The Hockey Books Thread!

DO you like to buy/read hockey books? Tell us about the books you have.

Some Hockey Books I have are:
1. National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2003
2. Hockey Chronicles
3. Hockey Dynastys
4. Team Canada 1972, Where are They Now?
5. 3 or 4 different trivia Books
6. Hockeys Book Of Firsts
7. Hockey Towns
8. Hockey: A Century Of The Game
9. Without Fear
10. Hockey Chronicles: A Inside History of Hockey Teams
11. Inside Hockey
12. and a book full of hockey andecdotes and quotes.

I've got Kings of the Ice, The Home Team, and one that I believe is called just The Hockey Book.It's from the 50's and has profiles of a buch of players.

I have an autographed copy of Vladislav Trekiaks autobiography!

I found a book from the 60s at a book sale that had autographs from Milt Schmidt and Johnny Bucyk, that...

:cry: :banghead: :cry:

...I sold to a memorobilia (sp?) dealer for $20, that I ended up spending at his booth.

Please kick me.


1. National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2003


I've got a few of those from the 1980s...

Sinden's "Hockey Showdown"... Dryden's "The Game"... Some Playoff media guides given to me by a friend... A bunch of those Liam Maguire-esque trivia books... The old standard "Strange But True Hockey Stories"... And of course, Total Hockey.

I have Bobby Hull's autograph in a Stanley Cup centennial book.

That being said, my favourite book is Tough Calls by Dick Irvin (gee, what a surprise eh).

Even if you're not an official and have no interest in officiating, it is a great read. Some retired officials and some current veteran guys have stories in the book. They talked about their lives and how they got into officiating, and they also talked about some high-profile situations that have happened over the years. It's been a while since I read it, but I can recall reading Red Storey talk about the Maurice Richard riot, Don Koharski talking about the "doughnut incident" with Schoenfeld, and much more.

The one thing I do remember well from the book, was Paul Stewart's first game as a referee after he quit his playing career. Stewart was a goon and eventually made the NHL for a short while. During his first game with the bands, a couple guys dropped the gloves but danced around instead of throwing punches....Stewart said, "If you guys don't start fighting, I'll put my whistle in my pocket and beat the s*** out of both of you."

Yes, he did get crap for that. :lol

I have an autographed copy of Vladislav Trekiaks autobiography!
Oooh, very cool!

I've read a lot more than I actually own, but sitting around the house are:
The Game & Home Game by Ken Dryden - excellent, must reads
Putting a Roof on Winter - hockey history, haven't read yet
Blades of Glory - about high school hockey in Minnesota, again, haven't had time for it yet
some Stanley Cup reference book they sent me for getting Center Ice last year

I also have some really old ones that my dad gave me, I think they were my brother's when he was a kid. One is a Bobby Orr biography (a Scholastic one like they sell at school book fairs) called Dynamite on Ice, published 1972. The other is a very cool compilation of bios of "some of hockey's greatest recent stars", published 1971. Included are Orr, Howe, Hull, Beliveau, Rocket Richard, Keon, Espo, Berenson and Giacomin. It was apparently part of a series. I love it, very good stuff.

NHL-related favorites are: The Game and and Money Players : How Hockey's Greatest Stars Beat the NHL at its Own Game by Bruce Dowbiggin (about the history of labor relations in the NHL, very timely).
non-NHL related: Ice Time: A Tale of Fathers, Sons, and Hometown Heroes by Jay Atkinson, They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, A Team, and My Comeback Season by Ken Baker. Both are VERY VERY good.

***calling all enforcer lovers***
-Bad Boys ll

Leaf lovers
-A Fan For All Seasons

Lions in Winter A very good look at the tradition and some of the great players of the Montreal Canadiens from their inception through to about 1988. Must read for all Hab fans.

Total Hockey, an NHL publication is a great book, it's almost like an encyclopedia of the sport.

