Hockey Book Reviews.com

Sam Wesley is a talented writer and researcher, a lifelong hockey enthusiast and, just as importantly, a proud Hamiltonian. Hamilton is a blue collar city with big league dreams. We have lost count of the number of rumored expansion franchises and relocated teams coming to the southern Ontario city. To most of us Hamilton is a junior league city with a spotted minor league history. It has a major league stadium at Copps Coliseum, best remembered as the host of "the greatest hockey games ever played" in the 1987 Canada Cup finals. Like most residents of Hamilton and hardcore hockey fans across Canada, Wesley was only vaguely aware of Hamilton's long forgotten NHL past. If the Tigers are remembered at all, it is as the NHL team that went on strike and therefore lost their NHL team, or for favorite player Shorty Green, whom the old city water fountains are still affectionately nick-named after. So Wesley set forth to discover his city's glorious hockey past, and with the...

Chapters.ca has lowered the price on The Power Of Two to just $4.99 CDN! That's an 86% savings from the cover price! iRewards members save another 5%. Free Shipping for total orders over $39. The Power Of Two looks at life and times of former Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Brewer, and how he and his wife Susan Foster helped successfully battle the hockey establishment over the issue of player pensions. Together they uncovered fraud, corruption and betrayal of trust, ultimately helping bring down the powerful Alan Eagleson. Also from the Chapters Bargain Book Bin: Lord Stanley''s Cup by Andrew Podnieks - 55% off , now just $24.99 CDN. iRewards members save another 5%. Free Shipping for total orders over $39. I refer to this book constantly for research and feature writing. It's a great coffee table book come playoff time. The Best of Hockey Night in Canada by Stephen Cole - 75% off , now just $9.99 CDN . iRewards members save another 5%. Free Shipping fo...

The book: The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory Hardcover, 336 pages The Author: D'Arcy Jenish The Publisher: Double Day Canada Release Date: September 30, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description The definitive history of the Montreal Canadiens–to coincide with their Centenary in 2009 Before there were slapshots, Foster Hewitt, or even an NHL, there were the Canadiens. Founded on December 4, 1909, the team won its first Stanley Cup in 1916. Since then, the Canadiens have won 23 more championships, making them the most successful hockey team in the world. The team has survived two wars, the Great Depression, NHL expansion, and countless other upheavals, thanks largely to the loyalty of fans and an extraordinary cast of players, coaches, owners, and managers. The Montreal Canadiens captures the full glory of this saga. It weaves the personalities, triumphs, heartaches, and hysteria into a compelling narrative with a surprise on every page. It sheds new light on old...

The book: Tales from the Philadelphia Flyers Hardcover, 192 pages The Author: Chuck Gormley The Publisher: Sports Publishing LLC Release Date: October 1st, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description Author Chuck Gormley offers an entertaining look at the history of one of the NHLs most storied franchises, the Philadelphia Flyers. The reader is invited into the locker room and behind-the-scenes in this anecdotal look at the Flyers, twice winners of the Stanley Cup. The Flyers, who own the second-highest winning percentage in league history and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals this season, have a winning tradition that dates back to the team inception in the league in 1967. The teams engaging past from the Broad Street Bullies to the Legion of Doom is chronicled in revealing detail in this one-of-a-kind historical text. About The Author Chuck Gormley is an award-winning sportswriter and columnist for the South Jersey Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He has cove...

The 2008 hockey book previews keep coming fast and furious at HockeyBookReviews.com . There's 5 new previews up, with a little something for everyone, especially for goalie aficionados. 1. The Patrick Roy biography is coming to English bookstores everywhere this fall. Last year the French edition "Le Guerrier" was a best seller in Quebec. The book provided the first truly intimate, no-holds-barred look at the early life and meteoric rise of their hero, told from a unique perspective: his father's. 2. Everyone likes goalie masks. So it surprises me no one before now has put together a photographic collection of the most famous masks over the years. That's what Jim Hynes and Gary Smith have done. Saving Face highlights the work of some of the world’s most famous mask artists and mask makers in action shots and stunning stills and features commissioned photographs from the Hockey Hall of Fame’s unparalleled collection of masks. 3. Alright, we all know it can be har...

The book: Patrick Roy: Winning, Nothing Else , Hardcover, 416 pages The Author: Michel Roy The Publisher: Wiley Release Date: September 25, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description The bestselling bio of NHL Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy--now in a new English-language edition Published in Canada in November 2007, the French-language version of this book, Le Guerrier, became an instant hit, quickly selling out its first print run. For fans of Patrick Roy, the legendary NHL goalie, the book provided the first truly intimate, no-holds-barred look at the early life and meteoric rise of their hero, told from a unique perspective: his father's. Written by Michel Roy, himself an impassioned hockey fan, Patrick Roy offers keen insights on Patrick's indomitable will to win, how he revolutionized goaltending and popularized the butterfly style, as well as his faults and difficulties, including the heartbreaking move from Montreal that nearly broke his spirit. About The Author Mic...

