Stan Mikita: Forever A Blackhawk

In 2010 I was very pleased with the autobiography/coffee table style Bobby Hull book The Golden Jet.

In similar format author Bob Verdi and publisher Triumph Books are back with Stan Mikita in 2011 with Forever a Blackhawk. It is every bit as good, and, unfortunately, equally under the radar. This is a fantastic book worthy of your consideration.

The as-told-to autobiography reads a little-too simply, but Mikita`s story carries the book. Like how as a kid in the former Czechoslovakia German troops occupied his home during World War II. Or once he moved to Canada, he loved to play the game but had no early connection with the NHL. When Rocket Richard, Boom Boom Geoffrion and Doug Harvey showed up at his school to sign autographs, he had never heard of them! Then of course there is all the stories of Bobby Hull and the Scooter Line and the Chicago Blackhawks.

It is a fascinating read for any fan of Stan Mikita and the Chicago Blackhawks.

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The name Stan Mikita is synonymous with greatness when it comes to hockey in Chicago and throughout the NHL. As one of the most charismatic and electrifying athletes of his or any era, Mikita thrilled fans with his unique combination of speed, skill and toughness. Along the way, he became known as one of the finest centers in hockey history and is still widely regarded to be the best at his position of the 1960s.

Mikita now has his electrifying career highlighted in the new book Forever a Blackhawk, where he traces his life and career from his days as a youngster in Czechoslovakia and then Canada to his current role as a Blackhawks ambassador. Throughout the book, beautiful photos reflect on Mikita's greatest moments and achievements, including:

• His days as a youth in Czechoslovakia to being adopted by his aunt and uncle in Canada
• Earning hockey's ultimate prize in 1961: Lord Stanley's Cup and a championship ring
• Leading the league in goals in the 1961 playoffs
• Using his innovative curved stick to win face-offs and set a league record in scoring
• Being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983
• His current role as ambassador of good will to the Chicago Blackhawks

Featuring hundreds of rare, full-color photos from his personal archive and accompanying text from legendary Chicago sports columnist and Blackhawks team historian Bob Verdi, Forever a Blackhawk gives Mikita's millions of fans a never-before-seen glimpse into the life of this hockey icon. Bringing the pictures to life is an exclusive commemorative DVD, which includes highlights, interviews, and behind-the-scenes clips from the Blackhawks' video library.

A must-have keepsake for Blackhawks fans of all ages, Forever a Blackhawk is a rare opportunity to celebrate the life of one of the greatest hockey players in Chicago's history. It is truly a must have for old time fans of the Chicago Blackhawks.

IIHF 2012 Guide And Record Book

Most of you are very familiar with the annual National Hockey League Guide and Record Book. Well now us international hockey fans will have to make more room on their bookshelf as the IIHF has gotten into the same game. Out in late 2011 is IIHF 2012 Guide and Record Book

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At 640 pages this colossal Guide includes information on every top level event, every IIHF member nation, and, indeed, every player to appear in even a single game since international hockey first took hold in 1920. In all, more than 12,000 players are included, as well as every coach, every referee, every linesman and every stat imaginable.

The 2012 IIHF Guide and Record Book is the official and only complete source of information for international hockey. It covers all top-level events from the Olympics to World Championships to junior events, from men's hockey to women's hockey, from 1920 to the past and present seasons.

At 640 pages, it contains the scores and standings for every international game and event ever contested, the statistics for every player, coach, and on-ice official in IIHF competition history, and the results and histories of every nation that has ever participated in an IIHF event. Full of information on every aspect of the international game, this is the one and only source fans will need if they are interested in the World Junior Championship, Team Canada, or any other aspect of the international game.

With a special section on the World Junior Championships taking place in Alberta this Christmas, this is the most important book hockey fans will need this season.

Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy

Georges Laraque, noted hockey tough guy but also noted for his variety of interests outside of the hockey rink, has made the biggest splash in terms of making headlines with his new autobiography. In Georges Laraque: The Story of the NHL's Unlikeliest Tough Guy, Big Georges rocked the hockey world with allegations of rampant drug use. He also took a few jabs at some coaches, most notably Wayne Gretzky. 

He also goes on to talk about all sorts of subjects - from racism to politics, from humanitarian efforts to vegan diets.

