The Most Anticipated New Hockey Book Of The Season

As hockey books begin hitting store shelves, a common question I've been getting is this:

Which new hockey book are you looking forward to the most?

The answer is unequivocally Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey by Ken Dryden

Earlier this year I wondered what Dryden, hockey's most interesting man, was up to. Then came word of this ever so promising title.

The former Hall of Fame goaltender - recently named as one of the top 100 NHL players of all time - turned author/educator/Toronto Maple Leafs executive/politician has not been heard from a lot since losing his seat and federal cabinet position in 2011. He has been teaching a Canadian Studies course at McGill University in Montreal since.

But he has also been working on the new book about Montador, concussions and the future of hockey.

Dryden, of course, is noted author. He is most famous for his 1983 book The Game, which was both a commercial and especially a critical success. He also wrote Home Game and Faceoff at the Summit, as well as three non-hockey related books.

I have yet to see anything on Game Change, but this could be his most important text to date.

Obviously concussions in hockey are a big deal, and the pending lawsuit by former players threatens to change the way the game is played forever. The thing the powers that be in the hockey world need to realize is if they are not careful the lawmakers will change things instead of the hockey people.

So the hockey people need to be proactive, and Dryden looks like he will lead the way his blue print.

Equipment changes are always possible. Penalties for any direct head shot are to be enforced and strict. The elimination of fighting. These are all likely in the book.

But the ultimate game change will be in the mindset we use to approach physical play. Ultimately that may take a generation or two to achieve.

I do hope that Dryden comments on how to change bodychecking. Before the 1970s bodychecking was always condoned as long as the defending player was attempting to retrieve the puck on the play. Too often since the 1970s bodychecking is used to physically intimidate while removing the player from the puck, but leaving the puck for others to retrieve. Bodychecking should be enforced where the impeding player is still trying to get the puck while making physical contact.

This would allow for a cleaner hockey game to be played, though I do not know if it would have any result on the concussion problem itself. Presumably it would, but people far smarter than I would be able to decipher that.

Book Review: Texas On Ice

Dallas Stars are leading the league as a first class organization in many ways off the ice.

One small example - they are bucking the trend on paperless season tickets. Instead, they pamper their season ticket holders with a box of gifts as well as the traditional tickets.

One of the gifts to surprise their clients this year is the new book Texas On Ice: Pro Strides To The Stars.

The book looks at the history of professional hockey in Texas from 1942 through to 1993 when the Dallas Stars arrived. They thoroughly have it all from the Houston Apollos to the Amarillo Wrangers to the Fort Worth Texans to Gordie Howe's Houston Aeros.

The book is beautifully laid out with amazing action photography, both in color and in black and white. The text compliments the photos nicely with text that recaptures the characters, the rivalries and the Texan hockey heroes of yesterday. A statistical package completes the book perfectly.

The book is a group effort funded by the Dallas Stars, though hockey book fans will recognize the executive director of the project: Jason Farris.

Farris has been lauded here at HockeyBookReviews.com for his wonderfully produced personal projects in the past, such as Hail Cesare: The Cesare Maniago Story, Hockey Play by Play: Around The NHL with Jim Robson, and most especially Behind The Moves: NHL General Managers Tell How Winners Are Built.

Mr. Farris was a rising hockey author who was funding personal projects that put big publishing houses to absolute shame. Then he disappeared. Sort of. He moved to Dallas in 2012 and became the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the NHL Stars.

I should have been nicer to him when he was just a "nobody" in Vancouver, eh?

How does a hockey book author become EVP and COO of a NHL team? Well in his spare time he graduated from MIT's Sloan School of Management. That was after earning Political Science and Physics degrees here in Canada.

The dude is legit. The Dallas Stars - and the entire NHL - is better off for it.

Where does he find time to produce such a high quality hockey book like Texas On Ice? 

"You can accomplish a lot between the hours of midnight and 4am," he told me. I believe it!

This is actually the second book in the Texas On Ice series. Last year season ticket holders received the book Texas On Ice: Early Strides To Pro Hockey and the 1941-42 American Hockey Association Season.

The audience for this book is a lot more limited. Not a lot of people remember hockey in 1941-42, let alone the AHA which featured the Dallas Texans and the Fort Worth Rangers.

But every hockey fan should see this book, and then demand their favorite teams have such a wonderful remembrance of some significant events of the past. 

Farris' team bring back all the action and the memories exactly as they played out back then - through the clippings of the newspaper. It's such a unique presentation, where basically the past is brought back to life. I seriously love this book!

Relax, you do not have to buy Dallas Stars season tickets in order to get your hands on these books (though if you do after reading this blog, I hope Mr. Farris gives me a jersey or something). You can buy these books at the Dallas Stars team store or online at TexasOnIce.com