The book: The 100 Greatest Moments in Canadian Sports History , Hardcover, 160 pages The Author: James Bisson The Publisher: Wiley Release Date: September 10, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description A good sports debate is easy to find. Every city and town in Canada has hosted lively discussions about which teams made the best moves at the trade deadline. Phone lines burn by the second as friends bicker over who was the greatest of all time. Blogs and discussion forums explode to life when a blockbuster trade is made, or a world record is set. From every corner of the country, they bleed their teams’ colours, dissecting every transaction and highlight, living and dying with every run or goal scored. They come from all walks of life, from the largest metropolises, and the tiniest hamlets. They are of every race and ethnicity, man, woman or child. But when they enter the arena, they are all sports fans. They all have a voice, and an opinion. And they’re begging for someone t...

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...

The book: Black and Gold: Four Decades of the Boston Bruins in Photographs , hardcover 224 pages The Author: Rob Simpson and Steve Babineau (photos) The Publisher: Wiley Release Date: September 10, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description Black and Gold is a pictorial history of the Boston Bruins, one of the NHL’s Original Six teams and among hockey’s most popular franchises. Celebrating their 85 th season in 2008-09, the Bruins are a storied team with a long and rich history, and a fascinating cast of characters. Home to players such as Orr, Esposito, Schmidt, Bucyk, Cheevers, O’Reilly, Bourque and Neely, Boston has captured five Stanley Cups as well as numerous division and conference titles. Featuring four decades of pictures from long-time team photographer Steve Babineau, and accompanying text by NESN broadcaster Rob Simpson, Black and Gold will document much of the rich history of the team, including magic moments from the past, star players and coaches such as Ray ...

Not long ago I reviewed a book about the Detroit Red Wings where authors Kevin Allen and Art Regner collected first hand accounts from the greatest Red Wings players on their years in Detroit and just how special the Red Wings were to them. In very similar fashion, authors John Halligan and John Kreiser tackle the same project, only this time with the greats of the New York Rangers in the book Game of My Life: New York Rangers . The book is part of an eclectic series put out by Sports Publishing LLC . | Buy at - Amazon - Chapters | Actually, the scope of this Rangers book is quite a bit more narrow than the Detroit book titled What It Means To Be A Red Wing . As the Game Of My Life title suggests, the Rangers players are only asked to reminisce about their favorite game they played in while wearing Broadway's Blue Shirts. Don't worry, the authors do a good job of filling in the years and eras prior to and following the player's chosen moment. They try their best to use ...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: William Brown may be the best kept secret in hockey writing out there right now. In the 2002 book " Doug: The Doug Harvey Story " he produces a biography that is every bit as spectacular and compelling as his subject. | Buy at - Amazon - Chapters | As with his other books, notably The Montreal Maroons and Baseball's fabulous Montreal Royals: The minor league team that made major league history , the key to Brown's brilliance is his meticulous and painstakingly thorough research. Brown has written this text on Harvey nearly a decade and a half after his death. With no first hand account to work with, Brown looks under every stone to find every fine detail about the great Montreal Canadiens defenseman. He interviews everyone from the obvious, such as family and former teammates, to the unlikely, such as a former regular student of the Doug Harvey Hockey School. Brown wants as many opinions and memories on H...

William Brown easily captures my admiration as one of the most thorough writers and researchers in the hockey book market. He goes to painstaking lengths to find every last detail. That meticulous work is impressive his writing could serve as a university text book, it is an excellent read for those interested in his subject. For passive or younger fans, this book may be a bit of a hard read though, as it packed with details of an era long gone. The title of the book I'm reviewing today immediately appears to limit those interested in his subject. The book is titled The Montreal Maroons: The Forgotten Stanley Cup Champions , but in reality this is a book about early hockey history in Montreal, specifically the early pro history and early NHL history. It is a fascinating time period piece from say 1910 through the arrival of Rocket Richard in the 1940s. It is not so much about a forgotten hockey team, but about a forgotten and intense and historically important rivalry. | Buy at: - ...

It has often been said that the Detroit Red Wings are more than just a hockey team. They are a family. This rings through especially nowadays under the stewardship of owner Mike Illitch, who the players all rally around and for. But this family tradition has been around for past great Detroit Red Wings teams, too, albeit sometimes under very different circumstances. Back in the 1950s the Detroit Red Wings were a powerful Stanley Cup dynasty, perhaps the best ever. They, too, were a closely knit group, often compared by the players themselves to a family. Only those players rallied in unison against their boss, Jack Adams. Either way, family is a great way to describe the atmosphere that has been cultivated in Hockeytown over the years. Several generations of hockey players and coaches can attest to that personally, as evidenced Kevin Allen and Art Regner's 2006 book What It Means To Be A Red Wing . The 322 page hardcover book was published by Triumph Books . | Buy at: Amazon - Cha...