"The goal of the book is not even to talk about hockey, it's to talk about other stuff," Laraque has been on record saying. “I didn’t even want to talk about hockey in the book, but the publisher said I should because that’s what I did for a living. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to help people to become more open-minded. That’s why I talk about politics, about religion, about gay rights, about animal rights, all that stuff.”

All in all I enjoyed this book. It was a simple read (no, it was not written in crayon as a couple of would be funnymen asked me) which made it flow by easily. I feel big Georges was very honest in his commentary, though I would be curious to hear the other side of the story when it comes to a couple of his more controversial departures.

I came away from reading this book with more respect for Georges Laraque, both as a hockey player and as a person. Regarding his various off-ice interests, he never preaches about any of it, other than just to live your life to the fullest and to your own principles.

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Here's more from the publisher, Penguin:

Think you know NHL tough guy Georges Laraque? Think again.

Known as a player who was unfailingly respectful and gentlemanly even when he was going toe-to-toe with the toughest guys in the toughest league in the world, today Laraque takes that courageous sense of what is fair into fights that are much more important than the outcome of a hockey game.
The son of Haitian immigrants, Laraque campaigns for World Vision to help with Haitian relief.

A committed believer in animal rights (and probably the toughest vegan in the world), Laraque is a spokesperson for PETA.

A conscientious environmentalist, Laraque stepped up to be the deputy leader of the the Green Party.

In this intimate, often surprising biography, Laraque tells the story of a hockey player's life that is unlike any other, from a childhood facing racism in Quebec's minor hockey system, to the thrill of the Stanley Cup Finals as an Edmonton Oiler, and sharing a dressing room with Sidney Crosby—and from dropping the gloves on the ice to refusing to back back down from much more serious fights off the ice.

Honest, startling, and brave, this is a portrait of a hockey player unlike any you've seen before.

How Hockey Explains Canada by Jim Prime and Paul Henderson

Canada's great hockey hero Paul Henderson (with the help of Jim Prime and, supplying the foreword, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper) have come out with the new book How Hockey Explains Canada

Henderson and Prime set out to find out what exactly it is about Canada and Canadians that inspires such unbridled passion for this simple game of ice, puck and stick. They attempt to answer that and many other questions by inquiring with players, announcers, writers, coaches, and fans from coast-to-coast-to-coast. They take their findings and interweave it throughout all of Canadian history, tackling topics such as confederation, Quebec, Western Alienation, even the Feminist movement and Don Cherry!

Now that sounds like some pretty heavy reading, but this book is far from some university level text book for a Canadian Studies course. It is a fun read, often poking fun at either hockey or it's associated topic.

While it is good that this book is far from some dry academic offering, it does fall short of truly explaining just how hockey explains Canada. I found the text to be lacking anything terribly profound. There is no recurring theme discovered. Most of the time the authors explore how hockey and other aspects of Canadian life are greatly intertwined, but fail to truly explain why hockey has such an impact on Canadians.

Instead it is a collection of good writing presented nicely with color photos filling the glossy pages. There is plenty here to learn and to enjoy both in terms of the game and of the country. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But with a title like "How Hockey Explains Canada" there are some pretty high expectations. It opens up conversation, but it falls short of truly concluding how hockey explains all these aspects of Canadian life.

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper writes the foreword. Randy Bowell of PostMedia News has more:

The idea of Harper contributing to a book titled How Hockey Explains Canada — co-authored by Henderson and Nova Scotia sportswriter Jim Prime — is not surprising. Harper is a well-known fan of the Canada's national winter game, a member of the Society for International Hockey Research and the intended author of his own book on hockey history — presumably on hold while he heads the country's government — covering the professionalization of the sport in the early 1900s.

But the way the prime minister opens up in the book's lengthy foreword, casually detailing his personal connections to hockey and his views on the sport's evolution, is truly unexpected.

"My father's first cousin was married to Leafs defenceman Carl Brewer, so my parents knew most of the Toronto players of the great 1960s teams," Harper writes. "I didn't play ice hockey until I was 10, and I still can't skate well. I did play for three years, but I was pretty marginal."

Here's Boswell's full piece.

Amazing Stories: Maurice Richard

One of the newest additions to the popular James Lorimer and Company Amazing Stories series is Maurice Richard: The Most Amazing Hockey Player Ever. It is written by Chris Robinson, who, among many projects, previously wrote Stole This From A Hockey Card about Doug Harvey.

