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Showing 161 - 180 of 319 items
JOE MURPHY HAD IT ALL. In 1986, he became the first college-educated hockey player selected first overall in the NHL…
entry draft. He won a Stanley Cup in Edmonton four years later. But since then, his life has taken a tragic turn, largely due to the untreated brain injuries he suffered as a player.Murphy’s life didn’t begin on a track that would lead to homelessness. He was smart, dedicated to hockey and was a key player for the Oilers, Red Wings and Blackhawks, among other teams. But one vicious body check changed his life forever. Despite being shaken by the hit, Murphy was cleared to return to the game. Soon after, his entire life seemed to change. Murphy became a journeyman, moving from team to team. Along the way, other NHLers said they noticed something different about him, too. Murphy wasn’t acting like himself and soon found himself out of the NHL entirely. Eventually, Murphy became homeless. In the spring of 2018, Murphy made his way to Kenora, Ontario, where he lived in the bush, spending his days outside a local convenience store, muttering to himself and taking handouts of food and drinks from passersby. The player who had once set the NHL aflame now slept by the side of the road in the unforgiving North. In Finding Murph, Rick Westhead traces the true story of Joe Murphy and examines the role of the NHL in the downward spiral of one of the league’s most promising players.By James Duthie. 2020
Fifty-seven incredible stories from hockey’s biggest names, greatest characters and unsung heroes Essential reading for every fan, Beauties is a…
collection of the best stories that players tell each other. Grab a seat with TSN’s James Duthie as hockey’s finest relive highs, lows and hilarious moments on and off the ice from superstars, journeymen, coaches, referees, broadcasters, agents, and hockey moms and dads. In Beauties, you’ll find out: · How Sidney Crosby’s most unusual nickname came to be · How Steve Stamkos’s dad accidentally stole Steve Yzerman’s car · How Paul “Biznasty” Bissonette almost had the Arizona Coyotes kicked out of a Winnipeg hotel on game day · How Wayne Gretzky’s greatest one-liner may have turned around the Stanley Cup Final in 1985 · About the night that Hayley Wickenheiser went blind · Why the St. Louis Blues credit Laila Anderson, a brave young girl, for their Stanley Cup win · What Bobby Orr said the first time he saw Connor McDavid play at a rink in Toronto And more!By Matthew Cade. 2020
And faster than you could blink—not a second, but a fraction— Crosby shot the puck before Miller reacted. It slipped…
through his pads and like that it was done, The country erupted—Canada had won!The Vancouver Olympics, 2010. Canada’s best hockey players battle Team USA for the Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey. The stakes are high, and the game starts off fast with both teams fighting for the puck. At the end of the second period, Canada is ahead 2-1 and the gold medal is within reach. Then, with minutes left in the third period, the US scores to tie the game. With millions of Canadians on the edge of their seats, the game goes into overtime and thirteen minutes in, Sidney Crosby shoots and scores. Sid the Kid and one of the greatest hockey teams ever assembled clinches the gold medal on home ice for Canada, the birthplace of hockey. The Golden Goal captures the energy and excitement of the game and celebrates the tenth anniversary of this iconic moment in Canadian history. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with kids of all ages.By Nick Kypreos. 2020
True stories and hard-won lessons about a life of hockey, from a Stanley Cup champion and top analyst.As a child…
growing up in Toronto, Nick Kypreos lived for hockey and dreamed of following in his idols&’ footsteps to play in the NHL. Hockey was an important part of the Kypreos household. It was largely through the game that his immigrant Greek parents acclimatized to their new lives in Canada, and from a young age &“Kyper&” proved he was more than good enough to move through the ranks. But he was never a top prospect—he didn&’t even attend the NHL draft when he became eligible. And yet, through dedication and constant improvement, he made it to the show. Kypreos built a career on his tireless work ethic and made a name for himself for always having a positive influence on team morale. A medium-weight fighter, he squared off with the league&’s toughest players, including Chris Simon, Joey Kocur, Tony Twist, and Scott Stevens—anything to give his team an edge. Ultimately, he was brought to the New York Rangers to help them win the Stanley Cup in 1994—their first in fifty-four years—with the legendary Mark Messier. And then he got to live his other dream: playing for his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. When a concussion forced him to retire early, it changed his life. But the lessons he&’d learned on the ice over eight seasons helped him build a new career as a top hockey analyst and personality for Sportsnet. For twenty seasons he provided unique insight on the evolving game, and a player&’s perspective on the biggest discussions of the day. Revealing, fun, and brutally honest, Undrafted shows the challenges of being a pro player. It&’s a story of the resilience it takes to prove yourself every night, and how the right attitude can lead to the greatest success, not only in the arena, but in life.By Todd Radom, Chris Creamer. 2020
