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.

Red, White & Blues: A Personal History of Indianapolis Racers Hockey 1974-1979

I'm not a fan of the World Hockey Association, or especially of the Indianapolis Racers. But I really enjoyed Timothy Gassen's Red, White & Blues: A Personal History of Indianapolis Racers Hockey 1974-1979.

I think the reason I enjoyed it so much is because Gassen's work is truly a labour of love. He has an obvious passion for his boyhood team, and it comes through brilliantly in his self published book.

The other reason I enjoyed it was because, unlike many WHA topics, I was completely open and curious about the Racers. It wasn't hard to be curious about the Racers. After all, the two highest scoring players in NHL history both got the careers started as underaged juniors in the city better known for college basketball and auto sports.

Yes, Wayne Gretzky started his career as a million dollar 17 year old in a Racers jersey. It didn't last long, just 8 games in fact. The financially troubled Racers moved 99 to Edmonton. In an effort to replace him, they gave a brash kid out of an Alberta tier 2 league a tryout. That player's name was Mark Messier.

Gassen explains all of this nicely. There is a couple of theories, but either way the Gretzky signing is all a ploy in the WHA-NHL merger negotiations. Messier's tryout was more of a favour by Racers coach Pat Stapleton to former teammate Paul Messier. It seems Paul's son Mark was getting into trouble in tier 2, something about playing too aggressively. That doesn't sound like Mark Messier, does it?

Other than the Gretzky/Messier tie in, the book is incredibly thorough and well researched, but also, as the subtitle suggests, highly personal. While this book isn't a literary spectacle like Ken Dryden's The Game or George Plimpton's Open Net, the personally reflective approach is both refreshing and ingenious. As a complete outsider of the Racers and for the most part the WHA, I enjoyed Gassen's light hearted stories and memories as much as the cold hard facts, and I know you will too. I especially enjoyed the story of when the author met his hero Michel Dion and his lady friend at the hospital.

Gassen is not one of those WHA extremists who have a seriously disturbing hatred for the NHL that still lurk around every once in a while. No, Gassen indulged himself in both leagues and therefor comes across as very credible in his comparison of the two leagues. I opened this book thinking only the Gretzky and Messier angles would interest me, but it is amazing how much I learned in a relatively small book.

Red, White & Blue is available at WHARacers.com and Amazon.com. The book is working its way into major bookstores now, starting with Barnes and Noble in the US. Any bookstore will be able to order it in, as well.

What you will get is a real nice book, complete with facts and stories. There are some player interviews with Indy hockey legends like Ken Block, Ed Mio, Al Karlander, Hugh Harris and Jim Park. There's also plenty of photos, including a color photo insert complete with Gretzky and Messier pics.

A job well done by a passionate hockey fan.

King of Russia

Oh wow!

I didn't know quite what to expect from McClelland and Stewart's 2007 release King of Russia: a Year in the Russian Super League. Let's just say I'm so impressed by this book that I'm almost overwhelmed.

King of Russia is about Canadian hockey coaching legend Dave King's journey to the Ural Mountains to become the first Canadian coach in Russia. The book is based on King's daily diary, typically meticulous and refreshingly open, and polished up beautifully by The Globe & Mail's ace hockey reporter Eric Duhatschek.

I personally consider Duhatschek to be the best hockey journalist out there for quite some time. Not only is he incredibly connected, thorough and respected, but he's got an easy to read and captivating writing style. So I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised how easily I was drawn into the text.

But I was very pleasantly surprised just how compelling and fascinating the text is. One biography or well written autobiography that I've always wanted to read is that of Coach King. He is a three time Olympic coach, and formerly the one man Canadian national team king-pin. He's also coached two NHL teams and teams all over the world. As one of the greatest bench tacticians ever, his story potentially has so much to offer a reader - about the Soviets, about the NHL, about Canadian hockey and about European hockey, and so much more.

King of Russia isn't that book. Instead is a look into a single season of King's career. I cracked the spine already disappointed because I knew it wasn't what I was looking for.

A few paragraphs later, I realized I had found quite possibly the leading candidate for best read of the new hockey book season.

Back when King was coaching in Calgary, the NHL had a great influx of eastern Europeans. One of them was Soviet great Sergei Makarov. We North Americans were never truly understanding of the hardships these guys faced. A whole new country, a whole new way of hockey, a whole new language, a whole new life. They understandably struggled, and we were quick to dismiss them as inferior, and never truly understood the incredible transition they had to go through.