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The Amazing Stories series, attractively priced at $9.95, is a set of true and Canadian stories from the past. These mass market paperbacks are aimed at younger readers, yet I do not find the writing to be too young to insult an older reader by any means.

In fact, this is a solid introduction to the great story of one of hockey's all time greats, regardless of age.  While there are no shortage of literary offerings on Rocket Richard. And this one offers nothing new. But this book nicely covers the basics, and very possibly will encourage the reader to dig deeper and look at other books on the subject.

All in all, this is a solid stocking stuffer idea for the budding hockey history buff on your shopping list.

The Legendary Whitby Dunlops

Christmas came early for me today as I received a true rarity in my mail box - a hockey book that I had no idea about previously.

I'm talking The Legendary Whitby Dunlops. Written and illustrated by Kenneth McKenzie Lehman and published by Quarry Heritage Books, the book is available nationally at Chapters.

Bob Attersley

This book's title is apt. The Legendary Whitby Dunlops rank high in Canadian hockey folklore as this unlikely group of amateur hockey stars won the Allan Cup and the 1958 world hockey championship in Oslo.

By the late 1950s the Soviets were on the verge of taking over the international hockey scene. For one all too brief moment, the Whitby Dunlops - senior hockey champions - caught the imagination of hockey fans across the country. As Canada's team they were dispatched to Oslo to restore our pride in our own game and to defeat those dastardly Russians.

Harry Sinden, future coach of the Boston Bruins and Team Canada at the 1972 Summit Series, Sid Smith (future Toronto Maple Leafs captain), Bob Attersley, Roy Edwards, Charlie Burns and Wren Blair were among the most notable members of the team that did manage to knock off the Soviets and capture gold

Ken Lehman's book, published by Quarry Heritage Books, includes portraits, illustrations, cartoons, photos and maps. He pieces together a thorough presentation by accessing the rich archives of the Whitby Public Library and the Hockey Hall of Fame, as well as through interviews with team members. For Lehman this truly is a work of passion. He grew up watching "the Dunnies" and has had a life long affair with them.

The book, which officially launches in December, is 224 pages long and includes 30 rare archival photos and 25 original sketches and cartoons by the author. It's a wonderful read. It is a mixture of historical text and great storytelling. The Dunnies, you see, were merry pranksters full of hockey hijinks. Many of these crazy stories are sprinkled throughout the book.

I suspect this book will fly below the radar on the national level. But any hockey history buff should find this a refreshing book worthy of his or her attention.

Interview With Kirstie McLellan Day

Photo by Chris Bolin for Macleans Magazine

MacLean's magazine has an excellent interview with hockey's best selling author Kirstie McLellan Day.


Kirstie Day has written Bob Proert's autobiography Tough Guy. Theo Fleury's autobiography Playing With Fire and, new in 2011, Ron MacLean's autobiography, Cornered - all bestsellers in Canada. She also wrote the foreword for Joe Pelletier's new ebook Pucks On The 'Net.

In the MacLean's interview Kirstie talks about her relationship with Fleury and Probert, surviving an angry Bret Hart, and future plans including a Fleury movie and possible Wayne  Gretzky book. 

The Lives of Conn Smythe by Kelly McParland

Kelly McParland, writer, editor and columnist at the National Post, has penned just a fantastic biography of Toronto Maple Leafs builder and Canadian hero Conn Smythe in his new book, The Lives of Conn Smythe: From the Battlefield to Maple Leaf Gardens: A Hockey Icon's Story.

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Smythe is of course known as the patriarch of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He led them to 11 Stanley Cups, and with a little better luck in the 1930s it would have been a lot more. Maybe Smythe used up his luck in that time period by, as legend tells it, using gambling money to build iconic Maple Leaf Gardens in the depths of the Great Depression.

Those stories have been well told. But McParland digs deeper, and looks at decorated war hero (he fought in both World Wars, including in WWII when he was in his 40s) and savvy businessman who did more for nation building than most of our politicians ever have. In short he is a fascinating Canadian hero who should be known for much more than his contributions to hockey.

Not only was he a proud Canadian, but a self-made one. He built himself from nothing into one of the most powerful men in the nation, not just in hockey.

He may have been popular, but he was also loud, outspoken and controversial, but always quotable. Think of him as a cross between Brian Burke and Don Cherry in his day. He was not afraid to speak his mind. He was a like-him or love-him type. He didn't care as long as he was generating interest.

