Ken Dryden's The Game: 30th Anniversary Edition

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already at the 30th anniversary edition of Ken Dryden’s The Game .

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

Widely acknowledged as the best hockey book ever written and lauded by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 10 Sports Books of All Time, The Game is a reflective and thought-provoking look at a life in hockey. Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goalie and former president of the Toronto Maple Leafs turned politician, captures the essence of the sport and what it means to all hockey fans. He gives vivid and affectionate portraits of the characters—Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, and coach Scotty Bowman among them—who made the Canadiens of the 1970s one of the greatest hockey teams in history. But beyond that, Dryden reflects on life on the road, in the spotlight, and on the ice, offering a rare inside look at the game of hockey and an incredible personal memoir.

It may have been thirty years since this seminal book first hit book stores, yet it’s still just as relevant as ever. This commemorative edition marks the 30th anniversary of the book’s original publication, and it includes a new foreword by Bill Simmons, new photography, and a new chapter, “The Game Goes On.”

The new chapter discusses the tradition of NHL players from the Stanley Cup-winning team having the opportunity to take the Cup home. Surprisingly, this tradition didn’t start until 1995. Having never had the chance to take part in this custom, Ken petitioned to have the opportunity to do so, and when his request was finally granted – he celebrated his success in a big way.

In this celebration he was able to have with his family, Dryden expertly ties together themes from his original text from 30 years ago to today's audience. Themes such as how hockey is about so much more than sport, but rather it is about community, and family and Canada. It is the national narrative, whether it is played out in the big NHL arena's, or in our own backyards.

The new chapter in The Game: 30th Anniversary Edition is just a few pages long. It was the first chapter I read in the new re-released offering and I was instantly taken back. I was immediately reminded why The Game is arguably hockey's greatest book, and why Dryden is possibly hockey's most fascinating person and most gifted writer. Instantly I knew I had to re-read this 30 year old book that I have read a few times before, something I wasn't really planning on when I agreed to do this review. I am so glad I did, because this timeless classic is such an amazing read.

And now it has a whole new spectacular ending to it.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

Ken Dryden Talks The Game

CBC presents

Ken Dryden and The Game

A Canada Reads event with Homerun’s Sue Smith

Thursday, February 2 at 7 PM

At Indigo Bookstore (1500, avenue McGill College)

CBC Radio presents an evening with former Montreal Canadiens’ goalie, Ken Dryden. Join us for an onstage conversation with the hockey legend as host Sue Smith speaks to him about The Game, both then and now.

Widely acknowledged as the best hockey book ever written, The Game is a reflective and thought-provoking look at a life in hockey. Intelligent and insightful, former Montreal Canadiens goalie and former President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ken Dryden captures the essence of the sport and what it means to all hockey fans. He gives us vivid and affectionate portraits of the characters — Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, and coach Scotty Bowman among them — that made the Canadiens of the 1970s one of the greatest hockey teams in history. But beyond that, Dryden reflects on life on the road, in the spotlight, and on the ice, offering up a rare inside look at the game of hockey and an incredible personal memoir.

Also joining us will be Lisa-Marie Breton, Captain of the Montreal Stars (CWHL), andDr. Gordon Bloom, Associate Professor of Sport Psychology at McGill University. Both will engage in a discussion with Ken and Sue about The Game, as well as offer their views on the current state of injuries and concussions in the sport.

The discussion will be recorded and segments will air on Homerun on CBC Radio One (88.5 FM in Montreal).

The Game is one of the five books currently in the running for the prestigious Canada Reads prize. The live debates air on CBC Radio One the week of February 6, 2012. For more information on Canada Reads, visit www.cbc.ca/canadareads.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/305621696150764/

Canada Reads Hockey 2009

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 winner from one of The Book Of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards, The Outlander by Gil Adamson, The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay, translated by Sheila Fischman and Fruit by Brian Francis.

These are all undoubtedly worthy, but none have anything to do with hockey. And that's why you are, and that's why I am here.

So here are some suggestions of the top hockey books for future editions of the wildly popular Canada Reads competitions:

The Game by Ken Dryden.
From Amazon.ca: An enduring classic, Ken Dryden's The Game has lost none of its luster since its original publication in 1983, and remains the one book every hockey fan must know. he Game is funny, acutely observed, and full of insight into human nature and the importance of sport in today's society. Dryden's portraits of his teammates are precise and unforgettable. Catching the balance between banter and seriousness, Dryden describes Scotty Bowman's pep talks; Serge Savard motivating teammates; the river skater Lafleur, in uniform hours early, reappearing and startling everyone into focus with a whack of his stick on the table; Larry Robinson sensing the wrong atmosphere before a game against a weak opponent and resetting the stakes with the unanswerable remark, "Gotta play it--might as well win it." The Game remains the classic insider's account of Canada's national sport.

Our Life With The Rocket by Roch Carrier
From Amazon.ca: Quebec fans revered him: They followed his accomplishments with tenacity; they taped pictures of Richard and his family to their kitchen walls, to their shop windows and to their store cash registers; and they memorized his statistics, his history and the names of his children. His season suspension in March 1955, after an on-ice brawl, ignited the infamous Richard Riots in Montreal, riots that some Canadian historians have suggested were a noisy precursor to Quebec's Quiet Revolution. In this lyrical and beautifully wrought narrative, Carrier evokes the thrill of watching or listening to the Rocket and his teammates play, the joy and agony of the Canadiens' rivalry with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the struggle of daily life that formed the backdrop for Maurice Richard's spectacular accomplishments. Our Life with the Rocket also follows the history of a young boy, Roch himself, whose youthful worship of Richard was tempered by politics and personal life and evolved into an entirely different sort of appreciation for an extraordinary man.

Open Ice: Reflections and Confessions of a Hockey Lifer by the late Jack Falla.
From HockeyBookReviews.com: Open Ice is a collection of heartwarming and witty essays about hockey. The brilliance of the book is the author's effortless ability to make each individual essay flow from one into another. He accomplishes this using highly personal and reflective look back at hockey and of life. Each essay is part of the author's personal journey. Through his collection of hockey essays Falla is very open in engaging the reader in his struggles and dislike of aging.

What other books do you think deserve mention?