Aykroyd Interviews Willes About Canada Cup Book

My buddy Lucas Aykroyd over at Hockey Adventure interviewed Ed Willes about his new book Gretzky to Lemieux: the Story of the 1987 Canada Cup, published by McLelland & Stewart.

Here's just an excerpt:

What were the most surprising and enjoyable discoveries you made during your research for Gretzky to Lemieux?

What stayed with me is the impact this event had on the players and coaches who took part, and that includes Gretzky, Lemieux, Mike Keenan, Igor Larionov–everyone. James Patrick was a fringe player on Team Canada, but he told me about sitting on the bench for over an hour in Game Two, then getting thrown out in overtime and facing a two-on-one against Larionov and Krutov. I checked it out against the tape and, sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Gretzky could recall individual moments from those games with remarkable clarity. Rick Tocchet told me he’s kept tapes of the games, and when he needs a confidence boost, he watches them.

Read Lucas Aykroyd's full interview at Hockey Adventure

McCown's Law

Forget about all the bad things he did and all the money he stole and all the people he screwed over. We all need to personally send Alan Eagleson a thank you card for all of the good things he did for hockey.

At least that's the argument Bob McCown puts forth in his new book Mccown's Law: the 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments. It is published by Random House and written in connection with Dave Naylor of The Globe And Mail.

McCown is a loudmouthed and very opinionated sports radio host on Fan 590, a Toronto all sports radio station that can be heard around Canada and the United States and in this day and age of satellite radio and internet podcasts, all around the world. The radio show "Prime Time Sports" is also shown on Rogers SportsNet television.

So Mr. McCown is no stranger to Canadians. He's sort of a Don Cherry of the radio. You either love him or you hate him or a combination of both. But like Cherry McCown is an absolute genius when it comes to performing the shtick that he does. McCown is the master of taking any side of an argument, often the least popular side, and arguing that one viewpoint so vehemently and so matter of factly that it almost ticks you off. He's right, and those who don't agree are wrong. No two ways about it. McCown is the master of creating controversy and mayhem, and it sells.

McCown puts together 100 of these arguments in the compelling text McCown's Law: the 100 Greatest Hockey Arguments. He argues that Mark Messier's leadership skills are overrated, that Slovakia might be a better hockey nation than Canada, that we need bigger nets and that women's hockey shouldn't be an Olympic sport.

Yikes. And I've only made mention of 5 of his thoughts. Wait to you get a hold of the whole book. There are weaknesses to many of his arguments, which will make it all the more fun for you and your friends to debate and tear it all apart. And the best part is McCown can't respond to your arguments like he does on air.

Let's go back to the Eagleson affair. I think everyone knows that Alan Eagleson is forever tainted as a crook who stole money from hockey and hockey players for his own gain. He went to jail for it after pleading guilty to various charges and was forced out of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

But Eagleson also did a lot of good for hockey, argues McCown. He had the connections to form a NHLPA years before anyone else ever could have. Despite the generally accepted accusation that he worked with NHL owners to keep salaries down salaries actually increased at a percentage similar to increases in the Bob Goodenow era. He also got things like guaranteed contracts, medical and insurance benefits and a pension plan. He also brought us the 1972 Summit Series, the Canada Cup tournaments, returned Canada to the world championships after nearly a decade hold out, had NHLers admitted to world championship play and was instrumental in creating the world junior hockey championships.

Now Eagleson may have abused his power in some or all of these cases, and there are certainly counter arguments to be made here. But I kind of agree with Mr. McCown here. How about you?

The Great Hockey Book Giveaway Trivia Contest!

Hockey Book Reviews.com is announcing the first ever Great Book Giveaway Contest.

I will be giving books away to entrants in my trivia contests. To win, you must answer all trivia questions correctly. If multiple contestants answer all questions correctly, then the winners name will be drawn out of my well worn 2006 World Junior Championships hat.

I'm going to start this off by giving away a copy of Jeff Rud's Canucks Heroes: Vancouver's Hockey Legends. You can read the review here.

To win the book, contestants had to correctly answer 5 Vancouver Canucks trivia questions. 98 people entered, with 15 getting all 5 questions correctly. I put those 15 names into my sweaty, well worn 2006 WJC ball cap, and drew the name of Barry McLaughlin of New Westminster, British Columbia. Congratulations Barry!