An in-depth look into the origins of how each NHL team was named, received their logo and design, with interviews…
by those responsible. Written by those most knowledgeable, you'll learn why every hockey team to every play in the National Hockey League looks the way it does. Nothing unites or divides a random assortment of strangers quite like the hockey team for which they cheer. The passion they hold within them for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Boston Bruins allows them to look past any differences which would have otherwise disrupted a perfectly fine Thanksgiving dinner and channels it into a powerful, shared admiration for their team. We decorate our lives with their logos, stock our wardrobe with their jerseys, and, in some cases, even tattoo our bodies with their iconography and colors. They&’re so ingrained in our lives we don&’t even think to ask ourselves why Los Angeles celebrates royalty; why Buffalo cheers for not one, but two massive cavalry swords; or why the Broadway Blueshirts named themselves for a law enforcement agency in Texas (or why they even wear blue shirts, for that matter). All that and more is explored in Fabric of the Game, authored by two of the sports world&’s leading experts in team branding and design: Chris Creamer and Todd Radom. Tapping into their vast knowledge of the whys and hows, Creamer and Radom explore and share the origin stories behind these and more, talking directly to those involved in the decision processes and designs of the National Hockey League&’s team names, logos, and uniforms, pouring through historical accounts to find and deliver the answers to these questions. Learn more about the historied Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, as well as the lost but not forgotten Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques, all the way to the lesser-known Kansas City Scouts and Philadelphia Quakers. Whichever team you pledge allegiance, Fabric of the Game covers them in-depth with research and knowledge for any hockey fan to enjoy.By Jim Lang, Bob McKenzie. 2020
From TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie comes a new collection of hockey stories about the everyday heroes from across the…
game who are defying the odds and championing the next generation of hockey—on and off the ice.In this uplifting and entertaining volume of stories, Canadian broadcasters Bob McKenzie and Jim Lang bring together hockey players, coaches, and refs, as well as those behind the bench—the parents, scouts, analysts, and agents—to tell us, in their own voices, why they love the game and how they&’re shaping its future. Meet Dallas Stars&’ winger Andrew Cogliano, who captivated the hockey world by playing 830 consecutive games, despite various injuries, and hear how hockey and his parents instilled in him the strong work ethic that made his streak possible. Learn about how Jeremy Rupke found his passion and created the popular website, How To Hockey, to help young hockey hopefuls who might not have money for professional lessons develop their on-ice skills and give them the confidence to achieve their dreams off the ice. Read about players like Jack Jablonski, who didn&’t let a life-changing spinal cord injury at age sixteen stop him from being a part of the game, and is now using his experience to raise awareness and funds for spinal cord injury research. From LGBTQ players like Jessica Platt who are breaking down barriers to the women such as Danièle Sauvageau who are breaking glass ceilings as coaches, refs, agents, and analysts, these are the everyday heroes who are using hockey to inspire change. Featuring incredible stories of comebacks, milestones, and friendship, Everyday Hockey Heroes, Volume II highlights the very best of hockey: the power it has to unite us to be the best we can be—for ourselves and for others.By Scott Morrison, Rick Vaive. 2020
Was one of the most unheralded captains of the Toronto Maple Leafs also one of the greatest players in the…
history of hockey's most popular team? In telling his story of turmoil in Toronto's Ballard years (and with Don Cherry's Mississauga Ice Dogs), growing up in an environment filled with alcohol and alcoholism, and his own struggles and battles, Rick Vaive finally sets the record straight.In the storied history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, no player scored fifty goals in a season until Rick Vaive in 1981-82. He did it three years in a row (only two others have scored 50 since) before being unceremoniously stripped of his captaincy and traded out of town, and he did it for a promising team that was nonetheless largely stuck at the bottom of the standings. So why isn't his number 22 hanging from the rafters of the Leafs' rink and his name as revered in Leafs lore as Gilmour, Sundin and Clark? You could blame it on a team that lost far more than it won. You could blame Harold Ballard and his erratic ownership. You could blame the fans, the media...Rick Vaive doesn't blame anybody. Sometimes, life just doesn't go your way. He'd know. Growing up in a household plagued by alcoholism, the gifted young hockey player took shelter in the company of his grandmother and a blind and severely disabled uncle. Rick learned quickly that there are more valuable things in life than hockey. Even after his promising coaching career stopped dead when it ran into Don Cherry in Mississauga--one of the worst seasons in Ontario junior hockey history--he still doesn't point fingers. Life is too sweet for regrets, but learning that lesson can be one hell of a ride.By Al Strachan. 2020
