Hockey Book Reviews.com

The following is an excerpt from Todd Denault's new book Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed The Face Of Hockey . Thanks to Jessica from McClelland & Stewart for granting permission to run this special. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com THE SEEDS OF THE MAN By Todd Denault Located on the Saint-Maurice River, almost halfway between Montreal and Quebec City, at the turn of the century Shawinigan Falls (as it was known then; in 1958, the city dropped the Falls from its name) was a thriving town that was the first in the country to produce aluminum and employed thousands in the pulp and paper, chemical, and textile industries. In the 1930s, with the onset of the Depression, many of those factory jobs disappeared under the weight of the economic downturn. In an effort to help families hit by the loss of employment, the city council enacted a variety of public works programs that included building a hockey arena. Bolstered by their new arena, Shawinigan was granted a...

Our interview today is with Don Weekes, the legendary trivia king. He has two new books this autumn, The Biggest Book of Hockey Trivia and World Class Hockey Trivia . How many books does this make for you over the years now Don? I have been writing hockey trivia and statistic books every year since 1992. On a few occasions two per year and once three trivia books in one season, including the Great Gretzky Trivia Book in 1999. The number must be close to 30, if you count the books I've co-authored with Kerry Banks. Do you have a favorite book out of that collection? Not one book, because they were all fun to research and write in their own way, but a few held something special, particularly The Unofficial Guide series of three books that looked at hockey's most unusual records and the best and worst firsts in the game. You must be banned from playing in all those hockey trivia contests at bars and on radio stations. Have you ever tried to enter one of those anonymously an...

This weekend marks the release of one of the last big hockey titles this season - Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed the Face of Hockey by Todd Denault. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. In the meantime, here's an excellent article on the book and it's author . Robert at Eyes On The Prize previously interviewed Todd Denault .

It's here - Reflections 2009 , the annual action photo extravaganza of the season past published by the National Hockey League, with a share of the proceeds going to Hockey Fights Cancer . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com As always, the photographs are the best of the best, capturing the most exciting, thrilling, stunning and sometimes humorous moments from last season. They still refuse to put the captions on the photo, instead burying them in the back, an annual pet peeve of mine. But as always, this is a must have book for every hockey fan's coffee table. And the best part is that part of the proceeds from sales of this book are donated directly to Hockey Fights Cancer , a joint charity initiative undertaken by the National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association. And you can also order the Reflections 2010 Wall Calendar . See, now you have even more reason to go out and buy Reflections 2009 . It's an amazing book and you are helping to make a dif...

Lorna Schultz Nicholson and Lorimer Publishing have teamed up once again to offer another young adult title - Fighting for Gold: The Story of Canada's Sledge Hockey Paralympic Gold . Buy The Book - Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Every Canadian knows that Canada is a global gold medal favorite when it comes to hockey, both in mens and womens hockey. But not everyone realizes Canada is looking for a third Olympic hockey gold medal in 2010 - the Paralympic sledge hockey title. 2010 should be sledge hockey's big coming out party in this country, making Nicholson's release the perfect introductory resource for young Canadians. The first thing we learn is Canada enters the Vancouver games as the defending sledge hockey gold medalists. "This is the amazing story of a team that came into the Paralympics as the underdog and ended up winning the gold medal," says Nicholson. "Norway had been Canada's biggest rivals in the sport since its inception in the Para...

David Morris over at Kukla's Korner takes a look at the must have Chicago Blackhawks books over the years.

This is one of my most favorite hockey books in my extensive collection: Andrew Podnieks' Canada's Olympic Hockey Teams: The Complete History 1920-1998. I bought before Christmas 1997 and a year later I bought another copy as a back up because I referred to it so often that it was breaking down. It is also a book that people constantly asked me how they could get a copy. The book surprisingly disappeared pretty quickly as the publisher remaindered the book and offered it for as little as $3.99 before everyone could get a copy. Enter the year 2009, and we have excellent news to report. Podnieks is back with a beautiful updated book called Canada's Olympic Hockey History, 1920-2010 . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Produced by HB Fenn and The Hockey Hall of Fame and endorsed by Hockey Canada, this beautiful 256 page book is every bit the must have book as the original. Only this time, it will not be nearly the secret. The book is full of some of the most am...

