Hockey Book Reviews.com

It is arguable that the greatest book ever written by a Canadian is a children's book. Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater needs no introduction in Canada. But Carrier recently revealed some fascinating insight into the story behind the story. "I got this invitation from the CBC to write something about the question that everybody was asking in Canada - What does Quebec want?" He started working on the text but it was not coming together. "And I phoned back on Friday to tell CBC that I could not do it. They said they had a time slot booked for Monday so 'Write whatever you want and it will be OK.' "Suddenly I got an idea ... to write about some experience when I was kid about hockey. No philosophy, not thinking about hockey as a religion, just write the thing as it was. "It was written very quickly. It was translated into English by Sheila Fischman, who did an incredible job. "By Sunday afternoon, we were sitting in the CBC studio in...

Recently we discussed Gary Mossman's new book - Lloyd Percival: Coach and Visionary . In many ways it is a book about the most important hockey book ever written. Here is the full book review for further information.  Buy the Book:  Amazon.ca -  Chapters  -  Amazon.com Below is the transcript of an email interview I did with Mr. Mossman about his new book. Question -  What made you decide to write a book about Lloyd Percival? Answer -   Throughout his life, Lloyd Percival helped numerous Olympians, never charging them any money for his time and expertise. He spent the summer of 1952 training the Canadian Olympic canoeing team. The result was a silver medal for Ken Lane and Don Hawgood in the 10,000 meter Canadian Singles - one of only three medals won by Canadians in Helsinki - and later, a close relationship with my father, Jim Mossman, who coached the Canadian Olympic canoeing team throughout the 1960’s and w...

Want to write a hockey book? One tried and true hockey publishing route is to interview hockey tough guys. We've seen quite a few over the years, and undoubtedly will see quite a few more. New author Brian D'Ambrosio offers the latest such book. It's called Warriors On the Ice: Hockey's Toughest Talk . At this time it available only as Kindle e-book, though there may be a print deal in works for the future. I have yet to read the book yet so I can not comment on the content. It is extensive at over 250 pages. And the list of players interviewed is impressive: 1) Jim Agnew 2) Paul Baxter 3) Ken Belanger  4) Riley Cote 5) Craig Coxe 6) Gordie Dwyer 7) Mike Hartman 8) Tim Hunter 9) Jamie Huscroft 10) Kevin Kaminski 11) Ed Kastelic 12) Darin Kimble 13) Paul Kruse 14) Reed Low 15) Kevin McClelland 16) Jeff Odgers 17) Jim Peplinski 18) Cam Russell 19) Reid Simpson 20) Daryl Stanley 21) Jason Strudwick 22) Chris Tamer 23) Rocky Thompson 24) Ryan...

A lot of people know that Anatoli Tarasov is considered to be the great architect of the Soviet hockey empire. But even Tarasov had to learn from someone. That someone was a Canadian coach and author named Lloyd Percival. Percival was Canada's leading expert on fitness through out the mid 20th century. Although he was best known for coaching track and field, he would often make forays into other sports in order to help those athletes attain greatness, too. In 1951 Percival attempted to make a big splash in hockey when he published The Hockey Handbook. Percival was years, even decades, ahead of his time here in Canada.  His book featured the oddest things Canadian hockey coaches and players had ever heard of. Breathing control? Gymnastics? Goal setting? No way, we scoffed. Goal scoring is what we practice! Hall of Fame coach Dick Irvin (no, not the television broadcaster, that is his son) blasted Percival's notions. It was "the product of a three...