HOH Book Feature (presented in association with the Society for International Hockey Research)

[goliver845]

I'm back with a new column, that went up on Aug. 22, 2020. It's about a new book called Manitoba Hockey: An Oral History: Official Publication of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame by Ty Dilello.

Dilello gets a Hall of a partner in Manitoba Hockey: An Oral History

 

[Theokritos]

I'm back with a new column, that went up on Aug. 22, 2020. It's about a new book called Manitoba Hockey: An Oral History: Official Publication of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame by Ty Dilello.

Great timing! Ty Dilello, who has been a member of HFBoards for many years, will personally promote his new book on this forum very soon.

 

[JMCx4]

If anyone on here had ever heard of Jerry Hack, I'll eat my shorts. Still, his book details a part of hockey history, albeit on a much lower level than we are used to reading about. It's fun.
Unknown goalie delivers a winner

This weekend I finished reading Jerry Hack's Memoir of a Hockey Nobody. The book left me feeling like I actually knew Jerry (now that I've heard of him), as his writing style is honest & personable. I was occasionally distracted by the punctuation in the stories he told (WAY too many commas - editing would've helped), but otherwise it was an easy & pleasing read. The chapters covering Mr. Hack's late teen & early twenties hockey experiences were reminiscent of Bill Gaston's Midnight Hockey stories about beer league play. Beyond that, it was fun to follow his highs & lows as he continued to pursue his love of the game at more competitive levels. I would definitely recommend it to hockey fans who have either played or followed senior hockey, and S/T to @goliver845 for mentioning the title in this thread.

 

[goliver845]

I would definitely recommend it to hockey fans who have either played or followed senior hockey, and S/T to @goliver845 for mentioning the title in this thread.

I will let know Jerry know that he owes a portion the royalties for, in wrestling terms, "putting him over!"

 

[goliver845]

In my SIHR book column, I got to talk with Manon Rhéaume and Angie Bullaro about a kids book they worked on together that is coming out in October, plus Bullaro and her production company are working on a movie about Manon's life. Keep any comments respectful. On a Facebook forum, it's already gone downhill. In short, we all know it was a publicity stunt to invite her, but that doesn't mean that she didn't have talent and didn't become an inspiration for female hockey players everywhere. I hope that comes across in the story.

Manon Rhéaume goes from Breaking the Ice to the big screen

 

[goliver845]

In my column that went up on Oct. 3, 2020, I talked with Ken Reid about One to Remember: Stories from 39 Members of the NHL’s One Goal Club.
Ken Reid and his singular goal

 

[kaiser matias]

[Photo clipped]
In my column that went up on Oct. 3, 2020, I talked with Ken Reid about One to Remember: Stories from 39 Members of the NHL’s One Goal Club.
Ken Reid and his singular goal

Ken Reid is back with another “easy reading” book. It's called One to Remember: Stories from 39 Members of the NHL’s One Goal Club. As with his two editions of Hockey Card Stories and One Night Only: Conversations with the NHL’s One-Game Wonders, it's a series of conversations with hockey players, mini-bios that are eminently readable.

“I think I found my niche. People seem to like it, they buy the books, and they seem to enjoy them, which is good,” Reid chuckled on the phone from his Toronto home. “I'm not Shakespeare, I never claimed to be Shakespeare. I like to write in the style that brings the reader as if they're sitting across the table from a guy having a beer with 'em. And I think that's kind of what I've been doing, and it's worked so far, I think it'll work again.”

This is a perfect way to describe his books, and I say that in a good way. I've read a couple of them now, and really enjoy the style. That he is able to talk to these guys and get their thoughts on the subjects is also great (though I will say it would be neat to see him go further back, but I understand the limitations), and the focus on these lesser-known players is definitely appreciated. I do hope Ken keeps up on things like this, as he does a good job filling a niche in hockey literature.

 

[JMCx4]

This is a perfect way to describe his books, and I say that in a good way. I've read a couple of them now, and really enjoy the style. That he is able to talk to these guys and get their thoughts on the subjects is also great (though I will say it would be neat to see him go further back, but I understand the limitations), and the focus on these lesser-known players is definitely appreciated. I do hope Ken keeps up on things like this, as he does a good job filling a niche in hockey literature.

