Dan Snyder narrowly escaped being cut from his junior hockey team for two years in a row. That’s hardly the stuff that nhl careers are made of. But Snyder earned his spot on the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers roster through sheer force of will and strength of character, even though scouts thought the odds were against him.Those who knew Snyder describe him as the kind of person others naturally gravitated towards. One of those people was Dany Heatley, college star, All-Star, and marked on...

One of hockey's most feared enforcers reveals his off-ice battle with alcohol and heroin. With a foreword by Serge Savard.Chris Nilan, who grew up in the blue-collar Irish neighbourhood of West Roxbury in Boston, was an intimidating player for the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers, and a Stanley Cup champion never afraid to go into the corners or take off his gloves. He was a valued teammate whose very presence on the ice affected the way t...

In 1996, Sheldon Kennedy rocked the insular world of Canadian hockey by announcing that his former minor-league coach, Graham Jamesthe Hockey News 1989 Man of the Yearhad sexually abused him more than 300 times. The media portrayed Kennedy as a hero for breaking the code of silence in professional hockey and bringing James to justice. The heroic myth intensified in 1998 when Kennedy announced that he was going to in-line skate from Newfoundland to British Columbia to raise awareness of sex...

Sudden Death brings to life the incredible ongoing saga of the Swift Current Broncos hockey team. After a tragic game-day bus accident on December 30, 1986, left four of its star players dead, the first-year Western Hockey League team was faced with nearly insurmountable odds against not only its future success but its very survival. The heartbreaking story made headlines across North America, and the club garnered acclaim when it triumphantly rebounded and won the Canadian Hockey...

Mike Jefferson started out as a suburban kid who dreamed of making it to the NHL, with parents determined to do anything and everything to make their son’s dream come true. So how did this promising young man’s hockey career turn into a harrowing crime story played out in sensational news reports?Coach and agent David Frost fast-tracked Jefferson’s route to the NHL, but at a staggering cost. Along the way, the affable young man turned against his parents, changed his name to Danton...

Roy MacGregor has been called "the best hockey writer in the country," and we finally have a collection of his very best hockey writing, revised and updated.For nearly 40 years Roy MacGregor has brought hockey, our national sport, alive on the page. From tales of the game's greats (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne) to today's stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin), his magazine and newspaper coverage has revealed so much about these and so many other...

Pat Burns was one of the great NHL coaches. He worked with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and seemed always to enjoy instant success. He capped his extraordinary career by coaching the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup victory in 2003. Cancer--his third bout--finally claimed him in 2010, aged 58.Rosie DiManno, who knew Burns well, has written a revealing, exhilarating and heartfelt account of his life: his childhood as a fatherles...

Derek Sanderson was a key player with the Big Bad Bruins in the 1970s. At one point the highest-paid athlete in the world, Sanderson played with and against the era’s legends, winning two Stanley Cups and assisting on Bobby Orr’s famous diving goal in 1970. Off the ice, “Turk” was one of a kind. He drove a burgundy Rolls-Royce, wore a fox coat and, when asked what winning the Stanley Cup meant to him said, “The difference in the money is whether I take a college chick to Cape Cod or a Play...

During a notorious career with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks, Bob Probert racked up points, penalty minutes and bar bills, establishing himself as one of the most feared enforcers in the history of the NHL. On the ice, he was a fan favourite. He backed up his teammates one hundred percent, taking on the toughest guys of his era. Off the ice, Probert played hard too. Over his pro career he went through ten stays in rehab, two NHL suspensions, a jail sentence for carrying ...

Josh Hamilton was the first player chosen in the first round of the 1999 baseball draft. He was destined to be one of those rare "high-character " superstars. But in 2001, working his way from the minors to the majors, all of the plans for Josh went off the rails in a moment of weakness. What followed was a 4-year nightmare of drugs and alcohol, estrangement from friends and family, and his eventual suspension from baseball.BEYOND BELIEF details the events that led up to the derailm...

The inspirational story of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia—a giant talent in a small package—who defied his critics to become one of the greatest players in the game today.Dustin Pedroia, at five feet seven inches and 170 pounds, is not the biggest, the strongest, or the fastest player in the game of baseball, but in just two years of major-league play he was named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and helped the Boston Red Sox win a Wo...

Feared on the ice for his toughness and his skill with the puck, Chris Chelios was one of the finest defencemen of his era. A stalwart blueliner with the Canadiens, Red Wings and Thrashers, Chelios roamed the ice with a rare confidence that earned him the respect of his teammates and opponents alike. Off the ice, Chelios was well known for his antics too. He carried his high level of competitiveness out of the dressing room and wore it like a badge of honour.Overtime by Ch...