Bargain Hockey Books At Chapters

Chapters has a great selection of hockey books currently available for as much as 86% off the cover price. The books include:

Gretzky's Tears by Stephen Brunt: $4.99 - 86% off!
The Golden Jet by Bobby Hull: $5.00 - 86% off!
Gretzky to Lemieux: 87 Canada Cup: $6.99 80% off!
Honoured Canadiens: Hockey Hall of Fame: 12.99 - 71% off!
Saving Face: The Art and History of the Goalie Mask: $12.99 - 69% off!
Canucks Legends: Vancouver's Hockey Heroes: $9.99 - 80% off!
Maple Leafs Top 100: The Greatest Players in Toronto Maple Leafs History: $9.99 - 80% off!
My Greatest Day by Hockey Night in Canada - $6.99 - 79% off!
The Love of Hockey: $10 - 23% off
The Rookie: A Season with Sidney Crosby: $5.99 - 80% off!

Be sure to check out the Chapters bargain book section for these and more deals!

Back In The Bigs: How Winnipeg Won, Lost & Regained Its Place in the NHL

The Winnipeg Free Press is pairing with Penguin Books to publish a commemorative book that will mark Winnipeg's historic re-entry into the National Hockey League.

Back in the Bigs: How Winnipeg Won, Lost and Regained Its Place in the NHL, will be written by award-winning sports writer Randy Turner, and is due out in September.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters

"We want to tell the story by bringing the past to life... not just archives, but dozens of interviews with major players, on and off the ice," Turner said. "There is a direct link to the Jets' early years, which explains why NHL hockey left, but the passion never did -- even for all those 20-somethings celebrating in the streets who barely saw the team play."

The book will track the history of pro hockey in Winnipeg, from the wild days of the World Hockey Association to the Winnipeg Jets's entry into the NHL in 1979; and from the heartbreaking loss of the franchise in 1996 to its triumphant return in 2011.

I had my first chance to view the book while in Toronto at The World's Biggest Bookstore. The presentation quality is high, with some great photos from throughout the years gone by. I could only sample the text, but it seemed deep and interesting.

Because of the beautiful lay out I am sure this book will be a winner with all Jets fans, not only in Winnipeg but throughout Canada and beyond. I will offer a full review when I receive my copy.

In the meantime, The Winnipeg Free Press is offering a free excerpt about John Ferguson's impact on hockey in Winnipeg. Also, check out this video presentation on the book.

Cold A Long Time by John Leake

There was a time when Duncan MacPherson was a promising young NHL defense prospect. The New York Islanders drafted the Saskatoon stand out in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft in 1984.

Injuries decimated MacPherson's career almost before it started. He never played a NHL game, and was released from his contract at the age of 23.

In 1989 MacPherson decided to pursue a job as a player-coach with a team in Dundee, Scotland. Before starting with the team he headed to Europe seeking adventure and enjoying life.

MacPherson was scheduled to arrive in Dundee on August 12th, but mysteriously failed to show up. Six weeks later the car he had borrowed was found in the parking lot of the Stubaier Gletscher resort in the Stubai Alps in Austria, where he had rented a snowboard. 

His disappearance was famously detailed in the CBC news show The Fifth Estate (click to watch full documentary). Authorities and family searched desperately for hints as to what had happened to MacPherson, but nothing was found. The Austrian authorities had handled the case suspiciously, adding wild theories to the drama. They had told the family that MacPherson had indeed returned the rented ski equipment, and therefore it seemed unlikely he would have gotten lost on the slopes.

Rumors swirled that he was contacted by the CIA about working as a spy, and may have faked his death. 

Over 14 years after his disappearance his body was found by another skier. His body was fully encased by ice. The ski equipment was with the body. But the authorities continued to bungle the case. The body retrieval was sloppy and the autopsy somehow went missing.

As a result, MacPherson's death remains mysterious. Is this really a case, as the authorities insist, of a adventurous skier losing his life in an out-of-bounds accident? Or is there something more sinister behind the story and being covered up by authorities, as the family can not help but wonder? The MacPherson family may never really know.

The case is the focus of John Leake's new book, Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.  The official book website is http://www.coldalongtime.com/ You can also watch the full  The Fifth Estate documentary.


The book presents what the family believes actually happened, and not the official story as told by the Austrian authorities. I will not let the cat out of the bag, but I will say the family's story is as shocking and sinister as it is plausible.