The Hockey Books Thread!

[PecaFan]

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.

 

[Bicycle Repairman]

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.

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

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.

 

[Chileiceman]

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 I would have enjoyed this book more if I had gotten it while it was new but now it's kind of outdated.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

 

[Lowetide]

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.

 

[MacDaddy TLC*]

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.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Whose puck is it anyway

 

[MacDaddy TLC*]

"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.

 

[Sotnos]

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

The Boys of Winter: 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!

 

[Air]

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.

 

[David Puddy]

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

The Boys of Winter: 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.

 

[Malefic74]

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.

 

[Hobey Baker]

"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 [email protected]

 

[acr*]

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.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain*]

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

 

[kruezer]

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.

 

[DevilFisch]

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.