One book I would like to find is Red's story by Red Storey, perhaps the best storyteller in the history of the game. Red was the ref the night of the Richard riot.

A sample of Red's wit (i've heard him tell this one a few times and I still laugh when I hear it)...

The legendary Red Storey described one incident in Boston Garden where Fern Flaman skated over to him prior to a face-off and stood quietly staring at the referee. The crowd began clapping impatiently for a return to play, but Flaman still stared at the official. Finally, the two were chest-to-chest, without a word having been spoken, when Storey's curiosity got the better of him.

"What do you want?" he snarled, more non-plussed than irate.

"I don't want nothin'."

"Then why are you standing there?"

"I've got the worst cold in Boston and I'm standing here until you catch it."

Never at a loss for words, Storey was the original Comeback King in Stripes. He didn't blink, retorting: "That's the one I left here three weeks ago. I'm glad it was you that got it."

:)

I have "How to play hockey" by Tom Watt, written in 1976.
The chapter on goaltending talks about this 'new' style called the "butterfly". It seems like it might work, but it takes a lot of practice. Does anyone know how it turned out? :dunno:


:joker:

"The Glory Barons: The Saga of the Edmonton Oilers" by Douglas Hunter. A great book that goes into the fascinating history of the Oilers.

Re-reading (for like the 3rd time because I like it so much) - "Game Misconduct" by Russ Conway. About the whole Alan Eagleson saga. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Oh yeah!

Hockey now!--> Tons of colored photos...I believe it has Thornton, Sundin and Brodeur on the front

Dryden sure as hell whines a lot in it, but he's also intelligent and observant, and those qualities make "The Game" a great read. Probably the definitive look at hockey in the 70's (for younger fans, the complaints will be familiar) and the most insightful reading you'll find about Scotty Bowman. Dryden really didn't pull any punches examining Scotty's M.O.

A detailed examination of Bowman's career (as voiced by the people who were there) would make a fascinating book, by the way. You could probably get a pretty good book just out of his Buffalo years.

The Michael McKinley book, Putting a Roof on Winter is a nice historical read. The Game is a classic. Bill Boyd's Hockey Towns is wondeful too. Love hearing the tales of the old days from the guys in the stands and the ex-players who are now scouts.

I've read them all recently and enjoyed them a lot.

Also picked up a copy of Thunder and Lightning, John Ferguson's (Yes) autobiography as well as Frank Selke's Behind the Cheering. a few too many pigeon tales for my liking but an interestng read from a more naive era.

Lorne Worsley's They Call me Gump is probably 25 years old but it's still a great afternoon. Gump shoots from the hip.

Not a literary masterpiece, Herb Carnegie's Fly in a Pail of Milk is another must read. A lot of golf stuff towards the end but the hockey memories of the old QSHL are clear and, for the most part, positive.

For some reason, I gave away or sold all my old sports books a couple years ago. Have only been trying to rebuild it for the past year or so. At a couple dozen and counting. Much prefer stories to stats.

I've got dozens of hockey books, mostly from the 70's and early 80's, but also some new ones.

Some favorites are:

"The Game" - Dryden
"Hockey Towns"
"Home Ice"
"Star of the North" -about Henry Boucha
"Bobby Orr: My Game"
"100 Years of Hockey"
"The Great Gretzky" - a big coffee table-size book
"Miracle On Ice" - the story as done by the New York Times
"They Call Me Gump" - Gump Worsley autobiography
"The Flying Frenchmen" - book about the 1940's-70's Canaden's

and the usual 1970's "Great ______ of the NHL" from Random House

Ooh, just found a couple more buried in the room:

Doug Smith's "Goon", and Stefan Zwolinski's "The John Kordic Story"

Ooh, just found a couple more buried in the room:

Doug Smith's "Goon", and Stefan Zwolinski's "The John Kordic Story"

"They Don't Play Hockey In Heaven" is a great book by Ken Baker. Its a true story how at the age 35 he tries to make a come back in professional hockey. Great story.

