the first European hockey players to star in the NHL, he boasted a seventeen-year career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and earned a reputation as one of the strongest and best-respected defencemen in the game. He became known as “The King.”

Back in Sweden, Salming is still known for his defensive skills, but even more for his grill skills. There, he’s known as “the King of the Barbecue.”

Grilling with Salming follows the King as he tackles steaks, fish, veggies and even desserts. Not only does he share his favourite recipes with us, he also talks food and hockey memories, from both Sweden and Canada. He is just as proud of his Lapp heritage as he is of his status as an ice-hockey legend, and this book combines both northern Swedish and North American cultures, spiced with a good dose of Salming’s unrivalled fighting spirit. As he puts it: “One thing I learned on the ice was, he who dares, wins. The same thing applies to barbecue. The more you barbecue, the braver you get!” For hockey and bbq fans, this book scores.