The first full-scale biography of a legendary and award-winning NHL goalie who transformed the game.“There are a lot of very good goalies, there are even a fair number of great goalies. But there aren’t many important goalies. And Jacques Plante was an important goalie.” Ken DrydenOn and off the ice Jacques Plante was a true original; he was extremely talented, boastful, defiant, mysterious, and complex. Throughout his tumultuous career as a goalie, he played for Montreal, ...

This game wasn't about money, points, or trophies. Instead it was played for pride, both personal and national. It was a confrontation twenty years in the making and it marked a turning point in the history of hockey.On December 31, 1975, the Montreal Canadiens, the most successful franchise in the NHL, hosted the touring Central Red Army, the dominant team in the Soviet Union. For three hours millions of people in both Canada and the Soviet Union were glued to their television set...

In only his 3rd NHL season, Wayne Gretzky set the unbeatable NHL record: scoring 50 goals in just 39 games. A book for the devoted Gretzky fans, and books like 99 by Al Strachan.Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games, Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record sets out to chronicle that unforgettable streak of 39 games in the fall of 1981, when a 20-year-old wunderkind from the town of Brantford, Ontario, captured the imagination of not ju...

Twenty years after the fact, the mere mention of the 1992-93 NHL season brings back vivid memories for hockey fans across North America. The last time that the Montreal Canadiens hoisted the Stanley Cup, Wayne Gretzky's last appearance in a playoff final, and Mario Lemieux's most inspirational season; these events mark 1992 and 1993 as some of the greatest years in NHL history. Now, in A Season in Time: Super Mario, Killer, St. Patrick, the Great One, and the Unforgettable 1992-93 NHL ...

A captivating memoir from Canada’s foremost hockey historian and a beloved NHL commentatorIt’s been 85 years since Brian McFarlane first laced a pair of skates and tested the black ice on a tiny pond. And then he discovered the joy of hockey. Ultimately, there would be grade school hockey, high school hockey, junior hockey, college hockey, and, miraculously, two decades with the NHL Oldtimers anchoring his life. He was the rank amateur playing on a line with the Bi...

It wasn't until Canadian teams started losing in international tournaments in the mid 1950s that an epic hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union began. Canadians believed hockey was"their game." So Canadians were in for a rude awakening when they lost Game One of the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets. The eight-game tournament quickly became a "war on ice" fuelled bycompeting Cold War ideologies. Hockey fans will enjoy reading about: small-town teams that represent...

The author of Cold War shoots and scores with the only full-length biography to cover the entire playing career of the Red Wings' superstar.Before Gretzky, before Russians played in the National Hockey League, before multimillion-dollar salaries, there was Gordie Howe: the greatest star ever to play hockey. This richly illustrated, thoroughly researched and completely unauthorized biography takes readers behind the sports icon to reveal a man who remains i...

Shortlisted, Toronto Book AwardsOn May 2, 1967, Montreal and Toronto faced each other in a battle for hockey supremacy. This was only the fifth time the teams had ever played each other in the Stanley Cup finals. Toronto led the series 3-2.But this wasn't simply a game. From the moment Foster Hewitt announced "Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States," the game became a turning point in sports history. That night, the Leafs would win the Cup. The n...

The first full-length biography of one of hockey's - and Canada's - most influential forces, Conn Smythe.While the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been told many times, there has never been a full biography of the man who created, built and managed the team, turning it from a small-market collection of second-rate players into the hockey and financial powerhouse that dominated Canadian sports and created a collection of Canadian icons along the way. From the 1920s to the mid-1...

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...

In the spirit of The Game and The Blind Side, a raw, raucous and unvarnished look at life between the posts.No one role in the world of sports is as intimidating, exhilarating and as stress-ridden as the job of a hockey goaltender. Standing in the crease facing one-hundred-mile-an-hour slapshots, the entire game riding on your glovehand, standing on your head when necessary—all job requirements for those wanting to be the best goalies in the world. Now imagine doi...

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" ...