Hockey Book Reviews.com

The holiday season is upon us. For many hockey fans that now includes the highlight of the regular season in the annual Winter Classic outdoor game. This year Detroit hosts Toronto at The Big House at the University of Michigan. With an expected 106,000-plus fans in attendance, this game will dwarf all other Winter Classics of the past. Speaking of Winter Classics of the past - that is the focus of Russ Cohen and Michael del Tufo's new book The Winter Classic . Buy The Book -  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  -  Amazon.com The NHL debuted the Winter Classic in 2008 in at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo to a crowd of 71,217, which still stands as the biggest crowd in NHL history. Subsequent Winter Classics were played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field (40,818), Boston’s Fenway Park (38,112), Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field (68,111) and Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia (46,967). The Winter Classic has been the one event that has transcended the American sports scene as a tr...

Amazon.ca Widgets A look at the upcoming 2013 hockey book releases: 99: His Game, His Story by Al Strachan Anchorboy by Jay Onrait Behind The Net: 101 Incredible Hockey Stories  by Stan Fischler The Best, Worst and Biggest NHL Trades of All Time Between The Pipes by Randi Druzin The Biggest of Everything In Hockey by The Hockey News Bobby Orr: My Story by Bobby Orr The Boy Who Missed The Bus by Matt McCoy Completing The Quartet: Hugh "Muzz" Murray Don't Call Me Goon by Greg Oliver and Richard Kamchen 50 Greatest Red Wings by Bob Duff Fighting Back by Chris Nilan The Game: 30th Anniversary Edition by Ken Dryden Gordie Howe's Son by Mark Howe Heart Of The Blackhawks: The Pierre Pilote Story  by Pierre Pilote Hockey Hall of Fame Book Of Players by Steve Cameron Hockey Hotbeds by Ty Dilello Ice Cold by Billy Pepitone Keith Magnuson: Life And Times by Doug Feldmann Keon And Me by Dave Bidini My Last Fight by Darren McCarty My Tou...

I have finally started reading the fantastic new hockey novel Pond Hockey: Rediscovering The Game  by Brian Kennedy. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca  - Chapters - Amazon.com Kennedy, of course, is the author of Growing Up Hockey and Hockey Is My Country (and covers the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks when not writing books). So readers familiar with his previous work will not be surprised by my "fantastic" designation. How fantastic is it? I get up at 4 am and the last couple of nights I've stayed up past midnight wrapped up in it. And, as a rule, I don't particularly like fiction. There is an exception to every rule and that exception is reserved for Brian Kennedy. Pond Hockey inspiring story tells the tale of a country boy who seeks his fortune in the big city only to encounter bitter defeat. But when Todd Graham returns to his rural home town, he rediscovers the local pond where he spent many happy hours, as well as, the ghost of a past life where he experienced...

Ty Dilello's first book, Hockey Hotbeds ,is a collection of stories on thirty hockey cities/towns around the world. Boston, Massachusetts, Gothenburg, Sweden, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and Zurich, Switzerland are among the thirty hotbeds featured. Each feature includes exclusive interviews with many of the games top players from the past, present and future. Dilello takes us around the hockey world in a wonderful e-book read. Buy The Book: Smashwords Dilello opens in Boston with some personal memories of the Bruins and the old Garden, as well as some hockey playing memories. He then goes on to some of hockey's most famous cities - Montreal, Ottawa, Minneapolis, Helskinki - and not so famous - Ust-Kamengorsk, Jyvaskyla, Weston, Herning. Along the way he introduces us to local legends past and present. He interviewed the likes of Johnny Bower, Cesare Maniago, Mike Liut, Andy Bathgate, Thomas Steen, Peter Bondra, and Nik Antropov. Dilello, who writes for the Internat...

It is time we name the HockeyBookReviews.com 2013 Hockey Book of the Year. I do not really know why I've waited so long to name this, because there is a very obvious winner this year: Dave Bidini's  Keon and Me: My Search For The Last Soul of the Leafs Buy The Book:  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  -  Amazon.com   Dave Bidini is hands down the best writer in hockey these days. So news of a new release from Bidini is greeted with eagerness. When that book is about Dave Keon and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the anticipation was rightfully through the roof! To no one's surprise, Bidini delivers. Bidini is the most creative hockey writer of our time, and  Keon and Me  is nothing short of a fantastic piece of literature that even non-hockey readers will thoroughly enjoy. This book is an instant classic that transcends the hockey world. Buy The Book:  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  -  Amazon.com   While Keon And Me is a non-fict...

