WHAT’S HOT ON BOOKSHELVES FOR HOCKEY FANS THIS SEASON
The National Hockey League’s second century and the winter of 2018 begin with an avalanche of books. Here are some of our favourites from a vast catalogue in case you’re snowed in or a snowbird, writes Lance Hornby.
100 YEARS, 100 MOMENTS
Scott Morrison
McLelland and Stewart, 336 pages
$50.00
What’s Christmas morning in Canada without coffee and a full-colour coffee table book on hockey? Sportsnet’s Scott Morrison, author of many books about Hockey Night In Canada, the NHL and his days with the Toronto Sun, provides a unique look at the people, places and turning points in league history and their impact on today’s game.
It’s a fresh look at the superstars, one-night wonders, coaches and executives, a retrospect of major NHL rule changes, coaching innovations, the amateur draft and expansion, right up to the Vegas Golden Knights.
THE FIRST SEASON, 1917-18 AND THE BIRTH OF THE NHL
Bob Duff
Biblioasis, 200 pages
$15.95
And you thought today’s NHL has too much controversy. Respected hockey historian Bob Duff goes back to the formation of the league, which almost didn’t get launched, nearly folded in its first year and tried to get established in the shadow of the First World War. One thing the early NHL did have was an abundance of colourful characters, whom Duff re-introduces here.
GRATOONY THE LOONY Gilles Gratton and Greg Oliver
ECW Press, 260 pages
$19.95
We all loved goaltender Gilles Gratton growing up with the WHA Toronto Toros, admiring his style and his fearsome mask, and hearing bits and pieces of his life, or more to the point, his previous lives. The hockey stories he can still recall range from his drug addled days, and later his trip to India and transcendental meditation to deal with his personal demons. A sad story in some ways of lost athletic potential. However, Greg Oliver doesn’t miss any of the weirdness, while letting Gratton explain what it was like in the cab of his Crazy Train.
GAME CHANGE Ken Dryden
Penguin Random House, 368 pages
$32.00
Ken Dryden turns his inquisitive mind to hockey’s often taboo topic, that being degenerative CTE and its connection to concussions, through a well-told tale of the life and tragic early death at age 35 of Steve Montador. One of many NHL muckers to have died too young, Dryden brings us into Montador’s tormented world. He was a well-liked player, but one who hid many off-ice struggles with drugs, alcohol and behavioural issues.
Given full access to Montador’s medical history and brain data, Dryden gives rare perspective to both the man and what role the head trauma might have contributed to his issues. Worth a read, even if you think concussion risk is what you sign up for in hockey.
IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK: STORIES FROM
THE DETROIT RED WINGS PRESS BOX
Ken Daniels and Bob Duff
Triumph, 352 pages
$22.95
The move from Joe Louis Arena to Little Caesars Arena ends a wonderful chapter in Red Wings history.
Play-by-play man Ken Daniels and Windsor Star columnist
Bob Duff provide touching and humorous anecdotes of those Cup teams as well as the challenges of dealing with coaches Scotty Bowman, Mike Babcock and the world of Hockeytown. To see how the other half lives, Daniels includes some of his experiences covering Harold Ballard and the Leafs in Toronto.
HOW WE DID IT
Karl Subban and Scott Colby
Penguin Random House, 304 pages
$32.00
In August 1970, a flight from Jamaica arrived in Toronto with 12-year-old Karl Subban and his two younger brothers. Travelling alone to join their immigrant parents, who found work in Sudbury, it was an unlikely beginning to one of the country’s most prolific hockey families.
Subban became a teacher, coach and role model, not just for his five sons, but for many students, some in disadvantaged surroundings. It’s no wonder sons P.K., Malcolm and Jordan have looked so polished in the spotlight. It’s quite a success story and a Canadian one at that.
OFFSIDE, MY LIFE CROSSING THE LINE Sean Avery
Viking, 336 pages
$32.99 Sean Avery is such a polarizing figure in hockey, they should be selling copies of this to penguins in Antarctica.
But those who have tried to find out what made him go against the flow finally have some answers in this quirky behind-the-scenes look at his life and his NHL peers in the early 2000s, up to his retirement in 2012.
The trouble he got into on the ice for his caustic comments and animated tactics — see the Avery Rule on screening goalies — is paralleled by his often outlandish behaviour in L.A. and New York.
DENNIS MARUK: HOCKEY’S FORGOTTEN 60-GOAL MAN Dennis Maruk with Ken Reid
ECW Press, 320 pages
$29.95
Dennis Maruk is one of hockey’s great storytellers, but gets darkly personal here, revealing severe bouts of depression that stalked him as fame faded from his 60-goal year with the Washington Capitals during the 1981-82 season.
Having taken the hard road to 60 goals for a player of his smaller stature — he had 50 goals in the year prior — and trying to find his place in the post-hockey world took him on a near-disastrous road. Ken Reid, who did a fine job with flash-in-the-pan players in One Night Only, has a nice follow here.
CALLING THE SHOTS Kelly Hrudey and
Kirstie McLellan Day
Harper Collins, 320 pages
$32.99
Kelly Hrudey was drafted by the Stanley Cup champions, played with Wayne Gretzky and has spent his post-NHL career under the bright studio lights of Hockey Night in Canada.
All have provided Hrudey a mountain of stories. Goalies have a different spin on the game and life, making them such wellrounded analysts. Hrudey adds tales about his Ukrainian ancestors being wrongly condemned as enemy aliens by the Mounties during the First World War.
Hrudey would’ve liked to go out a Cup winner with the Kings in 1993, but has great yarns of almost getting there.
FAST ICE: SUPERSTARS OF THE NEW NHL Andrew Podnieks
ECW Press, 176 pages
$24.95
The prolific Andrew Podnieks chooses more than 60 new-breed NHL stars, reminding us today’s NHL isn’t just about Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews. Ideal for new fans and a handy reference guide to the new kids.