Here are the trivia questions, now complete with answers.

#1. This Vancouver Canuck was nicknamed "Ox." - Roman Oksiuta

#2. During the 1982 Stanley Cup finals run, Curt Fraser and Stan Smyl played with this centerman. - Thomas Gradin

#3. The Canucks have had 4 sets of brothers to play for the team at the same time. Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Russ and Geoff Courtnall are the obvious ones. John and Larry Gould were the first. Name the other set of brothers to play for Vancouver. - Dave and Jack Capuano, but bonus points to Russell Fraser who identified pre-NHL Canucks brothers Andy and Frank Bathgate. I accepted the answer because the question did not specify it was NHL only.

#4. Who am I? At 8 years old I was vacationing in Bulgaria when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague. Instead of going home, we fled to Canada. I learned English and Hockey when I arrived in London, Ontario. - Rick Lanz

#5. This player once sought world renowned hypnotist Reveen to solve his 37 game goalless drought. Who is he? - Rosie Paiement

Email me all trivia answers at teamcanada72@gmail.com . Contests closes November 10th, 2007.

Maple Leafs Top 100

Prolific hockey writer Mike Leonetti set out to answer one of the most difficult questions in all of hockey.

Who is the greatest Toronto Maple Leaf of all time?

Not an easy question, is it? While Montreal has Rocket Richard, Boston has Bobby Orr, Detroit has Gordie Howe, Chicago has Bobby Hull and Edmonton has Wayne Gretzky, is there a definitive face of the storied Toronto Maple Leafs franchise?

In fact, when I named the top 36 hockey players of all time a couple months back, I did not include a single player synonymous with the Maple Leafs. (Terry Sawchuk and Red Kelly both made my list, but I think most people always view them, especially Sawchuk, as Red Wings)

If you were to ask 14 different people you'd come up with 14 different answers. Well that's exactly what Leonetti did for his latest book project Maple Leafs Top 100: Toronto's Greatest Players Of All Time. Leonetti asked a jury of Mark Askin, Howard Berger, Joe Bowen, Milt Dunnell, Doug Farraway, Paul Hendrick, Lance Hornby, Harry Neale, Frank Orr, Paul Patskou, Frank Selke, Bill Watters, co-author John Iaboni and himself to determine a definitive list of the top 100 players in Maple Leafs history.

Coming up with this list is extremely difficult. The Leafs glory years came in the 1940s and 1960s. Very little video evidence and first hand accounts exist for the late '40s dynasty, so how do you fairly treat Syl Apps, Teeder Kennedy, Turk Broda and Max Bentley. Even the 1960s dynasty is very distant, and those teams really prided themselves on putting the team before the individual. Frank Mahovlich, Johnny Bower and Dave Keon stood out, but perhaps their legacies were minimalized. The Leafs have had so little success since the 1960s that a couple generations of fans don't know what a championship run really is. Championships = greatness, so how do you compare Darryl Sittler, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark and Mats Sundin.

Well the panel of experts narrowed it down, and I have to say I'm highly impressed with the results, or at least the top end. The panel's voting identifies Dave Keon as the greatest of the Maple Leafs, with Teeder Kennedy, Syl Apps, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Charlie Conacher, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, Turk Broda and Borje Salming rounding out the top 10.

I have no real qualms over the top 10 list, though once you realize who is not included you realize how tough this undertaking really is. Where's Mats Sundin, the franchise's all time leading scorer? Where's King Clancy, once the undisputed face of the franchise? How about George Armstrong, Doug Gilmour, Max Bentley....

The list goes 100 deep, which is an aesthetically pleasing number, but perhaps a bit too long. Even with 80 years of history to wade through, do Mark Osborne or Todd Gill really belong in a book about the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time? With this being the 80th anniversary of the franchise, perhaps 80 would have been enough?

This book is published by Raincoast Books, and as always they come through with the most beautiful of books. Each of the top 100 receive a full color photo (except, for obvious reasons, for some of the players from decades ago) with at least one more smaller color image.

Leonetti is a power writer, churning out books left, right, and center. In fact, just 5 years ago he did the book Maple Leaf Legends: 75 Years of Toronto's Hockey Heroes, featuring the top 75 players in his estimation. His usual style is to accompany Raincoast's commitment to beautiful photography with biographies, some of which can be quite brief.