"They Don't Play Hockey In Heaven" is a great book by Ken Baker. Its a true story how at the age 35 he tries to make a come back in professional hockey. Great story.
I mentioned that one in my post above. I've never seen anyone else who's read it, though I try to browbeat everyone I know into reading it! ;)

Great book that didn't get much publicity, but if you want to read about someone with a real love for the game, pick it up.

I'm getting lots of new ideas of books to look for, great thread!

"The game of our lives" - Peter Gzowski

Written by the CBC radio legend it follows the 1980-81 Oilers. A young Gretzky is on his way to his first Art Ross. Other young guys look like they could be decent NHL players. Their names are Coffey, Messier, Kurri, Lowe and Moog. The young team goes on to shock the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, and prove to be the Cup Champ Islanders toughest challenge of the playoffs.

It's an obscure book, but a great one.

Hmmm, I have quite a few, because I don't read much else :D , here they are...

Own Game by Bruce Dowbiggen - Solid book, good insight, though I'm not always sure about Dowbiggen's opinions.
The Top 100 Players of All Time by Steve Dryden - Good book, well done list from when this was a popular thing to do.
The Official Guide and Record Book - From a few different years.
One Hundred Years of Hockey - A Great Photographic biography of hockey.
The Spirit of the Game - Another Photographic history of the NHL.
Hockey Showdown by Harry Sinden - About the Canada-Russia '72 series.
Goalies by Stan Fischler - Not bad, easy reading anyway.
Home Game by Ken Dryden - Great book, all about Hockey in Canada.
The Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bindini - The Greatest hockey book ever written IMO, I love this book.
Scotty Bowman: A Life in Hockey by Douglas Hunter - Another good book, tough read, but really intriguing.
The Game by Ken Dryden - Autographed no less :D, can't say enough about this book.
Heaven and Hell in the NHL by Punch Imlach and Young - Solid book, Imlachs a character for sure.
The Youngest Goalie by Brian McFarlane - Good book, about the Dawson challengers for the Cup in '07, fictionalized, but solid.
What's the Score? by Liam McGuire - Of Course.
The Best of it Happened in Hockey by Brian McFarlane - His best book, great stories from all of hockey.
My 26 Stanley Cups by Dick Irvin - Great autobiographical work.
Off the Bench: And Into the Game by Ryan Walter - Great autobiography personal help type book.
Open Ice: The Tim Horton Story by Douglas Hunter - Another really interesting historical narrative.
Grapes: A Vintage View of Hockey by Don Cherry and Stan Fischler - A Classic
Bobby Hull by Jim Hunt - Decent book, good history.

Can't go wrong with books about hockey I think, its one of the few genres of books I read, lol. :)

I got some more books for christmas! Here they are:
The Unofficial Guide Of The Best & Worst Of Hockey Firsts
The Unofficial Guide To Hockey's Most Unusual Records
Greatest Moments in Canada Hockey History
Kings Of The Ice
Total Hockey

Is that Total Hockey a new edition? I have the 1998 edition and have referenced it probably 10000 times. I got Total NHL last year. The Essential Blue and White book: The most complete Toronto Maple Leafs fact book is a "must have" for every Leafs fan. I got Without a Trace: The Bill Barilko story this year.

I got Total NHL last year. The Essential Blue and White book: The most complete Toronto Maple Leafs fact book is a "must have" for every Leafs fan. I got Without a Trace: The Bill Barilko story this year.

I think that's the book I used the pages to cover my floor, while I was painting my walls. That's about the only thing it came in handy for. No offense to Leaf fans, but they have nothing on the Habs, history-wise.

I read Dryden's "The Game" a few years ago, it was okay, I like his stories about the Montreal people from an Anglophone's point of view. Like how they laughed at him for mispronouncing Street Names, or trying to play goal while the scoreboard displayed tallied results from an election where the Quebec Party won, and the crowd reacting.