Stories from behind the scenes of one of hockey&’s longest running and most popular broadcasts, Hockey Night in Canada&’s Satellite…
Hot Stove, from an insider who&’s seen it all.For more than twenty years, hockey fans tuned in during intermission on Saturday nights to watch one of the most popular segments in the game&’s long broadcasting history. They&’d hear news from around the league, the latest rumours and gossip, and—of course—some of the most controversial opinions of the day. No, we&’re not talking about Coach&’s Corner. The Satellite Hot Stove was a revolutionary show for talking about the game we love. Here, during the second intermission of the first game of every Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, pundits, and insiders would convene in studios across North America—in arenas and other locales—to discuss the biggest topics. Hot Stove was the best place to get news, opinions, and a good laugh. And Al Strachan was in the middle of it all. A bestselling author and award-winning sports journalist, he has been writing and talking about hockey for more than forty years. As a regular TV pundit on Hot Stove, he witnessed the most exciting and talked-about episodes in the modern game. And more than once, his unfiltered, say-it-as-it-is style added controversy of its own, too. In this new book, he relives the best stories of his long career, from working with some of the biggest personalities, on and off the ice, to the hijinks that went on behind the cameras. From embarrassing himself in front of Scotty Bowman, to cooking up a plan with Wayne Gretzky to save hockey, and frank conversations with Ken Dryden and hockey&’s elite, Hockey&’s Hot Stove delivers all new hockey stories you won&’t hear anywhere else.Played on frozen ponds in cold northern lands, hockey seemed an especially unlikely game to gain a global following. But…
from its beginnings in the nineteenth century, the sport has drawn from different cultures and crossed boundaries––between Canada and the United States, across the Atlantic, and among different regions of Europe. It has been a political flashpoint within countries and internationally. And it has given rise to far-reaching cultural changes and firmly held traditions. The Fastest Game in the World is a global history of a global sport, drawing upon research conducted around the world in a variety of languages. From Canadian prairies to Swiss mountain resorts, Soviet housing blocks to American suburbs, Bruce Berglund takes readers on an international tour, seamlessly weaving in hockey’s local, national, and international trends. Written in a lively style with wide-ranging breadth and attention to telling detail, The Fastest Game in the World will thrill both the lifelong fan and anyone who is curious about how games intertwine with politics, economics, and culture.By Tyler Omoth. 2021
Hockey is fun watch, but even more fun to play! Kids can get in the game by learning about the…
rules of the sport, the equipment needed to play, and the importance of good sportsmanship. Then they can practice a key hockey skill to have even more fun on the ice.By Shane Frederick. 2021
Hilary Knight started skating when she was five. Fifteen years later, she was the youngest member on Team USA at…
the 2010 Olympics. The next 10 years of her career have only gotten more impressive. Discover more about Knight's highlights on and off the ice in this thrilling biography in the Stars of Sports series.By Shane Frederick. 2020
Auston Matthews felt at home on the ice as soon as he stepped onto a rink as a kid. Soon…
hockey scouts watched him closely as he broke records in the youth hockey. After signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he made an immediate impact by being the first player in the modern era to score four goals in his National Hockey League debut. Learn about the rise of a three-time NHL All-Star in this exciting, fast-paced biography.By Walter Gretzky. 2001
The inspiring story of an ordinary man who, from humble beginnings and against the odds of a devastating illness, has…
led--is leading--an extraordinary life.To many people, Walter Gretzky is the ultimate dad, the father of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, and the first inspired coach to a talented young boy. Walter's major insight into hockey--that a player should "go where the puck is going"--guided Wayne's brilliant style, and Wayne himself has said about his talent: "It's God-given. It's Wally-given." It's safe to say that no other famous hockey player's father is held in such high esteem, and that Walter Gretzky has carved out this singular niche in his own right.Now, for the first time, Walter tells at length the story of his life, about growing up on a small family farm, about meeting and marrying Phyllis, about raising four boys and a girl in a modest home in Brantford on the salary of a telephone repairman, about hanging onto his modesty and values when the comet of talent and celebrity hit.Walter also talks about the process of recovering from a stroke that came close to killing him ten years