McParlad also paints Smythe as a very contradictory man, hence the title. For everything he was, there was always another side. He demanded full loyalty, whether it be on the ice or on the battlefield, but he did not always return that loyalty. He held some people to the highest standards, but not others. He often made boisterous claims, which were later proven to be inaccurate.

All in all this is a fascinating, in depth, almost academic read where you learn something new with great regularity. You quickly realize that this is more than just a hockey book. It is a book about Canada, and it is a book about a great Canadian hero in more way than one.

You can read free book excerpts courtesy the National Post:

The House That Conn Smythe Built
Conn Smythe At War
The Lives of Conn Smythe

100 Things Penguins Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

Triumph Books have included a few hockey teams in their "100 Things . . ." series. In the past I've recommended them as stocking stuffers for fans of the team, but otherwise was kind of indifferent to the series.

So when they announced the Pittsburgh Penguins were included for 2011, I did not get too excited. But that all changed quickly as I realized they selected Rick Buker to write 100 Things Penguins Fans Should Know And Do Before They Die.

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Buker previously wrote the 700-page encyclopedic Total Penguins, an absolute must have for Penguins fans. There may be no one who better knows the Penguins history than Mr. Buker. So who better to fill up a book of 100 entertaining and educational stories? Heck, he could probably write a second volume!

Penguins history is relived one story at a time. Mario, Sid, Jagr, Ronnie Franchise, Badger Bob, and Sly Syl are all here. So are Demolition Durby, Frank Pietrangelo's save, Les Binkley and, look out Loretta, the incomparable Mike Lange.

Rick Buker has done it again. He has written another book that is simply a must-have for all Pittsburgh Penguins fans. It's a great read, whether you attempt it cover to cover or just picking it up for a couple of stories at a time.

Cornered by Ron MacLean and Kirstie McLellan Day

Ron MacLean, the long time host of Hockey Night in Canada and Don Cherry's punny straight man, is finally coming out with an autobiography. Available in early October 2011, Cornered
will undoubtedly share great stories, insight and hilarity.

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Despite what Cherry has said a few times about him during Coach's Corner, Ron MacLean is no dummy. To help him write this book he enlisted the help of Kirstie McLellan Day - the best selling hockey author in the past few years. She has previously penned the blockbuster autobiographies of Theoren Fleury and Bob Probert.

The best part of this book will be how much of the real Ron MacLean is revealed. Not the on-camera persona but rather the human side, including his interests outside of hockey, the family man, and his insecurities and weaknesses. McLellan Day was the perfect choice as presenter.

Of course, MacLean has no shortage of great stories, most funny and, in typical Maclean style, punny. A great many of these feature Don Cherry and the real behind the scene battles behind his battles with the CBC and others. It was quite interesting learning how much he back "Grapes" off camera, threatening to walk out in solidarity on more than one occasion.

MacLean also talks about his relationship with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, commenting on their awkward and infamous annual Stanley Cup interviews. And of course MacLean uses the book, like his television air time, as a podium to air his own beliefs in hockey.

All in all, Ron MacLean's autobiography Cornered is a wonderful read a kid who dreamed big and improbably accomplished it. He is both a hockey legend and very much the guy next door.


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The Salt Lake Loonie

Looking for a short, fun book that has more sports than just hockey in it?

Brothers Brett and Jesse Matlock offer a general sports book with plenty of hockey content in it called The Salt Lake Loonie: And Other Stories Every Sports Fan Should Know. Dwight Allot makes the book even more fun with his wonderful line drawing illustrations, while Team Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser writes the foreword.


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The stories are short and simple, making for a quick fun read. Hockey stories include:

• The Good Old Hockey Game
• The Life And Times of the Stanley Cup
• Oh Canada! (1972 Summit Series)
• "Howe" Fitting
• The Rocket Richard Riot
• The Montreal Forum
• The Salt Lake Loonie.

As mentioned, there are many other sports covered in this book too. Here's a look at the table of contents: (click on the photos to enlarge)

 

Along side stories of Terry Fox and Wilt Chamberlain and the Boston Marathon is a history of streaking in sports. Odd yes, but it is that mixture that makes this book a fun read!

This is a fun, entertaining, little book. I would recommend it as a Christmas gift for the teenage sports fan or for the more casual sports fan.

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