+1. Based on my enjoyment of Mr. Reid's One Night Only book about one-game NHL-ers, his One to Remember title is now on my short-list of hockey books to seek out & read.

Another primary assist to @goliver845. I hope his pay for this non-teaditional literary agent gig is commensurate with the hot picks he's been feeding this thread.

 

[kaiser matias]

+1. Based on my enjoyment of Mr. Reid's One Night Only book about one-game NHL-ers, his One to Remember title is now on my short-list of hockey books to seek out & read.

Another primary assist to @goliver845. I hope his pay for this non-teaditional literary agent gig is commensurate with the hot picks he's been feeding this thread.

One Night Only was my first book by Reid, and it got me looking at his other works, which has not disappointed yet. His hockey card books were neat as well, though I think having really big into collecting when I was a kid helped there.

 

[goliver845]

Another primary assist to​

@goliver845​

. I hope his pay for this non-traditional literary agent gig is commensurate with the hot picks he's been feeding this thread. ​

That made me chuckle. Thanks! I started the column because I know how hard it is as an author to get any attention these days. I'm being paid in goodwill by other authors, and it's a reward to hear about people buying a book because of a column I wrote. (That I occasionally get to talk to famous authors or hockey stars is a bonus.)

 

[goliver845]

I didn't set out to have a bunch of kids books in a row, but that's how it happens (and the books for big boys and girls take longer to read!).

Here's my chat about the new book, Bobby Orr and the Hand-Me-Down Skates, with Kara Kootstra. Alas, #4 himself wasn't doing interviews.

More than an assist from Bobby Orr

 

[goliver845]

Buried in hockey books is a good way to describe my fall, but it's different this year with so many ebooks being sent instead of physical copies because of the pandemic. I don't know, but I'm more likely to pick up a physical copy and go sit down for 10 min. and read a chapter than on a computer.

My latest SIHR column is about Nick Kypreos' Undrafted: Hockey, Family, and What It Takes to Be a Pro written with Perry Lefko.

Undrafted provided Kypreos a 'real clear look in the mirror'

Enjoy!

 

[Theokritos]

Registration is open for the 2020 SIHR Fall Meeting on November 7. It's going to be a virtual meeting via Zoom and non-members are also welcome. The meeting will feature nine presentations, including one by Aubrey Ferguson and Don Pillar who will promote their book The Golden Years (which was featured here back in July) and one by Andrew Holman (who is presenting his new book to our community right now) on Inventing Hockey Drama: Telegraphic Reports and the Birth of Play-by-Play Before Radio. The other presentations scheduled are:

• Marc Durand, The 50th Anniversary of the WHA
• Alan Reifman, WHA's Los Angeles Sharks
• Ryan O'Connor, Branding Team Canada: Vickers and Benson's Contributions to the Summit Series
• Len Gould, Adventures of a Hockey Footage Archeologist
• Ken Thornicroft, Major Junior Hockey Players – Employees or Student-Athletes?
• Bill Collins, Ten Parallels Between the Two Worst Teams in Detroit Red Wings History
  
• Bill Sproule and Eric Zweig, The Spanish Flu… and Hockey

To register, click here.

 

[goliver845]

In my SIHR hockey book column, which went live on Nov. 2, 2020, I talk with Sami Joe Small of the Canadian women's hockey team about her memoir, The Role I Played: Canada’s Greatest Olympic Hockey Team, out now from ECW Press.

Sami Jo Small puts it all on the line, from triumph and tears, in moving memoir

Incidentally, I interviewed her for my book, The Goaltenders' Union, years back.

 

[goliver845]

In my latest SIHR hockey book column, I talk with Andrew Holman about A Hotly Contested Affair: Hockey in Canada, which he was commissioned to write for the Champlain Society. It's a pretty intense dive into hockey history.

Holman's latest historical epic brings him into Society

 

[goliver845]

In my SIHR book column, which went up on Nov. 16, 2020, I speak with Hockey Hall of Famer Serge Savard about his book, Forever Canadien, which is now out in English, a year after the French version -- which apparently has sold more than 30,000 copies (that's massive, by the way).

It was nice to talk to Mr. Savard again, who I had previously interviewed for a Hockey Hall of Fame article, and about goalies, for my book, The Goaltenders' Union.

Enjoy!