Leonetti recognizes that his past formula for success needs refreshing for another greatest Leafs book. Instead of biographies Leonetti highlights a single game in each player's career which was the defining moment in each player's time with the Leafs.

Now the defining moment provides for some nice reading, but it somehow leaves me feeling like the book is lacking. If you write a book ranking the greatest players of all time, then I want some defense of the results. I know it was a panel decision and not Leonetti exclusively, but compel me, wow me with some arguments why. Too controversial? All the better! The greatest game idea is a wonderful concept, but perhaps for another book.

I think the best part of the book's text is essayist John Iaboni's contributions. Perhaps too often his compositions are too biographical, but when he allows himself to get personal in his memories (Keon, Bower) he writes wonderful stuff.

All in all, I think this is a REALLY good book that comes up a bit short of being a GREAT book.

Special Releases Of Reflections On Auction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / OCTOBER 23, 2007 NHLPA, NHL AUCTION AUTOGRAPHED COMMEMORATIVE BOOKS

TO BENEFIT HOCKEY FIGHTS CANCER

Team Captains Lend Their Signatures And Support To Hockey’s Greatest Fight

NEW YORK / TORONTO (October 23, 2007) – The National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) announced today that autographed copies of Reflections on a Hockey Season: The 2007 NHL Year in Photographs will be available for bidding through auction.NHL.com and NHLPA.com. The online auction, which features books signed by NHL team captains and other prominent hockey figures, will commence on October 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET and conclude on November 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET, with proceeds benefiting Hockey Fights Cancer.

Among the more than 50 copies of Reflections on a Hockey Season available for bidding is one book signed by both former and current Pittsburgh Penguins captains, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby.

A complete list of signed books available in this auction:

Name Signature

Anaheim Chris Pronger

Atlanta Bobby Holik

Boston Zdeno Chara

Boston Phil Kessel

Buffalo Jochen Hecht

Calgary Jarome Iginla

Carolina Rod Brind'Amour

Chicago Martin Lapointe, Patrick Sharp, Robert Lang

Colorado Joe Sakic

Columbus Adam Foote

Dallas Brenden Morrow

Detroit Nicklas Lidstrom

Edmonton Ethan Moreau

Florida Olli Jokinen

Los Angeles Rob Blake

Minnesota Pavol Demitra

Montreal Saku Koivu & Bob Gainey

Nashville Jason Arnott

New Jersey Martin Brodeur

NY Islanders Bill Guerin

NY Rangers Jaromir Jagr

Ottawa Daniel Alfredsson

Philadelphia Jason Smith

Phoenix Shane Doan

Phoenix Wayne Gretzky

Pittsburgh Mario Lemieux

Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby & Mario Lemieux

Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby

San Jose Patrick Marleau

St. Louis Doug Weight

Tampa Bay Tim Taylor

Toronto Mats Sundin

-- more --

Vancouver Markus Naslund

Washington Chris Clark

NHL Alumni Association Paul Stewart

TSN James Duthie, Darren Dutchyshen, Mike Milbury,

Bob McKenzie, Pierre McGuire

TSN Chris Cuthbert & Glenn Healy

The NHLPA and the NHL, together with Getty Images and Greystone Books, published Reflections on a Hockey Season: The 2007 NHL Year in Photographs. The first of an annual visual celebration, the book chronicled the highlights and candid, behind-the-scenes images from the 2006-07 NHL season.

Hockey Fights Cancer, established in 1998 as a joint charitable initiative founded by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association to raise money and awareness for hockey's most important fight, celebrates its 10^th anniversary during the 2007-08 NHL season. Reflections on a Hockey Season will serve as part of this celebration by donating proceeds from its sale to the cause. The book also is available on shop.NHL.com and at NHL Club and retail stores, including the NHL Powered by Reebok Store in New York City.

Hockey Fights Cancer is supported by NHL Member Clubs, NHL Alumni, the NHL Officials' Association, professional hockey trainers and equipment managers, corporate marketing partners, broadcast partners and fans throughout North America. To date, Hockey Fights Cancer has raised more than $9 million.