ago. Through his own grit and determination, and with the help of dedicated therapists and doctors, his family and friends, Walter battled back from an aneurysm that left him with many cognitive difficulties and destroyed a decade of memories--including his recollection of the death of his mother and almost all of Wayne's NHL triumphs of the eighties.As many of the people who have encountered Walter even briefly will testify, he is very charismatic, and it's his extraordinary compassion, which has flourished since his stroke, that makes him so compelling. Yes, he struggles with some limitations, but he has also discovered a calling in helping others. All of his many public speaking engagements are for charity, and this book would not exist were it not for Walter's role as the official spokesperson for Canada's Heart and Stroke Foundation. The only way he would ever agree to talk about himself at such length was in the hope that his experience with stroke would be useful to other people. "Every second of every day is important to me," he writes, "and I only hope that if telling my story can help even one person, then all of this will be worth it. And remember, there is life after stroke...look at me!"From the Hardcover edition.By Liam Maguire. 2012
Fun, always surprising and a hockey lover's treasure chest of the little-known facts that shaped the game, you cannot Google…
the stuff that Liam Maguire shares in this entertaining little book. About 30% updated, revised and renewed from Liam's 2001 trivia collection, What's the Score?, First Goal Wins! includes a foreword by Wayne Gretzky. Liam has scoured the depths of the NHL archives and stats to put together many of these questions and answers, which you can't get from just looking up your favourite player on Wikipedia. What sets his take on hockey trivia apart from the many pretenders out there is the magical connections he builds between the numbers, the players and the game's history. Besides the straight goods, you always get the ultimate "And did you know...?"By Dave Feschuk, Michael Grange. 2009
Love them or hate them, they're the most successful team in professional hockey ... just not on the scoresheet.The Toronto…
Maple Leafs are an exception to every law of the sporting jungle. They miss the playoffs and the sellouts keep coming. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1967, but the earning power of that blue-and-white maple leaf, no matter the chronic woes of the blue-and-white's power play, never ceases to increase. In this description of failure and prescription for hope, Toronto Star sports columnist Dave Feschuk and Globe and Mail sports reporter Michael Grange draw the illogical roadmap that pinpoints how the once-proud Leafs got lost in the sporting hinterlands, who's to blame for stranding them there, and how they might extract themselves from this historic mire.From the Trade Paperback edition.By Al Strachan. 2011
Bestselling author and Toronto Sun sportswriter Al Strachan shares more insider stories from his more-than-forty-year career covering pro hockey. Bestselling…
author and Toronto Sun sportswriter Al Strachan is a permanent fixture in the illustrious world of professional ice hockey. His opinion, backed by an extensive knowledge of the game and his sharp sense of humour, is read and enjoyed by millions of fans internationally. He has established unique and personal relationships with the biggest names in hockey from every generation and era and it is through these contacts that Strachan can step Over the Line to obtain exclusive access to information. Strachan has been writing about hockey for over forty years. He has experienced first-hand all that the game has to offer. From Stanley Cup victories, miraculous saves, and incredible goals to devastating hits and world class bouts, Strachan has been there to report on the most exciting, controversial, devastating, frustrating, humorous and talked-about episodes in the history of the game, whether it's Stanley Cup victories, miraculous saves, and incredible goals or devastating hits and world class bouts. In his latest adventure, he relives tales from the rink that will fascinate, amuse, shock, and entertain all fans of the game -- from dressing-room banter between player and coach to insider information on the League's revenue sharing program. It's all here, glorious page after glorious page of stuff that any fan of hockey must read.From the Trade Paperback edition.By Andrew Podnieks. 2012
It was called the "series of the century" and out of it came the greatest goal ever scored. Incredibly, the…
Summit Series, featuring Canada and the Soviet Union in a hockey showdown, is now 40 years old, but time has only strengthened and immortalized those eight games that changed the game. No moment has faded, and no series of games since has had the same profound effect on a country, a culture and a sport. Using its best NHL stars, Canada was supposed to win all eight games, but the Soviets won the first, in Montreal, by a whopping 7-3 score, and from then on fans were witness to the greatest matchup ever. It featured the leadership of Phil Esposito and the skill of Yvan Cournoyer, the goaltending of Vladislav Tretiak, and the speed of Valeri Kharlamov. And in the end, it featured the heroics of Paul Henderson, who scored the winning goal in each of the final three games to give Canada the series victory, the final of those goals coming with just 34 seconds remaining in game eight, September 28, 1972. Complete with in-depth interviews of every surviving player and a remarkable cache of colour photographs, Team Canada 1972, is the definitive look at the Summit Series 40 years later, still powerful, still resonating, still remarkable. With every living player contributing to the book with personal memories and thoughts of the series, this official publication provides fans with the most detailed and exciting picture of the series.By Ed Willes. 2004