You would have to be living under a rock to not know about the dreaded H1N1 flu virus. Even the hockey world is affected by it. Colorado goaltender Peter Budaj has contracted H1N1 . H1N1 is the worst flu since World War I. Now that Spanish Influenza virus seriously messed with the hockey world. The 1919 Stanley Cup championship series between the Seattle Metropolitans and Montreal Canadiens was cancelled after several players fell ill. Hockey Hall of Famer Bad Joe Hall of Montreal eventually died as he had contracted pneumonia on top of the dread flu. This real life event serves as the setting for Eric Zweig 's new fictional novel Fever Season by Dundurn Press. Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com This young adult story is set in early 1919 in the midst of the Spanish Flu has killed 1000s throughout Canada and the United States. David Saifert is our hero, a thirteen year old English Canadian, who has lost father to WWI and his mother and sister to the flu. Feeling un...

I recently sat down with Brett Henning, former hockey star turned author. We talked about hockey, family and his new book 7 Pre-Game Habits of Pro Hockey Players . Here's the interview. When you were growing up with the Islanders, how often would you get on the ice with the players? Looking back it feels like I lived at the rink. From the age of about 8 to 13 I would bug my dad every home weekend, especially if they were practicing at the Nassau Coliseum. I even remember taking "sick" days from school when the Penguins or Los Angeles would come into town. Still not sure if my mom caught on to that one. Ha. But yeah I would sit up in the stands, grabbing every puck shot over the boards, until the very end of practice. Then I would rush down, throw on my helmet and gloves, and skate to the bench while the injured and scratched players would skate extra. As soon as they broke off to individual groups to practice faceoffs, point shots, or play two pass I would jump on the ice...

Back in 2007 I raved about a children's book written and beautifully illustrated by Chris Mizzoni. Mizzoni combined brilliant artwork and layouts with hockey's own Casey At The Bat storyline based loosely on King Clancy. The result, Clancy With The Puck became one of my favorite children's books ever. Mizzoni is back with an equally brilliant book called The Sterling Seven . It tells the fictional story of hockey's first team, based loosely on the Ottawa Silver Seven. The boys from Sterling are too good for everyone else, and travel all over in search of competition. They even travel by rail, steamship and dog ship to the far north (a reversal of the actual Dawson City Klondikers story), but to no avail. They can not find a worthy opponent. That's when the Sterling Seven head overseas and spread the game of hockey beyond their homeland. At first the teams over there are not very good either, but eventually they play enough to give boys from Sterling a challenging g...

MacLean's magazine has a good interview with Peter Pocklington . Peter Puck discusses his new book, his current financial and legal problems, and of course Wayne Gretzky. I'd Trade Him Again - Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com

This is Don Weekes new book World Class Hockey Trivia , one of two new trivia books out by everybody's favorite trivia king. This book is all about international hockey, which is timely considering the Olympics are coming. Olympics, Canada/World Cups, world championships, the 1972 Summit Series...they're all covered. The questions and games are challenging - I should know, I had the great pleasure on working on this book as a fact checker with Weekes. Buy The Book | Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com | The other Don Weekes entry of 2009 is The Biggest Book of Hockey Trivia . Big it is! There is 576 pages with over 800 questions, his biggest compilation yet. It is a combination of the best of Weekes' past books, completely updated, and new trivia. Described as "irreverent, captivating and even bizarre," there are over 800 compelling trivia questions as well as entertaining stories and historic milestones. Buy The Book | Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com | W...

