Can anyone recommend some good hockey-related books ?

[Dion]

"On Fire - the Dramatic Rise of the Calgary Flames" -by Duhatschek, Eric and Steve Simmons



This book chronicles the dramatic rise of the Calgary Flames. It is a stirring, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most remarkable episodes in recent hockey history. In two months both a hockey team and its city changed. This is the story of the Flames march to the Stanley Cup. The words, the feuds, victories, defeats, emotions and passions are told by two of hockey's most respected journalists.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

What not a fan of PA dogmatics?

That, and he has a chronic issue with either misrepresenting the facts, or "misremembering" them in his articles. An entire book (or three) where you simply can't trust what you are reading to be accurate is to be avoided.

[JerzeeGirl]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

Has anybody read "Jonesy: Put Your Head Down And Skate. The Improbable NHL Career of Keith Jones." by John Buccigross?
He's an ESPN anchor and one of the few that has any idea what he is talking about when it comes to hockey. He writes a weekly column for ESPN.com and folks are always commenting about enjoying the book.

Just looking for some first hand opinions.

I read it and couldn't put it down - it reads as if Keith Jones is just dictating it to Buccigross somewhere. If you like what Keith Jones brings to the table both as a player and as an analyst, you'll probably be entertained and enjoy the book. It wasn't the most amazing book ever written, granted, but for the most part it was a good read....much better than some of the sludge out there.

I also really enjoyed Between the Lines which was about Ray Scampinello - it wasn't pretentious or anything, fairly simply written but a different point of view from one of the most durable and competent refs in the NHL ever. I found it pretty entertaining with some good stories anyways.

And the Bill Gaston book was gold - hilarious, well written and something that really delivered the flavour of what beer-league and old-timers hockey is. Loved how he got into what makes good team names etc.

Do avoid one called "In the Sin Bin" or some such - it's a really awful book by a former off-ice official who ran the penalty box during the initial few seasons of the Mighty Ducks era.....it was awful!!!!

[nieuwy-89]

A couple of my favourites:

Future Greats and Heartbreaks (Gare Joyce) - A behind the scenes look at the Columbus Blue Jackets scouting staff. The book takes place over the course of a full year, following the scouting, player evaluations, combine, and finally the draft. I couldn't put it down.

A Loonie for Luck (Roy MacGregor) - A short story about the 2002 Canadian Olympic Gold Medal team, specifically the Canadian ice-making staff and the infamous Loonie at centre ice. A light and easy read, with some surprises. This is a great Canadian story that has spawned hundreds of similar traditions...one of the slo-pitch teams in our league puts a loonie under home plate at the start of each game!

[DEvans]

One of my favorite Hockey books is:
War games : Conn Smythe and hockey's fighting men

It covers Hockey and the NHL during the 2nd World War and covers many of the stars of the day who served in the Forces as well as the Canadian Armed forces teams that played during that time.

[cyclone3483]

Surprised no one mentioned Breaking The Ice: The Black Experience In Professional Hockey by Cecil Harris. Maybe it's the subject matter, being racially focused rather than on a particular team, player or era. My son is adopted from Haiti and he and I found it a most interesting read. The writing style is a 'B' at best, but the subject matter is fascinating. Did you know Iggy's hockey heroes were Tony McKegney (a given), Grant Fuhr (makes sense) and Claude Vilgrain...really? Claude Vilgrain?

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&i...um=3&ct=result

My son also liked Martin Brodeur's recent book, but I can't vouch for it as I haven't read it. My other son was bored with Searching For Bobby Orr.

[JiriHrdina]

They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven by Ken Baker is fantastic. Best hockey book I've read.

Future Greats and Heartbreaks by Gare Joyce is good if you are into scouting. His "When the Lights Went Out" about the Canada/Russia WJC brawl is also good.

If you want to "kick it old school" pick up George Plimpton's "Open Net" where he plays goal in the NHL.

Zamboni Rodeo about life in the ECHL is great

[redforever]

Some of these have probably been mentioned, anyhow, here is a list:

The Game
Home Game
And Howe
Fury
Red's Story
Tretiak
Lanny
Behind the Bench
Battle of Alberta
When the Final Buzzer Sounds
Hockey - A People's History
Official NHL Stanley Cup Centennial Book
On Fire by Duhatschek
Boom Boom - Life & Times of Bernie Geoffrion

[pope04]

A couple more come to mind:

Play the Man by Brad Park and Stan Fischler (?) written when Park was a Ranger . As I recall, he calls out several Bruins...........then gets traded to Boston a couple of years later.

