While we are waiting for all these Game 7's to finish so all of Canada can rehash all the great moments of the Habs/Bruins rivalry during the glory years of the NHL, CBC online had a refreshing bit on something that wasn't completely CBC-boring. I say this having recently tuned out on a CBC radio story about someone finding their ashtray after 40 years, despite all probability.
Seriously.
Yet, that wasn't the low point of CBC investigative journalism which comes at a time where the CBC recently announced over 600 job cuts, mostly to it's sports programming department. This after the recent loss of it's flagship Hockey Night In Canada to competitor...(honestly don't know, don't really care).
Anyways, the headline is
The 10 Hockey Books You Need to Read.
I haven't looked at it yet. I have a pretty good collection of hockey-related books and thought maybe I should pick my own books first then compare it to CBC demi-gods of modern hockey literature. I instinctively know that Ken Dryden's The Game is on there, much as any list-based article about science fiction books must include Slaughterhouse Five. I've read it twice, once because I thought I had to, the second time because I thought I must have missed something. It's good, but it's not OgieOglethorpe good.
So, here's my 10 hockey books you must read because reading is what separates us from Philadelphia Flyer fans (Mark).
Ogie's 10 Hockey Books in no particular order;
10 The Hockey Sweater - Roch Carrier. Yes, it's a children's book. It's THE hockey Children's Book. The Canadian government even paid for it to be made into a cartoon because it's so Canadian. But it's message is universal; you can't always get what you want (don't tell Roberto Luongo that) even if something is given to you with the best of intentions. I have a friend who was a big Habs fan back in the 90's as they began to self-destruct. A friend of his bought him a 'sweaters through the ages' plaque. If you are a hockey collectibles fan, you know what I am talking about. It was of the Boston Bruins sweaters and supposed friend got it for him as he 'knew he was a big Bruins fan'. That is life. When all you want is one Stanley Cup banner to hang from the rafters, sometimes you just have to be happy with that rare Mats Sundin Canuck jersey you thought would make a great collectible.
9 Al Strachan's I'm Not Making This Up. Me loves a good gossip book, and this is it. It is full of enough anecdotes that make you laugh at anyone serious enough to be a Canucks fan. Strachan and his weaselly moustache is a true throw-back 'beat' reporter and everything about him screams 'I've heard all these stories at the pub' but man, it makes for some great reading and explains why so many people think Brian Burke is a douche.
8 Behind the Bench Dick Irvin - A bit dated now but this is one of those must-read books for every wannabe coach out there. Compiled of interviews of big-name coaches from the nineties and some obscure ones from the seventies it's a little primer on coaching skills, their career path, inner hockey politics and the changes the game faced after the Oilers dynasty.
7 Messier; the Biography - I include this only because I read the part about what happened in Vancouver and while Messier himself doesn't actually talk too much about it, the writer does give what most would call a pretty accurate account of the dressing room implosion between Linden and Keenan and why most of the team detested Messier.
Short story; he's a complete dick.
6 Theo Fleury's Playing With Fire - Hollywood couldn't script a movie like Theo Fleury's life so instead they made Youngblood. If you know hockey, you know Fleury's (and Sheldon Kennedy's) story. But you don't really know it until you read this book; from humble beginnings on the prairies, to being invited to go to Disneyland with Coach James and Sheldon, to making it to the NHL
to his biggest highlight to the downhill slide into drinking, whoring and gambling and finally putting a gun in his mouth. A call from Wayne Gretzky to join the Olympic team (further testament to why he's The Greatest) and being found playing for the Allen Cup on the most hated team on the circuit to finally confronting his abused past. An amazing read. An amazing guy.
5 Hockey Showdown - the 72 Summit Series Harry Sinden Straight from the Coach's mouth. Harry Sinden gives a pretty blunt behind the scenes look at what went into the Summit Series, the emotional toll it was taking on players and their support team to the "dirty tricks" the Russians were doing (like making them live like Russians) when they went to Moscow where Paul Henderson provided the final 3(!) game-winning goals. He gives it to the players that 'abandoned' the team and if I remember right, glosses over some of the more memorable chippy moments during the games.
4 Gretzky, the autobiography - Written while he was still basking in the LA sun, this was Gretzky's chance to set the record straight on how he came to leave Edmonton and what a basic asshole Peter Pocklington was. As per part of the agreement he was not to talk about The Trade until after he left Edmonton, including that he knew full well that Pocklington was shopping him around for months, including an attempt to unload him on the Vancouver Canucks, who as per tradition, went all Canuckian on the deal. I don't know if he's done the 2nd half of his NHL life, from leaving the Kings to retiring from the Rangers but if it's as entertaining as this one, I'd read it. Bonus trivia; Gretzky never finished high school.
3 Future Greats and Heartbreaks; a year undercover of NHL Scouts (or something like that) -
Gary Joyce
It had a long title but was an interesting look into what little reward there is to be an NHL scout, you know, those guys that do all the grunt-work taking in junior league games, rating players for the entry draft sweepstakes. Most would do it for free and when it comes to making budget cuts, the scouting department is usually on the chopping block. A look inside the Grind and the selection process of the Blue Jackets in a year that included Phil Kessel, Nicklas Backstrom, Johnathon Toews. When those picks were gone, the Jackets selected Derrick Brassard. Good player, but no Johnathon Toews. However Columbus surprised a lot of people by picking Steve Mason but in the book, it explains how they found him under the radar. Two bigger names they missed out on? Milan Lucic and Claude Giroux...
2 Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff - Of course there has to be something with Don Cherry here. He loves his old school stories and you can hear his voice as you read the words. Vintage Cherry, covering all the bases. While Ron McLean opted for his usual straight talking and living lifestyle in his book 'Cornered', Don maintained his on-camera persona plus shows his personal side in discussing the death of his nearest, his wife Rose and his dog Blue. While his 2nd edition comes out as a bit of scraping of the bottom of the barrel, this one keeps the loving going from cover to cover.
1 Shadow On the Ice Carl Henry Rathjen (1975)- Good luck finding this, as it's near 40 years old but I probably learned more about hockey from this young fiction novel that all of the other books combined (probably because I was still playing league hockey at the time). Back in the days when Peter Puck was teaching me hockey players looked like brick neanderthals, Shadow On The Ice taught me that (a) you can't just stand in one spot and take slap shots all day, you need to skate (b) some people might intentionally lose a game because of something something and (c) that if a player shoots a puck so hard that the goalie falls back into the net with the puck, it's a goal. If he keeps the puck out of the net, it's not. A player can't push a goalie into the net with the puck.
This guy didn't read this book when he was a child and I am willing to bet has worked his last playoff game this year.
HONOURABLE MENTION
Thunder and Lightning - Phil Esposito
I really enjoyed this one as it felt like you were sitting in a bar, simply listening to the man talk. There were lots of behind-the-scenes stories, especially of his time in New York and Ron Duguay's hair. To listen to him talk of the pains and embarrassment he went through to get a team in Tampa Bay was awful. Business people treated him like shit because he was a 'hockey guy'. They didn't even have a seat for him on opening night. True shame. But still, great read which I found after I made this list.
post game talk;
Now...to tie this in with
CBC's... well we agreed on the Hockey Sweater and I knew that The Game was going to be in there as per Canadian literature laws. I read that Searching for Bobby Orr book. It's good...but like good for your Grandpa good. At least I found out the Gretz did a book with Al Strachan, so that may be worth reading. I have no opinion on the others, having never read them.
Comments/suggestions for other hockey-related books? Feel free to add them in the comments.
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