For more information, contact:

Mary Kay Wright, NHL Michelle Stajan, NHLPA

(212) 789-2157; mwright@nhl.com (416) 313-2302, michellestajan@nhlpa.com

Aykroyd Interviews Proteau

Not long ago, I reviewed The Hockey News' Top 60 Since 1967. My buddy Lucas Aykroyd over at Hockey Adventure.com takes his review a touch further, going Behind The Book with his interview of author Adam Proteau.

The interview unveils the intense and short writing period Proteau and co-author Ken Campbell had to go through, their impressions of the voting panel, and the somewhat controversial inclusion of Sidney Crosby.

Check it out at Lucas Aykroyd's Hockey Adventure

Jim Robson: Hockey Play By Play

"A special hello to hospital patients and shut-ins, the pensioners, the blind, all the people who don't get out to games but enjoy the hockey broadcasts..."

Growing up in British Columbia in the 1980s I was the biggest Vancouver Canucks fan.

I'm not exactly sure how that came to be though. The only thing more brutal than Canucks win-loss record in those days was their jerseys. It would have been a whole lot easier to be an Oilers fan. Hockey Night in Canada rarely showed Vancouver games. It was always the Leafs, sometimes Gretzky's Oilers. More often than not though my dad had the Montreal game on the French channel, watching his beloved Montreal Canadiens.

These were the days before satellite tv and specialty sports channels. I had to rely on radio broadcasts, and our local station only picked up maybe 2 or 3 games a month. Living in the mountains made it impossible to find the Vancouver stations on the dial. But if I was really lucky the game would be simulcasted on BCTV and I could actually watch my Canucks look ugly in those V jerseys.

But I savoured every radio broadcast and those beloved BCTV telecasts. Why? I think, actually I know, play by play man Jim Robson was a huge reason for that.

Robson is a broadcasting legend with the Canucks. Though he worked many games for Hockey Night In Canada and was honoured by the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was never narcissistic enough to get himself the title that he so completely deserved - the best play by play man in the business.

Yes, I was completely spoiled with Robson calling the Canucks games, and I think I knew it even way back then. Robson had the amazing ability to captivate an audience and re-create the play for a radio audience so vividly that it became such a treat to listen to him. I think he is as much of the reason I remain not only a huge Canucks fan but a huge hockey fan to this very day.

Back in December 2005 author Jason Farris created circaNOW! Productions, and, in conjunction with graphic designer Adrienne Painter, came out with the critically acclaimed book Hockey Play-By-Play: Around The NHL With Jim Robson.

The book is nothing short of amazing. Even if you do not read any of the text, just by flipping through all of the coffee-table lay out pages full of Robson's own memorabilia and personal hand-written game notes you are able to relive all the action all over again. It is more than a fascinating publication - it is almost a museum! Here's a couple of shots:
The book lets hockey fans re-live over fifty games from the 1970s to the turn of the century. Farris does an excellent job in recreating each game, completing a unique feel through Robson's comments and memorabilia.

And don't forget Robson worked many games for Hockey Night In Canada, including several historic games and three Stanley Cup finals. This is a book for all hockey fans, not just Canucks fans.

Farris does a good job of bringing the book all together. It must have been a dream come true for Farris to sit down with Robson and talk hockey for hours on end. It was not easy though, as Robson was apparently quite reluctant to do the project in the first place.

I'm going to guess Farris' passion sold Robson on the idea. The passion is completely evident throughout the book. He created his own production company and designed the book himself, obviously taking great pride and joy in seeing his vision come to life.

The best part about this book is much of the proceeds are being donated to the Canuck Place Children's Hospice, a charity dear to the heart of Jim Robson.

In order to maximize the charity donations most copies of the Robson book are sold online. It is likely very tough to find a new copy in any bookstore nowadays, but you can still order copies by going to www.robsonhockeybook.com and clicking through to either "illustrated/gift books" or "book deals" sections on the left hand side of the site.

By the way, Farris, a Vancouver born, UBC/UofT/MIT educated financial mogul who loves hockey, also has written a similarly styled book in Hail Cesare! Trail through the NHL, a look at the life and career of former NHL goaltender Cesare Maniago. It, too, is available at www.robsonhockeybook.com. I will be reviewing that title in the coming weeks as well.