Boss: The Mike Bossy Story. I read this lotsa years ago, but I loved reading of the exploits of the Trio Grande, one of hockey's most explosive lines of the latter seventies.

Power on Ice by Denis Potvin. Written in the early seventies. I don't remember any specifics, but Potvin gives some insight into some of the French/English tensions of the day.

If you have a chance, mosey down to the library and see if you can borrow some vintage copies of Stan Fischler's Hockey Stars of ..........series. I'll betcha I've got most of Hockey Stars of 1971 committed to memory.

It's worth it to pick up Hockey in the Seventies: The Game We Knew for the photography alone. Lots of great shots by Harold Barkley, an early pioneer who'd combine action photography and strobe lighting. There are also books from the same series for the fifties and sixties if I'm not mistaken.

This may be old-school to the extreme, but Andy Bathgate's Hockey Secrets is a nice little read, plus lots of pictures from way back when.

[missdpuck]

Potvin is one of our TV commentators down here and he drives me nuts but the French/English situation is definitely of interest. I met a guy who played 6 games with the Blackhawks sometime around 1960..he claims he quit the NHL because they hated Americans playing hockey then. it'll be cool to talk to him when he comes back down this winter as he also played in the Olympics,not sure what year.

[604flames]

Thought I'd also throw in Calling the Shots by Bruce Hood.. Some great anecdotes about the NHL referees and players of the 70s, as well as some rationale behind the Habs/Nords incident in the playoffs back in '84.

[habernac]

Fischler as a commentator can be a little much, but some of his writing is ok. the Hammer, Dave Schultz is his and Grapes about Don Cherry is a decent read.

If you can get over your hate of the Oilers, Peter Gzowski's The Game of Their Lives is a great look into the early 80's Oilers. Gzowski follows them for a year.

[missdpuck]

The most fun I ever had at a game was Panthers vs. Oilers down here. Oils won, I mentioned in another post we were right behind their bench. Penner kept standing in front of me and Gagner swore alot.I sat with a bunch of people who came down from Alberta to see the game. I'll never forget how much I enjoyed their company. Crap did I just spend a whole buncha money on Amazon today or what.

[Ro]

Originally Posted by mariners_fever

I'm A Giant ###### by Bruce Dowbiggin...

Fixed

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Ro

Fixed

sounds more like it...

[cyclone3483]

Originally Posted by pope04

If you have a chance, mosey down to the library and see if you can borrow some vintage copies of Stan Fischler's Hockey Stars of ..........series. I'll betcha I've got most of Hockey Stars of 1971 committed to memory.

Fischler had some decent stuff, not great, but readable. I just found it not to be very insightful. His stuff reads like a well-written encyclopedia, full of great and interesting facts. But you wouldn't find any new theories, inventive correlations, or keen observations.

[Mickey76]

If you can get over your hate of the Oilers, Peter Gzowski's The Game of Their Lives is a great look into the early 80's Oilers. Gzowski follows them for a year.[/quote]


I had forgotten about this book. Highly recomended. High Stakes Backgammon, Skalbania and Pocklington, taking a group of teenagers(oilers at the time) to NYC, their push into the playoffs etc. It is a great read. Too bad it had to be about the oilers.

If I may make a suggestion, perhaps as a matter of board policy ,we could all agree to never capitalize the o in oilers. Disrespectful to the letter O.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by chris_yk

Just finished reading Future Greats and Heartbreaks by Gare Joyce, it's a great read especially for anyone really interested in prospects junior hockey or the draft.

It was good for about half the book. The first part he gets an insider's look at the Blue Jacket's draft and it is quite well done. However, the second half was essentially some writer giving scouting reports on prospects. I stopped reading at that point - why am I paying to read the scouting reports from someone who admittedly isn't that well-versed in evaluating talent. There's a bit more to it than that, but it wasn't very compelling at all. Paying full price for half a book isn't worth it, IMO.

Dave King's "King of Russia" is definitely worth reading. Far and away one of the better behind the scenes sports books I've read.

As mentioned before, steer clear of Scampy's "Between the Lines".

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Mickey76

If you can get over your hate of the Oilers, Peter Gzowski's The Game of Their Lives is a great look into the early 80's Oilers. Gzowski follows them for a year.

I was given this book and thus far haven't gotten over my hatred of the Oil to read it. I'm sure it's very good but there it sits on my bookcase - untouched.

[Vena]

If you can stomach a Canucks book, then Cold Cocked by Lorna Jackson. It's a female and somewhat academic perspective and lot of her personal experience during the West Coast Express era...A lot on the Bertuzzi incident.

It's a great read with a different perspective.

Martin Brodeur's book is pretty good, as well.