Hockey Book Reviews.com

Paul Coffey was a wonderful offensive defenseman, putting up numbers from the blue line that rivalled the great Bobby Orr. He was known for great outlet passes, his manning the point on the power play, and, above all else, his skating ability on those end to end rushes he was so good at. But one thing he was not known for was playing defense. Which is funny because the lasting image of the 1984 Canada Cup has always been a brilliant defensive play by Coffey, which he quickly turned into an offensive rush and set up the dramatic winning goal. It is the quintessential Paul Coffey play. Ah the wonders of the ol' Canada Cup tournaments. I bet you didn't know that released two days before Christmas 2014 was the  Canada Cup 1984: 5 Disc DVD Collection , featuring all games involving Team Canada. Two days before Christmas certainly doesn't allow for capitalizing on the Christmas rush, but who am I to criticize the marketing team? The key thing is the Canada Cup '84 ...

Roger Godin, veteran hockey historian, is back with another paper he calls a monograph. For $3 plus shipping you can learn all about Boston's University Club's 1928 upset of the ultimate Olympic champions in En Route To St. Moritz Gold. The Boston's University Club, not to be confused with the Boston University hockey team, actually played the Allan Cup champions University of Toronto Grads twice prior to U of T travelling to the Olympics and easily winning the gold medal. But the Bostonians gave U of T all they could handle in a 2 game, total goal series which ended tied 2-2, including a 1-0 victory for Boston in game 2. Godin goes on to tell us that the United States did not ice an Olympic team in 1928, but wonders what would have happened had the Boston Univesity Club worn the red, white and blue. Here's some YouTube footage of Godin presenting his paper at a Society For International Hockey Research meeting: If you are interested in acquiring this mo...

Tales of a First-Round Nothing: My Life As A NHL Footnote Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com From The Publisher: Terry Ryan was poised to take the hockey world by storm when he was selected eighth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1995 NHL draft, their highest draft pick in a decade. Expected to go on to become a hockey star, Ryan played a total of eight NHL games for the Canadiens, scoring no goals and no assists: not exactly the career he, or anyone else, was expecting. Though Terry’s NHL career wasn’t long, he experienced a lot and has no shortage of hilarious and fascinating revelations about life in pro hockey on and off the ice. In Tales of a First-Round Nothing, he recounts fighting with Tie Domi, partying with rock stars, and everything in between. Ryan tells it like it is, detailing his rocky relationship with Michel Therrien, head coach of the Canadiens, and explaining what life is like for a man who was unprepared to have his career over so...

Magnificent. Awe-inspiring. Compelling. Special. Honest. Classy. Normally these words are reserved for Jean Beliveau, one of the top 10 hockey legends of all time and a man who everyone, hockey fan or not, respects and admires. But today these adjectives, and there are never enough, are reserved for his re-released autobiography Jean Beliveau: My Life in Hockey . Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com The Beliveau story has long been a literary classic. First published in 1994 and expanded in 1995. The book was co-written with Chrys Goyens and Allan Turowetz. Now you know the always articulate Beliveau was very hands on in every incarnation of this project, but Goyens and Turowetz lend their literary prowess to make this book as strong as any book in the hockey world. I recently review unauthorized biographies of Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe. Both were absolutely wonderful books and incredibly well written, but they both suffered from the lack of participation from th...