When Atlanta Journal-Constitution hockey writer John Manasso's book Season of Loss, A Lifetime of Forgiveness: The Dan Snyder and Dany Heatley Story came out back in 2005 (courtesy ECW Press ), I must admit I wanted nothing to do with it. It was one of the few hockey books I did not buy that year. | Buy at - Amazon - Chapters | The tragic accident and the loss of Dan Snyder's life is pretty serious and depressing stuff, and I elected to pass on it. I did not want to deal with it at all back then, tuning out news casts and passing on print and online articles. It was just too sad. It was not until 2007 that I picked up a copy of the text, and even then I only did because I found it in a bargain bin of a Vancouver used bookstore. Don't tell Manasso - I got it for only $2. Even then I still was not prepared to deal with the story. I put it on my shelf and did not pull it back out until now, the summer of 2008. For reasons I still can not ascertain, I suddenly felt that I w...

I thought about creating a list of the greatest NHL referees and linesmen of all time. Oh sure, I could have rattled off some Hall of Fame names like Bill Chadwick and Frank Udvari, or Bill McCreary or Ron Foyt, John D'Amico or Ron Asselstine. But to actually try to identify the best on-ice officials would be an incredible slap in the face of the many greats who have blown NHL whistles. Let's face it, officiating a NHL hockey game has to be the toughest job in all of refereedom. You never have a home game. Everyone, and I mean everyone from fans to coaches to most players, disagrees with you, usually loudly and using choice language. That isn't uncommon in other sports, but hockey is a far faster game than most, and historically rule interpretations have been quite subjective. In addition to dealing with the intense scrutiny, NHL officials have to anticipate the play ahead of time to avoid violent collisions with monstrous players and to dodge frozen rubber bullets travelli...

He is a three-time Stanley Cup winner. He is an Olympic gold medallist and a four time Vezina trophy winner as the NHL's best goalie. Before all is said and done he will be the NHL's winning goalie and all-time shut out king. The Hall of Fame awaits him. And now Martin Brodeur is an author, too. Brodeur released his autobiography in 2006, with a little help from top hockey writer Damien Cox. The book, called Brodeur: Beyond the Crease , was published by Wiley . In 2007 separate Canadian and American paper back editions were released. | Buy at - Amazon - Chapters | His autobiography is certainly premature. After all he has already put in great seasons after the book's release and he is showing no signs of slowing down just yet. But he offers a lot of insight and opinion on a wide range of topics and is worthy of a read. As the Beyond The Crease subtitle suggests, Brodeur had things to say, and this was his preferred way to communicate them. Don't forget back in 2006 t...

The book: Saving Face: The Art and History of the Goalie Mask , Hardcover 160 pages The Authors: Jim Hynes, Gary Smith Foreword: Gerry Cheevers The Publisher: Wiley Release Date: September, 2008 Pre-order: Amazon - Chapters Book Description The game of hockey changed forever when the legendary Jacques Plante donned a face mask on November 1, 1959, and kept it on for good. From those early, primitive leather masks, the goaltender’s mask has evolved into what it is today—a high-tech piece of protective equipment and a thing of beauty. Today’s goaltending stars owe a debt of thanks to the original mask makers. Saving Face is the story of those who developed, championed, and continuously improved the most unique and … + read more The game of hockey changed forever when the legendary Jacques Plante donned a face mask on November 1, 1959, and kept it on for good. From those early, primitive leather masks, the goaltender’s mask has evolved into what it is today—a high-tech piece of pro...

Star Power: The Legend and Lore of Cyclone Taylor by Eric Zweig is another in the Lorimer juvenile non-fiction sports history. Other hockey titles include Long Shot: How the Winnipeg Falcons won the first Olympic hockey gold , also by Zweig, Pink Power: The First Women's Hockey World Champions by Lorna Schultz Nicholson and Small Town Glory: The story of the Kenora Thistles' remarkable quest for the Stanley Cup by John Danakas and Richard Brignall. Star Power is a biography of hockey's first coast-to-coast superstar. Cyclone Taylor amazed with his skating speed, his puck handling trickery and his goal scoring. In the early 1900s and 1910s he played all across Canada, making him equally famous in Ontario as in BC. Everyone knew Cyclone Taylor was hockey's best player. There is no doubt that Cyclone Taylor was a legend. The author admits much of the Cyclone story is exactly that - legend. His hockey career was so long ago that it not only pre-dated video and even man...

Author Lorna Schultz Nicholson takes a look at the very first women's world hockey championships back in 1990 in her juvenile non-fiction title Pink Power: The First Women's Hockey World Champions . It is published by Lorimer . | Buy at - Amazon - Chapters | Why pink? Because Canada made the controversial decision to dress its National Women's Team in pink and white as opposed to the customary red and white. The idea was to draw attention to the women's game, but it almost backfired as the pink offended many. But by doing so women's hockey was the talk of the hockey world, drawing media and public attention to the series. Immediately following Canada's gold medal and fantastic showing at the first championships registration in girls' hockey went up 40%. In the book Nicholson introduces some of the key players and looks at the obstacles they had to overcome to play hockey. She also looks at the hurdles women's hockey in general had to face. She follows ...