Serge Savard triumphs again

 

[goliver845]

Hi everyone,
My latest column went up on Nov. 23, 2020, and I speak with Chris Mizzoni about his kids books

and Paul Patskou about the updated Leafs book:

You can read the column here:
Clancy's back and Patskou's Leafs update

 

[goliver845]

In my latest SIHR book column, up Dec. 1, 2020, I talk with Al Strachan about Hockey's Hot Stove: The Untold Stories of the Original Insiders based on the CBC second intermission program for 20 years, Satellite Hot Stove.

It's the kind of book where, if Hockey Night in Canada was your weekly must-see-TV, then you'll love the insight; if you didn't, or you're American, this will likely be lost on you. Not that there aren't great stories that will appeal, as there are, but it is, as the title implies, pretty insider.

Inside info abounds in Al Strachan's world, and new Hot Stove book

 

[goliver845]

I'm back, trying to get unburied from a pile of hockey books (and those ebooks that loom completely differently). Here's my SIHR hockey book column for Dec. 8, 2020 on Everyday Hockey Heroes Volume II, where I talk to TSN's Bob McKenzie. (It's odd, as I've run into most of the Toronto-based hockey talking heads at some point or another through the years, at book launches and whatnot, but I don't think I'd actually talked to Bob McKenzie since he was editor of The Hockey News, and was on the radio talking about the upcoming season, and I called in to ask about the arrival of Valeri Kamensky ... sheesh, that would have been in 1990!)

Sharing stories at core of McKenzie's Everyday Hockey Heroes

 

[kaiser matias]

I'm back, trying to get unburied from a pile of hockey books (and those ebooks that loom completely differently). Here's my SIHR hockey book column for Dec. 8, 2020 on Everyday Hockey Heroes Volume II, where I talk to TSN's Bob McKenzie. (It's odd, as I've run into most of the Toronto-based hockey talking heads at some point or another through the years, at book launches and whatnot, but I don't think I'd actually talked to Bob McKenzie since he was editor of The Hockey News, and was on the radio talking about the upcoming season, and I called in to ask about the arrival of Valeri Kamensky ... sheesh, that would have been in 1990!)

Sharing stories at core of McKenzie's Everyday Hockey Heroes

I was gifted the first volume for Christmas last year. Not usually the type of book I would buy myself, or read for that matter, but it was pretty neat. It has a wide variety of hockey-related people in it from "non-traditional" backgrounds discussing how they got to where they are. People like Wayne Simmonds, Andi Petrillo, Harnarayan Singh, and others who I'm forgetting names of, all discuss their upbringing and some of the struggles they faced. Was pretty good, and I'm sure this second book will do much the same.

 

[goliver845]

I was gifted the first volume for Christmas last year. Not usually the type of book I would buy myself, or read for that matter, but it was pretty neat. It has a wide variety of hockey-related people in it from "non-traditional" backgrounds discussing how they got to where they are. People like Wayne Simmonds, Andi Petrillo, Harnarayan Singh, and others who I'm forgetting names of, all discuss their upbringing and some of the struggles they faced. Was pretty good, and I'm sure this second book will do much the same.

Absolutely, it's the same "gimmick" if I may steal a pro wrestling term, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I love reading about people we don't know much about.

Whereas I got the new Hockey Hall of Fame book, Scorers Versus Goalies, and, while the stats are neat, it's the same HHOF people we already know all too well.

 

[kaiser matias]

Absolutely, it's the same "gimmick" if I may steal a pro wrestling term, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. I love reading about people we don't know much about.

Whereas I got the new Hockey Hall of Fame book, Scorers Versus Goalies, and, while the stats are neat, it's the same HHOF people we already know all too well.

It is neat to get some stories from some different people, that's for sure. Which is why I really enjoy Ken Reid's books too. His choices to talk to the guys with one NHL game, or one NHL goal in his new book, or the random hockey card players, were really fun, and you hear from guys who wouldn't otherwise get to share some stories.

 

[goliver845]

While I'd met Rick Vaive before, at an oldtimers hockey game, this was my first opportunity to interview him; as for his co-writer, Scott Morrison, he was at the Toronto Sun when I started there in 1991.

So, here's my SIHR hockey book column, which went up on Dec. 16, 2020:

Vaive candid and honest in Catch 22

 

[Theokritos]

2020 Review

After kicking off our book feature in November 2019 with The History of Professional Hockey in Victoria B.C. 1911-2011 by historian Helen Edwards, it was in the second half of 2020 that the presentations really got rolling. No fewer than 12 books were presented to our forum over the course of the year 2020 and a 13th will be added before the calender turns to 2021.

