Hockey Book Reviews.com

Author Lance Hornby joins forces with photographer Graig Abel to bring us  Welcome to Maple Leaf Gardens: Photographs and Memories from Canada's Most Famous Arena Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Rome has the Basilica of Saint Peter. India has the Golden Temple. The Middle East has the Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Canada has no such spectacular place of worship. But there was a time that (at least in English Canada) Maple Leaf Gardens was about as close as we came. Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch. But for hockey fans of a certain age there was no more hallowed ground than Maple Leaf Gardens. Hockey is the most dominant religion in Canada, after all. Built in 1931 thanks to the vision and determination of team owner Conn Smythe, the corner of Church and Carlton streets became the centerpiece of hockey excellence not only in Toronto, but from coast to coast (minus Quebec thanks largely to those hated rivals the Montreal Canadiens). Modern day fans may ...

In the sports broadcasting world Jay Onrait is the comedic equivalent of Will Ferrell or David Letterman. To promote his new book, Anchorboy , he offers this Top Ten List: TOP TEN THINGS YOU’LL LEARN WHEN YOU READ THIS BOOK: 10) Jay was beaten up by an MMA fighter on live television 9) Interviewing Will Ferrell can be a harrowing experience 8) Jay once ruined a perfectly good pair of underwear on Christmas Eve 7) Failing as a stand-up comedian can lead to a job in broadcasting 6) Jay ran a marathon to get a ticket for the 2010 men's Olympic gold-medal hockey game 5) Jay was sexually harassed at TSN by a senior citizen every day for ten years 4) Jay appeared as the Phantom of the Opera on national television 3) Jay was entertained nightly by free live sex shows throughout university 2) Jay was single-handedly responsible for Winnipeg's second NHL team being called "The Jets" (he claims) 1) Running around in a full-body unitard at the London Ol...

Co-authors Greg Oliver and Richard Kamchen bring us Don't Call Me Goon: Hockey's Greatest Enforcers, Gunslingers, and Bad Boys . The book is one of the earliest books to hit the store shelves just prior to the 2013-14 hockey season. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com There are three types of fan favourites on every team in hockey. There is the ace scorer. There is the star goaltender. And there is the tough guy. Often it is the tough guy who ranks highest on the list. It is hockey's most controversial role. Violence in hockey has existed since the first time they dropped a puck. Not everyone likes it, but when these masters of mayhem drop the gloves everyone in the stadium is sure to get out of their seats. The fights are often highlighted later that night on SportsCentre. They play an under-appreciated role on every team, even if it is a role that is tough to justify to a newcomer to the game. They are there to self-police the game, defending t...

I recently re-read Jonathan Gatehouse's book  The Instigator: How Gary Bettman Remade the League and Changed the Game Forever . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com "Two decades of lockouts, soaring ticket prices, and on-ice tinkering have convinced many hard-core fans that the NHL’s long-time commissioner Gary Bettman is the devil in disguise, but this book examines his motivations, peels back his often prickly demeanor, and explains how he manages to lead, confound, and keep order." That's the book's opening selling line, though it reallly had me intrigued after the opening chapter describes the bizarre story of what Gary Bettman was doing during the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver. After that one chapter I had incredibly high expectations that this book would give us a real look at the man behind the corporate figure. Unfortunately the book never really gets back to that opening promise. Instead the book details - lengthily, I might...

Matt McCoy is a former pro hockey player turned first-time author. His 226 page novel, “ The Kid Who Missed the Bus ” was released by Central Avenue Publishing earlier in 2013. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com The main character is Danny Boy Doyle - “the Real McCoy” - hinting that this is in part an autobiographical tale - an Irish born kid who ends up on British Columbia's north coast. He falls in love with the game of hockey, though he has more determination than skill. Still, he leaves home at 15 to play junior hockey, never getting close to the NHL. But he is able to get some college education and plays some pro hockey in some oddball places like England and Texas. That all sounds pretty stereotypical but McCoy fills the gaps with good storytelling.  McCoy has an honest writing ability, which is obvious from the start. He is very detailed in his descriptions which helps to quickly capture the readers attention. From there it is a fast read with someth...