Some of the books I have include

A Day in the Life of the NHL - which was probably the coolest hockey book every

Edmonton Oilers 25th and St Louis Blues 35th anniversary books - both very well done

Edmonton Oiler 79-99 Hockey Knights and Wayne Gretzky Forever an Oiler both by Terry Jones - the only thing that moron ever wrote that was worth the paper it was printed on

Goalies, Gaurdians of the Net - The best goalie book ever made in terms of quantity and quality of photos (they were done by Broduer)

The NHL 's Official 75th anniversary book

Honored Memebers, the Hockey Hall of Fame book

I buy two books every single year: The Official Guide and Record Book, and the Official NHL Rule Book. No fan should be without these two.

Total Hockey is great as well, I have the first edition. I just bought Total NHL last week, it's like $8 bucks at Chapters right now. Klein and Reif's Hockey Compendium is good too, also can be found cheap on the budget racks now.

Just finished reading Ed Willes' The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association.

Interesting read, although if you can get your hands on a copy of the now-out-of-print Blue Pucks, Big Bucks by Murray Grieg, do so, as it's the far more complete document of that era.

My all time favorite hockey book is "The Game of Our Lives" by Peter Gzowski, hands down.

"The Game" by Dryden is a great book waiting to be found amongst his whinings and attempts at sounding prophetic.

"Tiger- a hockey Story" is pretty entertaining.

Tretiaks autobiography must have been written by a Soviet p.r. specialist.

I had about 15 Gretzky books when I was a kid, each was special in its own way.

Phil Esposito's recent autobiography was entertaining if you can ignore the fact that it probably took about an hour and a half to write...

I love the hardcover 75th anniversary book with the gorgeous photos.

The Spinner Spencer story was a hell of a read, too.

Russ Conway dissecting Eagleson like a hyperactive teenager on a laboratory frog was one of the best reads ever.

Open Ice: The Tim Horton Story was without a doubt the worst hockey book I have ever picked up. It demonstrated nothing other than the fact that the author could dig up obscure facts and statistics.

I have: Hockey superstars-Joseph Romain and James Duplacey
Calling the Shots-Bruce Hood. VERY good autobiography of this referee
1997-98 Scouting report-Sherry Ross. It's a book not a magazine so I decided to count it
Beckett great sports heroes-Wayne Gretzky. It's not the greaetest but it's all right
Inside Hockey. I would have enjoyed this book more if I had gotten it while it was new but now it's kind of outdated.
Hockey Chronichles. This is my favorite one
Total hockey. This is what I call the Hockey Bible
Red hot hockey trivia by someone I can't remember

Some of these have already been mentioned but I'm runnning down my list so here goes:

1. Punch Imlach Hockey is a Battle! and Heaven and Hell in the NHL- One sour guy but two tremendous books detailing the wonderful Leafs team of the 60s and then how he built the Sabres. Best books I've ever read about hockey giving real insight into actual events (like how he traded for Don Luce by staying at the phone until midnight at the trade deadline one year).

2. Douglas Hunter The Glory Barons and Scotty Bowman: A life in Hockey-He does make a mistake or two along the way, but these are both extremely well written books. The Glory Barons is exactly as Oilers Chick described and Bowman's book gives insight into the Habs of the 60s and 70s, and also lets you know how Bowman killed the team Imlach built in Buffalo.

3. Total Hockey and Players A-Z-Both reference guides for the most part and some of the bio's in Players A-Z are just lazy but there's wonderful info in both. Total Hockey's only flaw is it's too damn big, they should have put the skaters in one edition and the seasons + goalies in another.

Lots more, but those are the ones I truly value and read over and over.

Players A-Z is a cool book. It has a little blurb on every player, giving a little factoid that can be useful for the trivia buffs.

Whose puck is it anyway

"Tiger- a hockey Story" is pretty entertaining.