Several of the books presented are dedicated to a specific NHL franchise:

In the recent re-edition of 100 Things Maple Leafs Fan Should Know & Do Before They Die, Toronto hockey historian Paul Patskou (@ClassicHockey) provides a treasure trove of Toronto Maple Leafs stories & histories.

Daniel Mahoney (@Trotsnj) was a contributor to The Hockey News back in the 1980s. In his book The Most Wonderful Times: Memories of New York Rangers Alumni he has published ten interviews with former Rangers greats conducted during that time (including Bill Cook and Fred Shero).

The curious history of a franchise that doesn't exist anymore, the California Golden Seals, is covered by Steve Currier (@Steve Currier) in his 2017 book The California Golden Seals: a Tale of White Skates and Red Ink, and One of the NHL’s Most Outlandish Teams.

An expansion franchise that has fared better, albeit not without hitting bumps in the road, is the subject that journalist Greg Enright (@Greg Enright) has dedicated his book to: The Pittsburgh Penguins – The First 25 Years. His write-up follows the Pittsburgh club through the good times and the bad times.

The next book keeps us in Pennsylvania but goes beyond the history of the local NHL franchise: Alan Bass (@Alan Bass) has written about Professional Hockey in Philadelphia from its origins 100+ years ago and took a look at the Flyers at well as the other professional clubs that Philadelphia has seen over the years.

Hockey writer Ty Dilello (@nabby12) has already published about Manitoba hockey history before and the follow-up this year was his new book Manitoba Hockey – An Oral History. No less than 27 different players from the Keystone State are featured (including Andy Bathgate and Brett Hull).

The next two books take us overseas to Great Britain. In the epic Lion in Winter: A Complete Record of Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Ice Hockey Championships, leading British hockey historian Martin Harris (@Martin Harris) has covered exactly the massive ground that the book title outlines.

Stewart Roberts (@Stewart), a renowned British hockey writer in his own right, has presented the book Brighton Tigers: A Story of Sporting Passion about the history of this club from the south coast of England. Brighton's most memorable hours came in the 1950s when their club gave the up-and-coming Soviets something to handle.

Next we turn to a biographical work. In Hitch, Hockey's Unsung Hero: The Story of Boston Bruin Lionel Hitchman, the player's own granddaughter Pam Coburn (@Pam Coburn) provides a close-up of the stay-at-home defender Hitchman that also gives insights into the highly influential 1920s/1930s Boston Bruins.

From the 1930s to 1950s, Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup ran a promotion of hockey photos that played an important role in the development of NHL fandom. The book presented by Aubrey Ferguson (@aubferg), The Golden Years: Bee Hive Golden Corn Syrup Hockey Picture Promotion 1934-68, contains the backstory and all 1025 photos that were issued.

Historian Andrew Holman (@Andrew Holman) has collected a great variety of sources covering different topics and aspects pivotal to the development of the hockey in Canada. Initial distribution of his book A Hotly Contested Affair: Hockey in Canada has been slow but by now the book should be widely available.

Last but not least, the book The Fastest Game in the World: Hockey & the Globalization of Sports by Bruce Berglund (@Bruce Berglund) provides a history of hockey as a global sport by using sources from a variety of different countries and languages and traces the development of the hockey world.

Thanks to all the authors named! It's great that so many have presented their publications here, provided reading extracts and additional insight into their work, answered questions and in some cases even offered discounts to our forum members. Additional thanks to Greg Oliver (@goliver845) who keeps informing us about these and other book publications as he presents them in his column on the SIHR website. Speaking of SIHR, a 2020 review wouldn't be complete without mentioning again that our Book Feature is presented in association with the Society of International Hockey Research and that SIHR is directing authors towards us via announcements in their Bulletin and on their website. Let's hope the presentations keep coming in 2021! The prospects are good: the next two or three are already in the pipeline.

 

[goliver845]

My year-end piece at the SIHR site went live on Dec. 30, 2020, and offers a little look back at the columns I wrote, and, as has been tradition, Todd Denault chips in his thoughts on the hockey books he read (many of which I did not feature).

A crummy year, but 2020 gave us some time to read