In 2007, Ralph Mellanby released an autobiographical book about his life behind the cameras at Hockey Night In Canada called Walking With Legends . It was an interesting memoir from the man who is recognized as the man who has made Hockey Night In Canada the Saturday night institution it currently is. But Mellanby was much more than just the brains behind Hockey Night In Canada. He's a five time Emmy Award winning producer who has done football, baseball, golf, tennis, horse racing, non-sports related programming, the Pan-Am Games and most importantly, the Olympic Games. With so much more than just hockey to talk about, Mellanby is back with co-author Mike Brophy another new book, Let the Games Begin: My Life with Olympians, Hockey Heroes and Other Good Sports . The book features a foreword by Canada's face and voice of Olympic television coverage - Brian Williams. Buy the Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Don't worry hockey fans. The book has plenty of hockey, open...

The Hockey News' second hockey book of 2009 is Puck Funnies: Hockey Humour, Hilarity and Hi-Jinx . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com The Good - Think of it as GHL's Sunday Funnies hits the hockey book shelves. This text is full of funny hockey stories throughout hockey history. Everyone loves a funny story and everyone loves hockey. And I want everyone to love hockey history every bit as much as I do. How can I not recommend this book? The stories are told by some of the best writers in the business, plus some comedians including Denis Leary and Colin Mochrie. The Bad - Presentation counts, and the cover fails. Hockey is full of humorous stories and many are listed in these 225 pages. But the Frosted Pucks cereal box look with a monkey on the cover is more sad than funny. Presentation also fails on the inside. I understand the cost concerns, but why this book is not fitted with the same glossy pages and color photography that THN's other 2009 title, The Pur...

The Hockey News has two new hockey books hitting bookstore shelves everywhere this week. The first is The Pursuit of Hockeyness: 99 Things Every Hockey Fan Needs to Do In Their Lifetime . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com Written by THN writer Sam McCaig, the 225 page trade-paperback compiles the ultimate bucket list for dedicated hockey fans. There are the obvious, from going to a NHL game to touching the Stanley Cup to playing the game on a frozen pond. Then there are the obscure, such as burning a snowman (a Lake Superior State tradition) and surviving a Manitoba blizzard. By my count, I've already done 35 of THN's bucket list. But I think I'll take the author's advice and create my own ultimate hockey checklist, and start out by picking out the top 10 items in the book that I have not done and I really want to do: 1. Hockey Night In Russia - One day I want to travel to Moscow and stand in the exact spot where Paul Henderson scored "the goal hea...

He is the man behind the success of goalies like Patrick Roy, Jean Sebastien Giguere and other NHL goaltending stars. Currently the goaltending coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has held the same position in Montreal, Colorado and Anaheim. The Hockey News named him one of the most influential people in hockey. He is the man who helped revolutionized goaltending to the stage it is at today. His name is Francois Allaire, and now you can learn from him, too. Allaire has just released his 4th instructional book for goalies. The Hockey Goalie's Complete Guide: An Indispensable Development Plan is a 175 page full colour paperback book which is perfect for goaltenders of all ages, as well as youth coaches. Buy The Book - | Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com | Allaire presents his four year development plan that will help all goaltenders become better at their craft. With step-by-step and clearly illustrated instructions, Allaire teaches basic techniques, skating improvements and on ...

I recently was able to sit down with goaltender guru Sebastien Tremblay and discuss goalies, goaltending and his new book . Buy it today at www.goaltenders.info or at Lulu.com , where it is also available in ebook form. How did you become such a big fan of goaltenders? It was a love at first sight situation. I fell in love with the equipment when I was very young and from that point on, I was never interested in any other positions than the goaltender. I remember that when it became time for me to learn to skate, my parents enrolled me in figure skating and while on the ice I was duplicating the moves of goalies. The following year they enrolled me in ice hockey and I immediately volunteered to play goal. I wasn’t talented enough to make it to any competitive level but like most successful goalie I was a student of the game and of the position. My love affair with the sport and the position grew every year and is still more than alive today. Who were your favorite goalies growing...