Is that the Tiger Williams book that had a chapter dedicated to telling the story of a young Dave Williams and Bryan Trottier castrating bulls back on the the farm in Saskatchewan? If so, that wasn't a bad hockey biography.

The Darryl Sittler book was a good read as well.

The Borje Salming book was a little disappointing. He did get some names wrong in the story, which took a little of the credibility out of his story.

The Book about the Sutters was alright

Brett Hull's shootin' a smiling was a fluff piece. He could tell a much better story now, 10-15 years later.

New book coming out in a few weeks that might interest some of you:

The Boys of Winter: (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140004765X/qid=1104354839/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-3127854-3532811?v=glance&s=books) The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey

I'm not familiar with this writer and haven't seen the book, but it's gotten very good reviews so far. Can't wait to get my hands on it!

The best hockey book that I have ever read (and I'm a prolific reader) was Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini. He's an excellent writer and storyteller. Basically, he's fed up with the NHL and packs up some hockey equipment and travels to nontraditional hockey places like Dubai and China to rediscover the pure love of the game.

New book coming out in a few weeks that might interest some of you:

The Boys of Winter: (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140004765X/qid=1104354839/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-3127854-3532811?v=glance&s=books) The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey

I'm not familiar with this writer and haven't seen the book, but it's gotten very good reviews so far. Can't wait to get my hands on it!Thanks for the heads-up on this book. It's set for a January 11 release. I have desired an entire book on the 1980 United States Hockey Team.

If you go to the review section of the Amazon.com page (LINKED HERE,) there is an excerpt from the book, and it looks really good and well written. Thanks again.

Just finished reading Ed Willes' The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association.

Interesting read, although if you can get your hands on a copy of the now-out-of-print Blue Pucks, Big Bucks by Murray Grieg, do so, as it's the far more complete document of that era.

That's pretty funny. I worked with Murray for a year and half and the guy is full of stories about the WHA. He knew everything about that league. It's pretty surreal when the guy at the next desk picks up the phone and calls Bobby Hull about doing an intro for his next book. Incidentally that book was The Idiot's Guide to the Greatest Hockey Trades, which is also worth picking up.

"They Don't Play Hockey In Heaven" is a great book by Ken Baker. Its a true story how at the age 35 he tries to make a come back in professional hockey. Great story.
My brother really enjoys reader feedback. Give him a shout at ken@kenbaker.net

Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble and looked at a few books, there was one about Hockey in the 80s, called Fire-something Hockey(I forget the exact name), it had a lot of great pictures in it, and profiles of a lot of the guys from that era you never hear much about.

I bought one book called Tales from the Boston Bruins, which is a collection of little stories about a lot of people associated with the Bruins over the last 80 years.

I just bought Yzerman: The Making Of A Champion today because Yzerman is easily my most favorite player. I hope its a good one.

The best hockey book that I have ever read (and I'm a prolific reader) was Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini. He's an excellent writer and storyteller. Basically, he's fed up with the NHL and packs up some hockey equipment and travels to nontraditional hockey places like Dubai and China to rediscover the pure love of the game.
Good call, absolutely the best hockey book I've read.

The best hockey book that I have ever read (and I'm a prolific reader) was Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini. He's an excellent writer and storyteller. Basically, he's fed up with the NHL and packs up some hockey equipment and travels to nontraditional hockey places like Dubai and China to rediscover the pure love of the game.

Yeah, it was a good read. Personally, he really could have done without the NHL-bashing. You're playing hockey in a desert, for goodness' sakes, stop complaining about the NHL. I-get-it, you don't like it anymore. Yeesh.

I finished They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven by Ken Baker just last night. It was really good, and I learned where Sasha Lakovic ended up in the process (and I'm glad the Devils dumped him. Really, who *stages* a fight in a hockey game?).

I also have read and owned The Game, which is my favorite book about hockey. Total Hockey 2nd Edition is a good resource and Total Gretzky is the best book I've read about...uh...Wayne Gretzky.