Reflections On A Hockey Season

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association don't always work well together. But they, in tandem with Getty Images and Greystone Books, did an amazing job on the new book release Reflections on a Hockey Season: The 2007 NHL Year in Photographs. The book captures the highlights of the 2006-07 NHL season, headlining Vincent Lecavalier, Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur, Alexander Ovechkin and of course Sidney Crosby.

The 150 photographs are nothing short of spectacular, although the lack of captions is puzzling. Actually I should correct that. Photo captions and credits are in the very back of the book as opposed to with each photo. On one hand that allows for the pictures to truly say 1000 words, but the lack of captions is a common complaint of the non-hardcore hockey fans I've shown the book to.

The book also is fund raising endeavor for the NHL/NHLPA joint initiative Hockey Fights Cancer, now in its 10th year. Part of the proceeds of this beautiful book will be donated to the fight against cancer.

This book is truly worth displaying on your coffee table. And the best part is the media release says the publication is "the first of an annual visual celebration." Hockey fans rejoice - more high quality photo books like this one are in our future.

Hockey Book Reviews: Oldtimers

I wasn't just pleasantly surprised by the book Oldtimers: On the Road with the Legendary Heroes of Hockey. I was blown away by it.

I had always dismissed "Oldtimers" whenever I saw it on the bookshelves. The book covers the Oldtimers Hockey Challenge tour, as they travel across Canada and Alaska. I have seen the tour firsthand, both on the ice and off it, and I wasn't sure I wanted any deeper knowledge.

I've witnessed the hard drinking, prank playing ways of their life, and quite frankly found it sad. Here were players I grew up idolizing. I'd go to the game to honor them for who they were, to remember them, to remember my youth. But then I'd see who they have become: middle-aged hangers-on who are desperately trying recapture their youth.

Even sadder was the plight of some of the older legends. These players tour to raise monies for local charities, but also as a form of income. Its kind of sad that legends like Johnny Bower travel to the tiniest of towns in the coldness of winter to hock autographs.

Not all of the players are in it for the money. Some of the more recent retirees, the Russ Courtnalls, Bob Rouses and Gary Nylunds played in the big money era. Though they weren't at the top of the pay scale, they certainly did not need the puny appearance fees. Were they just desperately hanging on to the game they loved, the only life they knew?

So why were they there? Why were well-off Hall of Famers like Lanny McDonald and Marcel Dionne, or independently wealthy hockey players turned businessmen like Tiger Williams or Paul Reinhart there?

So I originally didn't even give this book a chance. I've seen books like this before, where the author glamorizes the drinking and endlessly rollicking hockey lifestyle I have no interest in, and the sob stories of these players problems. I'd much rather read something else, I thought.

I made that decision even though I knew Gary Mason was the author. Being based in British Columbia I've had the great fortune to enjoy Mason's insightful sports columns with the Vancouver Sun before he moved to the Globe and Mail in 2005 as the BC Affairs columnist. Mason is a masterful storyteller and is effortless to read.

Mason travels with team, and at times even plays, with 3 questions in mind: Why do these players put themselves through this?; why do we fans buy into these oldtimers tours as much as we do?; and how has hockey life changed over the years, particularly with the big dollars now at stake?

Mason does spend a lot of time experiencing and reporting about the drinking, the party and the pranking, and is guilty of at times glamorizing it. He does so not only because it is a huge aspect of this tour, but to show the reader that this is hockey life, like it or not. Mason demonstrates just how this lifestyle brings this group of individuals into a team in a hurry. While I still find it a bit sad that 45-50 year olds like Tiger Williams stay up until 5am drinking only to get up by 9 to catch the next flight or bus, Mason ties it all together to provide a fascinating look into what life in the National Hockey League was for these guys.

Mason also delves into the careers and lives of many of the legends. Most of the stories have some aspect of sorrow in it, differentiating the men on the ice from the men off of it. There's Gary Nylund's regret, Marcel Dionne's bitterness, Wayne Babych's injuries, Reggie Leach's drinking, Peter and Anton Stastny's brave defection. Mason masterfully uses the this literary formula to make the reader feel for the player, but usually does not overdo it.

This book is a great peak into the life of a National Hockey League employee. Along the way, we also learn a bit about life in remote Canada and Alaska and a lot about several former players. It also provides a look into ourselves and our country. It's fascinating, usually entertaining, and always insightful, perhaps too much so for us hero worshipers.

Mason's writing captivated me instantly and when I had no choice but to put the book down, I found myself making time to pick it back up. While the book flows nicely and quickly, Mason also divides each each chapter succinctly which makes the book equally enjoyable even if just read in passages.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Don't pass this book by again.

Overall Book Rating: 4/5 All Star

Hockey Book Review: A Canadian Saturday Night

The hockey book writing machine better known as Andrew Podnieks churned out another gem with the 2006 Greystone Books release A Canadian Saturday Night: Hockey and the Culture of a Country.

The author of nearly 50 titles takes a look at how tightly connected hockey is with all aspects of Canadian culture. He examines how hockey, which began as "a geographic and meteorological fact," developed into such a significant part of our everyday lives. Even those Canadians who do not enjoy the sport can not escape it. Hockey is the quintessential Canadian experience.

Podnieks does not approach this book with any grand thesis or encyclopedic chronicling. Instead he provides an admittedly subjective history of random things that have transcended the game itself to shape us culturally, socially, politically and mythologically.

Podnieks goes on to dedicate a full page of text and unique and beautiful color photos of great Canadian experiences such as yelling "car," humming the Hockey Night In Canada theme song, collecting hockey cards, and driving by piles of Zamboni-left snow on the hottest day of summer while munching on a donut from Tim Hortons.

Other subjects include the game's language (hat trick, chiclets,) the game's celebrities (Stompin' Tom, Peter Puck, Don Cherry and the Hanson brothers), the game's defining moments of different generations (1972, the Richard riot, Gretzky's wedding) and the game in its simplest form (puck, stick, skate, outdoor ice).

The book can be read from cover to cover but it is best served as a brilliant though small coffee table book. With the museum-like archiving of how the game has become part of the fabric of daily life in Canada, the book is just dying to be flipped through.

It is written with obvious personal reflection, attempting to be at times heart-tugging and at times funny. Once or twice that humour fails as Podnieks jabs at American hockey fans, many of whom would love to read this book to better understand how the game can be a nation's unofficial religion.

As a coffee table book, I really liked this offering. The pictures are intoxicating while the subjects will touch various readers on an individual basis. That being said the coffee table book also begs to be expanded into a literary masterpiece that it is not.

Perhaps that is another project for the extremely busy Mr. Podnieks.

Overall Book Rating: 2/5 Role Player