All Nicholas wants for Christmas is . . . everything hockey! Nicholas can hardly contain his excitement leading up to Christmas. There's only one thing on his wish list: hockey gear! When the big day arrives, Nicholas is ecstatic to discover that he got what he asked for! Only — uh oh — nothing is quite right . . . When Nicholas realizes he's not the only one with this problem, he has a big one-size-fits-all idea to save the day. A Very Hockey Christmas is a 32 page children's book is put out by Scholastic. It is written by Gilles Tibo and illustrated Bruno St-Aubin. They have teamed up in the past to bring us hockey titles such as  Where's My Hockey Sweater? , The Big Game , and The Best Goalie Ever . Check it out! Buy  A Very Hockey Christmas  at Amazon.ca  or Chapters . You can also buy the book in French - Le Noël de Nicolas

Where Countries Come to Play: Celebrating the World of Olympic Hockey and the Triple Gold Club  by Andrew Podnieks. Preview: Where Countries Come to Play chronicles each Olympic tournament, from the 1920 Antwerp games to Vancouver in 2010. Illustrated with photographs from the IIHF archives, the book features rare pictures of games and players, as well as memorabilia and artifacts. Each event is retold through a detailed narrative that will offer fans a complete history of Olympic hockey, including amazing stories from both on and off the ice, organizational challenges, bitter battles, player's tales, and spectacular hockey action. The book also contains a prelude to 2014 Sochi and a detailed appendix of Olympic hockey stats. As well, Where Countries Come to Play celebrates the IIHF's Triple Gold Club, whose members have each won an Olympic Gold Medal, a Stanley Cup, and a World Championship. For the first time in book form, the elite club's twenty-five members are ...

From the National Post : The Canadian public got its first look at the title and cover for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s long-anticipated non-fiction book about the early days of professional hockey. Set for release on November 5, A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs and The Rise of Professional Hockey tracks hockey from the first years of Canadian confederation to the First World War. A promotional website launched by publisher Simon and Shuster promises the book is “a fascinating look at the hockey heroes and hard-boiled businessmen who built the game” and features a one-minute video showcasing black-and-white photos of early hockey teams against a triumphal soundtrack. Notably, the website makes no reference to the day job of author “Stephen J. Harper,” but assures that he writes with a “fan’s passion.” Here's the full story

I love it! Back in 2002 Nimbus Publishing combined with Canadian music legend Stompin' Tom Connors to change his iconic song "The Hockey Song" into a children's book, Hockey Night Tonight . With 24 pages wonderfully illustrated by Brenda Jones, I can't think of a better way to pass on this great Canadian tradition to the next generation. I dare you to read this book to your kids and not break out into song . . . and smiles! Hello out there! We're on the air! It's hockey night tonight! Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Also be sure to check out another Stompin Tom song turned into children's book, Bud the Spud .

Andrew Podnieks and the NHL have teamed up again for their annual summer release honouring the Stanley Cup champions. Of course that means The Year of the Chicago Blackhawks: Celebrating the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions is an absolute must-have for all Chicago fans. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Now I know in the past I've been a little bit critical of this series. It is rushed out just a few weeks after the hockey season has ended and as a result follows a rigid template year after year. I would like to see the NHL take a little more time and come up with something a little more unique from year to year. The Stanley Cup champion and their fans deserve that. But the 2013 release, published by Fenn/McClelland and Stewart, is a gem as is. The Blackhawks season, which started with an unprecedented winning streak and ended with Lord Stanley's mug, is brilliantly captured by Podnieks' writing and by the beautiful photography that fills the 144 pag...

There is an absolutely  fantastic feature in the New York Times  this week about Zander Hollander. For nearly three decades he wrote annual "Complete Handbooks" about hockey, baseball, football and basketball. He wrote over 300 sports books over 45 years. I have most of the hockey books, though a couple of seasons are very hard to get a hold of. These books were the bible of sports back then, spreading statistics and player biography information that simply was not compiled in such a "complete" and "handy" format until the internet came along. Sports fans of that era owe Hollander a debt of gratitutde. This story, authored by Pete Croatto, is a celebration of Hollander's work and life. But it does have a sad ending. From 1971 to 1997, Hollander edited sports yearbooks, brick-sized tomes known as Complete Handbooks, which in the pre-Internet era were almost holy objects to a certain type of sports-crazed youngster. Here, in one glorious place, w...