NATIONAL BESTSELLERWas 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 ...

INSTANT #1 BESTSELLERIn one of the last great remaining untold stories in all of sports, the Hall of Fame Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin shares for the first time an unfiltered look at playing hockey in Sweden and across North America as part of the sport’s most fabled franchises.Growing up in Sollentuna, Sweden, on the outskirts of Stockholm, Mats Sundin skated on the lake downhill from his house, a house his father had built with...

National BestsellerFinalist for the Kobo Emerging Writer PrizeJOE 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 w...

INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe legendary Hall of Fame hockey player and six-time Stanley Cup champion tells his inspiring story for the first time, sharing the lessons about leadership and teamwork that defined his career.Mark Messier is one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of professional sports. He was a fierce competitor with a well-earned reputation as a winner. But few people know his real story, not only of the asto...

Johnny Bower came to be known as one of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs of all time, but he started from humble beginnings. He taught himself to play hockey on the frozen rivers of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, using a tree branch his father had sharpened into a stick and a cut-up old mattress for goalie pads. He’d spend hours in the frigid air, learning to catch the puck in mittened hands, never dreaming he would one day share the same ice as his Saturday-night idols. But share it he did,...

The #1 Bestselling Canadian Non-Fiction Book of the YearThey called him Killer.Doug Gilmour didn’t look fearsome on a pair of skates—being an “undersized” forward would plague him during his early career—but few players matched his killer instincts in the faceoff circle or in front of the net. The Hockey Hall of Famer from Kingston, Ontario, played for seven teams over his twenty-year career, netting 450 goals and 964 assists during the regular season and a...

**AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe must-read memoir of one of the NHL's most controversial and successful coaches—winner of the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers.**In the fraternity of NHL coaches, some stand out for their winning records, some for their big personalities and some for their unprecedented methods. Mike Keenan stands out on all these counts, and more.Breaking into the NHL as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984, Keenan got instant re...

**#1 BESTSELLERIn 1997 Ted Nolan won the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the NHL. But he wouldn’t work in pro hockey again for almost a decade. What happened?**Growing up on a First Nation reserve, young Ted Nolan built his own backyard hockey rink and wore skates many sizes too big. But poverty wasn’t his biggest challenge. Playing the game meant spending his life in two worlds: one in which he was loved and accepted and one where he was often told he didn’t belong....

INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLERPeter Mansbridge invites us to walk the beat with him in this entertaining and revealing look into his life and career, from his early broadcasting days in the remote northern Manitoba community of Churchill to the fast-paced news desk of CBC’s flagship show, The National, where he reported on stories from around the world.Today, Peter Mansbridge is often recognized for his distinctive deep voice, whic...

In hockey, goalies have always been a contradiction — solitary men in a team game, the last line of defence and the stalwarts expected to save the day after any and every miscue and collapse from his teammates. It’s no wonder that anyone who played the position has had his sanity questioned; yet some of the biggest innovations in the game have come from its puckstoppers. In The Goaltenders’ Union, Greg Oliver and Richard Kamchen talk to more than 60 keepers of yesterday and today, finding ...