Well now we can, but in reverse. It is the Canadian, King, pioneering his way into Russia. He had to deal with the strange new homeland, a language barrier, a cultural 180 degree turn and a stubborn and peculiar hockey system. Oh, and there's such 21st century hazards such as the Russian mafia. Finally Coach King understands Makarov's struggles all too well.

Through it all, King tries to finds the silver linings, but in his daily diary he is very open about wondering if he has made a big mistake. At times we get to see the rare vulnerable side of a hockey legend.

But we also get to see so much more. By the end of the book, I'm converted in to a Metallurg Magnitogorsk fan and am looking online to buy a jersey. I feel for many of the players, much like King can't but help develop but must depress. King looks to former NHLer Dimitri Yuskevich defenseman to be an early pillar, and an English ally. Swedish defenseman Anders Eriksson and Canadian goalie Travis Scott are also relied on heavily. Ilja Vorobiev becomes a favorite of Coach King and of any Canadian reader. Others on the team include gormer NHLer Igor Korolev, the wildly enigmatic Stanislav Chistov and teenage phenom Evgeni Malkin, who leads the team and the league, but will soon leave the league to join the National Hockey League.

Malkin's departure allows to better appreciate how the Russians feel about the NHL continually uprooting the country's top young players. It's a real eye opener for us Westerners, and maybe the Russians have a point when it comes to their continuing dispute about player compensation with the NHL-IIHF player transfer agreement.

King learns first hand why the Russians are able to develop incredible individual talents but poor international teams. Its a far cry from their glory days, that's for sure.

Through it all, King is continually open and perplexed, and as usual successful. Its an amazing look into just one year of an amazing life. I still want a great biography or autobiography of Dave King, but I now realize it would take volumes to cover his hockey insight.

Gretzky to Lemieux: The Story Of The 1987 Canada Cup

Ed Willes has gone down a road that I am very familiar with.

Willes, hockey journalist extraordinare of the Vancouver Province daily newspaper, revisited his youthful memories of the 1987 Canada Cup only to find that the hockey he may have mythologized in his own memories was even more spectacular, more special and more impacting than even he realized. He captures it all nicely in his new book Gretzky to Lemieux: the Story of the 1987 Canada Cup

I know the road Willes has travelled all too well. In 2002 co-author Patrick Houda and I released our first book World Cup of Hockey: A History of Hockey's Greatest Tournament, sort of an encyclopedic history of all the Canada Cup/World Cup tournaments. This project allows me to give a real unique review of Willes' new title.

Firstly, I can attest Willes' book is incredibly thorough and well researched. I've always considered myself to be more of a researcher than writer, and I have exhaustively researched the 1987 Canada Cup. It is obvious Willes has too. I can attest has expertly fit everything of importance into his dissertation.

I will end any comparisons of "Gretzky to Lemieux" and "World Cup of Hockey" right now. I feel no shame in telling you that Willes' book blows mine away.

I don't think Willes' book is a particularly profound or prolific piece of literature, but then again such a find is incredibly rare in the hockey book industry. What it is is a fun, engrossing read that you can't put down. It is thoroughly complete, expertly written and, through the use of countless quotes, incredibly well connected to the main characters. And Willes has a real professional publisher in McLelland & Stewart. The word professional is all over this book.

So is the word entertaining. But how could any book about the greatest hockey ever played not be entertaining. With names like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, Grant Fuhr, Viacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov all in the primes of their caree, the greatest collection of hockey talent translates in every language into the games of their lives and of our lives.

Willes' intense passion for such hockey is obvious on every page, and allows us to relive it all, all over again. The drama. The intrigue. The memories.

Willes immediately captures readers with an opening chapter about how Wayne Gretzky was initially reluctant to play in the tournament. He goes on to subsequent chapters of introducing the teams, giving the Russians the same time as the Canadians. Though the two teams seemed worlds part on and off the ice, Willes lets everyone know how strangely identical they actually were.

Willes devotes a chapter to a whirlwind recap of the other countries and the entire tournament That chapter may have been short and sweet, but realistically that is all that is needed. The other countries, for the most part, were supporting actors in the epic drama between eternal rivals Canada and Russia.

Willes quickly jumps into the three classic games that comprised the Canada Cup finals, giving a nicely detailed blow by blow description. Along the way he takes time to further look into many of the key protagonists from the series, packing the pages with many interviews and quotes. He captures it all, and also looks at the true villains of the tournament - Alan Eagleson, Viktor Tikhonov and Mike Keenan.

All in all, this Gretzky to Lemieux: the Story of the 1987 Canada Cup is a real solid book, and a definite must have for any fan who witnessed the greatest hockey ever player. This book is very much deserving of your $25.

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.