Dave Bidini is hands down the best writer in hockey these days. So news of a new release from Bidini is greeted with eagerness. When that book is about Dave Keon and the Toronto Maple Leafs, the anticipation was rightfully through the roof! To no one's surprise, Bidini delivers. Bidini is the most creative hockey writer of our time, and  Keon and Me  is nothing short of a fantastic piece of literature that even non-hockey readers will thoroughly enjoy. This book is an instant classic that transcends the hockey world. Buy The Book:  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  - Amazon.com While Keon And Me is a non-fiction book, Bidini presents the protagonists as wonderful characters that are easy to connect with. Obviously Toronto Maple Leafs legend Dave Keon is one of the main characters. He's a fascinating case study under any circumstances. After all, he was one of the most beloved players in the history of "Canada's Team" yet he has essentially been estranged ...

When the ghosts of hockey's past reminisce about the 1960 Chicago Blackhawks, they almost always focus on superstars Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita with Mr. Goalie Glenn Hall also getting a lot of attention. Not as many people know the story of Pierre Pilote, the Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman who was so instrumental in Chicago's success and 1961 Stanley Cup championship. That can all change this year as  Pilote brings readers rinkside in this compelling biography,  Heart of the Blackhawks: The Pierre Pilote Story . It is an authorized biography co-written with L. Waxy Gregoire and David M. Dupuis. Buy The Book:  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  -  Amazon.com From his upbringing in northern Quebec in which he played in a Monday night beer league, to captain of the Blackhawks, his captivating story of success has it all. Any sports fan will enjoy the stories of Pilote teaming up with the likes of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Glenn Hall, Moose Vasko, Tommy Ivan...

With the help of writer Don Yeager, Chris Nilan has released his autobiography,  Fighting Back: The Chris Nilan Story . Buy The Book:  Amazon.ca  -  Chapters  - Amazon.com Has there ever been a more aptly named book? The former Montreal Canadiens tough guy is the fifth most penalized player in the violent history of the National Hockey League. In one game he managed to accumulate a NHL record 10 penalties in one game! Nicknamed "Knuckles," Chris Nilan was one of the most feared fighters ever. But as we have come to find out in later years, the biggest fight of Nilan's life has not been against Jay Miller or Dave Brown or Bob Probert. No, it has been Nilan's fight to stay away from drugs and alcohol. Nilan reveals his off-ice battles with an addiction to pain killers developed into a life-and-death struggle with booze, heroin and depression. He is open about his downfall because he hopes no one else has to go through it. Like recent books by Theo F...

Every few years the Hockey Hall of Fame comes out with a fantastic new book highlighting the greatest players in the history of the game: the enshrined members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. 2013 brings us the  Hockey Hall of Fame Book of Players   . It is right up to date including the 2013 inductees Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan, Geraldine Heaney and Chris Chelios.   It reminds me a whole lot of the 2011 release  Official Guide To The Players Of The Hockey Hall of Fame . That book was almost a real thick pocket book, where as the new release is in large coffee table format. Which is actually nicer in that the photos that tend to dominate these Hall of Fame books are more enjoyable in the larger size. But other than that the two books have a very similar feel to them. The content is rewritten but essentially says the same thing. This must always be a challenge for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Their tried and true formula with these books is heavy on ...

The Hockey News'  latest book,  The Biggest of Everything in Hockey  is a mix of all things, well, big in hockey's past and present. It is a book for fans of all ages. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Chapters feature the biggest player, the biggest feud, the biggest brawl, the biggest save, the biggest goal, the biggest upset and the biggest comeback. There are lots of fun topics like the biggest nose, the biggest fashion faux pas, the biggest beard and even the biggest fan! A number of honourable mentions are acknowledged in each category, offering readers with great stories about larger than life figures, events and oddities in hockey history.  The Hockey News annually puts out up to a couple of book releases each fall. If you've been reading my blog long enough you know I've been critical of the production value of THN texts in the past.  The Biggest of Everything in Hockey  escapes that criticism due to their glo...

D'arcy Jenish, one of the most thorough hockey historians you will ever read, is back with a new title:  The NHL: 100 Years of On-Ice Action and Boardroom Battles . Jenish previously wrote  The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years Of Hockey Glory , wowing readers with the depth of his research. Mr. Jenish takes this to a whole new level in his NHL centennial book. The NHL centennial is not until 2017, so Jenish and Doubleday Canada are getting a good head start here. I know for a fact that there are several centennial books already in the works. They will have a tough standard to meet with Mr. Jenish coming in first in line. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com I was curious as to why Jenish, the former senior writer for MacLean's magazine, and Doubleday Canada were in such a hurry to release this title. Just reading the introduction to the book reveals why. Jenish is not so much writing the history of the National Hockey League, at least not the story we'v...