~~ A cross-country best-seller upon release in 1993, Last Minute of Play, was the author’s second book, and a breakthrough title, receiving positive critical acclaim, more for its story-telling writing style rather than the admitted celebrity of the players, coaches, GM’s, and owners  depicted in the book. To underscore that premise, here is the author’s favourite quote of many from those early days after the release. It came from the Toronto Star’s revered columnist, the late Ji...

Leafs and Sabres in the final round of the Eastern Conference playoff ! The Toronto Maple Leafs have breezed through the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and await the Buffalo Sabres as their next opponent for a chance at the Stanley Cup. Led by third-season centre, Randy Logan, the Leafs are a team in turmoil. With tycoon owner Frank Conder, embattled GM Phil Stevenson, negative and  bombastic coach Ernie Taylor, the front-office is a war zone of sub-plots and ...

~~Into the Empty Net was the much-anticipated sequel to the best-selling Last Minute of Play. Its 21 chapters takes the reader through the lives of those who played in the NHL as our hockey heroes, and illuminates their varying views of the game. Rollicking with humour, sometimes poignant and sad in its down-times, always brutally honest and occasionally shocking in the re-telling of their stories, Into the Empty Net originally came out in October of ’94, e...

Looking back on a memorable career, Darren McCarty recounts his time as one of the most visible and beloved members of the Detroit Red Wings as well as his personal struggles with addiction, finances, and women and his daily battles to overcome them. As a member of four Red Wings' Stanley Cup–winning teams, McCarty played the role of enforcer from 1993 to 2004 and returning again in 2008 and 2009. His "Grind Line" with teammates Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby physically overmatched some of th...

Eddie Shore was the Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb of hockey, a brilliant player with an unmatched temper. Emerging from the Canadian prairie to become a member of the Boston Bruins in 1926, the man from Saskatchewan invaded every circuit in the NHL like a runaway locomotive on a downgrade. Hostile fans turned out in droves with a wish to see him killed, but in Boston he could do no wrong.During his twenty-year professional career, the controversial Shore personified "that old time hockey" ...

“One of this continent’s master craftsmen of sporting prose” (Sports Illustrated) and three-time National Magazine Award-winner Gare Joyce goes undercover to learn the secrets of NHL scouts.Veteran sports writer Gare Joyce realizes a long-held secret ambition as he spends a full season embedded as a hockey scout. Joyce’s year on the hockey beat is a steep learning curve for him; NHL scouts spend each season gathering information on players fighting it out to break into the...

False hope, hollow promises, and a mind-numbing lack of success - these words describe the Toronto Maple Leafs and the hockey club's inexplicable mediocrity over much of the past decade.Author Peter Robinson has attended some 100 games over the past six seasons and has little to show for it except an unquenched thirst that keeps him coming back. Why does a team that hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1967, long before many of its followers were even born, have such a hold on its fans? ...

Even before Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin began their NHL careers in 2005, the two players were rivals. They first met at the World U20 (Junior) Championship, playing for the gold medal, and ever since they have been opponents in the NHL and international arenas. No two star players could be so different. Crosby is the consummate captain and team player, the responsible face of the NHL. Ovechkin is the loose cannon on ice and off, capable of a great play or a cocky comment.

“It’s hard to believe Fleury survived his own life.”— The Globe and MailTheo Fleury, who had walked away from hockey in 2003, leaving millions of dollars on the table and thousands of fans asking why, was determined to redeem himself. But how? With a comeback. Six years after his last NHL game, at age 41, weighing 215 pounds and with 25 per cent body fat, he had only seven months to get ready for the Calgary Flames training camp. His chance for redemption came in a ...

After almost two thousand games and thirty years of wearing the Stripes, legendary NHL official Fraser dropped his final puck at the end of the 2009/2010 season and relives his colourful career officiating hockey in his candid book.After thirty years in the NHL, legendary referee Kerry Fraser has decided to hang up his skates and enjoy the game from the other side of the boards. Never shy about offering his opinion, nor afraid to step in and separate an on-ice figh...

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 ...

From hockey’s most prolific fighter comes a sports memoir unlike any other—passionate, funny, and candid, Shift Work chronicles Domi’s sixteen tumultuous seasons in the NHL.Making it through a single fight as an enforcer in the NHL is a sign of toughness. Making it through 333 of them is a mark of greatness. Whether it was on the ice or off it, Tie Domi was driven to be the best at his job and was gifted with an extraordinary ability to withstand pain. He ...