Hockey Book Reviews.com

A final bit of house keeping to end the year of 2008. The winners of the Wiley/Hockey Book Reviews.com Open Ice giveaway are: Finnegan Forrester-Webb of Toronto, ON Cornelius Hardenburgh of Somerville, MA Gregg Drinnan of Kamloops, BC Mike Pinzuti of New York, NY Doug Norris of Denver, CO Congratulations!

In honour of being named the top hockey book of 2008 , publisher HB Fenn is giving away 5 copies of Jack Falla's Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer . This contest is open exclusively to the readers of HockeyBookReviews.com . All you have to do email me with the subject line "Open Ice." That's it! It's the easiest contest ever. I will draw the lucky 5 winners and announce it on Christmas Day! Best of luck, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Canada Reads has announced its list of books and panelists for the upcoming competition in 2009. Canada Reads is a CBC radio annual contest where they determine one book each year that every Canadian supposedly will enjoy. In 2008, a hockey book, of sorts, won. Paul Quarrington's King Leary , defended in the competition by hockey writer/musician Dave Bidini, is a novel about a legendary retired ice hockey player living in a nursing home. The novel replays his life in flash backs as he journeys to Toronto to record a ginger ale commercial. Past winners include Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, Rockbound by Frank Parker Day, The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe, Next Episode by Jean-Louis Major, In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Odaatje. Quarrington's book was the first hockey book ever nominated in 7 years of this competition. No hockey books were nominated for the 2009 competition. Instead, we will find a winne...

I have to admit this is a tough one. Back in September I reviewed Jack Falla's excellent new book titled Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer . The next day, he contacted me to offer me his thanks. I must admit to being ecstatic. One of the greatest hockey writers ever not only read my review, but he liked it and enough to go out of his way to tell me so. Then I got courageous and asked him if I could interview him about the book. I fully expected him to brush me off at least at that moment. After all, he's an incredibly busy guy and he could be conducting interviews with so many more beneficial sources than my little little website. Without hesitation Falla enthusiastically accepted the offer to be interviewed by me. I would contact him a day later with my questions, and he would clear time from his schedule to make sure the interview had center stage. I'm not sure if I was more incredulous of what just happened or down right nervous about what was going...

Just days after the release of the much acclaimed book Open Ice , writer/educator Jack Falla died suddenly. He was just 62. The Boston Globe has a touching remembrance , including the above photo. The Hockey News says it was heart failure . Mark Feinsand, a former student of Falla's who know covers the New York Yankees for the New York Daily News, remembers his mentor at Blogging The Bombers . This is a surreal moment for me. Just the other day I completed an interview with Falla (yet to be published). I remember thinking to myself that I'm a complete amateur interviewing the best in the business and the mentor for so many other sports journalists. He treated with me great class and respect, regardless of who I was.

Though you are never supposed to judge a book this way, the first thing that really jumps out about the late Jack Falla's Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer is the beautiful color. No hockey fan can resist the nostalgic cover of vast, smooth ice disturbed only by the skate marks of a young hockey player. The ice is a brilliant blue, seemingly endless as it matches the cloudless winter sky. | Also See: Interview With The Late Jack Falla | The cover is enough to warrant at least picking up the book off the store shelf and flipping through a few pages. After reading just a few passages it is quickly apparent that the true beauty of this book is the author's natural gift of literary genius. Jack Falla covered the National Hockey League for Sports Illustrated in the 1980s before become a professor of sports journalism at his Alma mater, Boston University. He has also found time to author six hockey books, most notably the highly acclaimed Home Ice: Reflection...

The book: Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer , Hardcover, 256 pages The Author: Jack Falla The Publisher: Wiley Release Date: August 29th, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description From one of the sports world's most celebrated hockey writers--a companion volume to his heartwarming Home Ice. Second only to family, the game of hockey is the tribe to which sportswriter Jack Falla passionately belongs. If Home Ice let readers in on the role hockey played in his early life, Open Ice takes them on a trip beyond his backyard rink to a reunion of the six living members of the five-Cups-in-a-row Montreal Canadiens of 1956-60; his chat with the legendary Alex Delvecchio; the "rink rats" of Boston, fans who played hockey at all hours of the night; and a memorable Bruins game with his grandson. A collection of essays that touches on hockey's greats, like "Rocket" Richard and the mysterious Hobey Baker, as well as the game's enduring n...