The wildest seven years in the history of hockey! The Rebel League celebrates the good, the bad, and the ugly…
of the fabled WHA. It is filled with hilarious anecdotes, behind the scenes dealing, and simply great hockey. It tells the story of Bobby Hull's astonishing million-dollar signing, which helped launch the league, and how he lost his toupee in an on-ice scrap.It explains how a team of naked Birmingham Bulls ended up in an arena concourse spoiling for a brawl. How the Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie "Seldom" Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag. And how Mark Howe sometimes forgot not to yell "Dad!" when he called for his teammate father, Gordie, to pass. There's the making of Slap Shot, that classic of modern cinema, and the making of the virtuoso line of Hull, Anders Hedberg, and Ulf Nilsson.It began as the moneymaking scheme of two California lawyers. They didn't know much about hockey, but they sure knew how to shake things up. The upstart WHA introduced to the world 27 new hockey franchises, a trail of bounced cheques, fractious lawsuits, and folded teams. It introduced the crackpots, goons, and crazies that are so well remembered as the league's bizarre legacy.But the hit-and-miss league was much more than a travelling circus of the weird and wonderful. It was the vanguard that drove hockey into the modern age. It ended the NHL's monopoly, freed players from the reserve clause, ushered in the 18-year-old draft, moved the game into the Sun Belt, and put European players on the ice in numbers previously unimagined.The rebel league of the WHA gave shining stars their big-league debut and others their swan song, and provided high-octane fuel for some spectacular flameouts. By the end of its seven years, there were just six teams left standing, four of which - the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Hartford Whalers - would wind up in the expanded NHL.By Kelly Mcparland. 2011
The first full-length biography of one of hockey's - and Canada's - most influential forces, Conn Smythe.While the story of…
the Toronto Maple Leafs has been told many times, there has never been a full biography of the man who created, built and managed the team, turning it from a small-market collection of second-rate players into the hockey and financial powerhouse that dominated Canadian sports and created a collection of Canadian icons along the way. From the 1920s to the mid-1960s, Conn Smythe was one of the best-known, highest-profile figures in the country - irascible, tempestuous, outspoken and controversial. He not only constructed a hockey team that dominated the league for long stretches, but was critical to the growth and shaping of the NHL itself. By building Maple Leaf Gardens and hiring Foster Hewitt to fill Canada's living rooms with weekly broadcasts, he turned Saturday night into hockey night, creating institutions and habits that became central to Canada's character and remain with us today.Smythe's story is much deeper and richer than the tale of a cantankerous hockey owner. Smythe fought in both world wars, fighting at Ypres and Passchendaele in the first war and landing at Normandy in the second. He was wounded in both and spent two years as a POW in a German camp after being shot down in 1917. He grew up in poverty and vowed to escape the life that was so incredibly hard on his family. Smythe was active in politics and ignited a national crisis over conscription that split the Liberal government in two and brought Mackenzie King to the brink of resignation.This book tells the life of one of the country's great characters, a man who helped shape and define us and who left behind national habits and institutions that continue to lay at the heart of what makes Canada, Canada.From the Hardcover edition.By Roger Lajoie, Paul Henderson. 2012
Paul Henderson will forever be recognized and remembered for his goal with 34 seconds remaining in the 8th game of…
the 1972 Summit Series. This goal gave Canada the lead and won them the series and with that the team became known as "the Team of the Century." And Paul's goal as, "the Goal of the Century." But there is more to Paul Henderson than just that one goal and in The Goal of My Life, Henderson opens up about scoring both on and off the ice. A family man and man with deep faith, Henderson lives each day with tremendous appreciation for the gifts life has rewarded him and has not allowed his recent diagnosis with cancer to alter his positive demeanor. Henderson takes fans back to the moment 1972 when Canada won the Summit Series, though additionally shares memories from his entire life and his early days playing hockey through to his retirement from the game and his personal challenges with Leukemia. Henderson is a hero and his book is one that all fans of hockey and life will enjoy.