Your Favorite Hockey Books?

[mattbags]

Hi- this is my first post, though I've enjoyed the forum for a long time. Since the off-season is a good time to catch up with your reading, what are your favorite books? Here's my top 5: #5- Game Misconduct (the decline and fall of Alan Eagleson); #4- The Game (OK, I'm a Habs Fan) ----------------------------------------------#3- The Game Of Our Lives (Boy, how I miss Peter Gzowski)------------------------#2- Lions In Winter(The best book about the dynasty)-----------------------------#1- If You Can't Beat Them In The Alley- This is probably my favorite autobiography of all time, regardless of subject. It's been out of print for a long time, and I treasure my copy. I especially like the chapters about the building of Maple Leaf Gardens. How well do you think this book captures the life of Conn Smythe?----------Honorable Mention- Now Back To You Dick (Was there ever a better broadcast team than Danny Gallivan and Dick Irvin?)

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[ktulu98]

The game
The Code: The Unwritten Rules Of Fighting And Retaliation In The Nhl

 

[Stinkin' Root Beer]

Sydney Crosby: Taking the Game By Storm is a pretty good read.

 

[Granlund2Pulkkinen*]

Phil Esposito's Autobiography: 'Thunder and Lightning'

I highly recommend it... it is hillarious and very insightful!!!

 

[budleydudley]

Don't know if it's widely available outside Michigan and Colorado, but "Blood Fued" about the Wings/Avs rivalry of the mid 90's to early 2000s is a good read. It's by Denver columnist Adrian Dater.

A lot of anecdotes that I had never heard before reading the book, such as a word-for-word account of the Marc Crawford meltdown towards Bowman.

At Barnes & Noble.

 

[Cyclops II*]

The best hockey book I have read is Fire-Wagon Hockey: the Story of the Montreal Canadiens by Andy O'Brien (1967).

 

[BruiseBros]

I really enjoyed NetWorth. About the players attempt to create the first Players Union.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Phil Esposito's Autobiography: 'Thunder and Lightning'

I highly recommend it... it is hillarious and very insightful!!!

I second that, I was in pain from laughter throughout much of it.

Don Cherry's autobiography is an entertaining read as well. I think it's called "Grapes", but I can't remember for sure.

Cyclone Taylor, A Hockey Legend is a great insight into hockey's early days and one of sports' first super stars.

 

[toastman344*]

Tretiak's Book was the best Hockey book I've read....Wish I still had a copy !

 

[Murphy]

Can't beat them in the alley was the biography of Punch Imlach isn't it? I read the book many years ago, so I'm probably wrong.

Net Worth, Game Misconduct, The Game of Our Lives, all mentioned before were very good.

Brian Spencers autobiography was also pretty facinating, I think the title of that was Game Misconduct as well.

Firewagon Hockey was a favourite when I was a kid, had it in paperback and read it a few times. Even though I hated the Habs it was still real interesting to me.

Brian McFarlane has a book out (he has many) called 100 years of Hockey. It gives a blow by blow account of every year, the trades, top performers, big stories of the year. That is a fantastic book that I highly recommend to any fans of hockey history.

Semenko's, Sittler's, Lanny's & Messier's autobiographys are all pretty decent.

I couldn't stand Bossy's autobiography, he whined about everything, mostly about violence. I don't know how he ever made it out of jr hockey. I do like listening to him on XM though, so it's all good

 

[arrbez]

Anyone else read The Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini? I love it, one of my favourite reads ever (i'm a big travel buff as well, so it's the perfect read for me)

 

[Wease]

I don't think she does them anymore, but I always enjoyed the Hockey Scouting Reports by Sherry Ross. Not quite the books you guys are talking about, but it went through scouting reports on each player, which I thought was kinda cool. Last one I can find online is from 2004...

 

[Aaron Vickers]

I dont know if it is just not that well known or forgotten, but 'Why I Didn't Say Anything' by Sheldon Kennedy is an absolute MUST read.

 

[Huis Clos*]

The Boys of Winter by Wayne Coffey is a fun, fast read. It's about the 1980 US olympic team.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Anyone else read The Tropic of Hockey by Dave Bidini? I love it, one of my favourite reads ever (i'm a big travel buff as well, so it's the perfect read for me)

I have read that book, but didn't finish it. Not because I didn't like it though, it was certainly entertaining. I read a book called Money Players which is very good as well. Being 26 years old, it gave me a lot of insight as to how the league evolved from the '70s to about the '90s.

 

[pappyline]

Phil Esposito's Autobiography: 'Thunder and Lightning'

I highly recommend it... it is hillarious and very insightful!!!

Don't like Phil & his inflated ego but it was a quite entertaining book. Also recently read "Searching for Bobby Orr" by Stephen Blount. another very good read. Especially liked the early chapters on small town Ontario. Another good read is "Canada on Ice-- 50 years of great hockey" frpm the archives of MacLean's magazine. Great contemporary articles.

 

[No-Twitch Tabitha]

An obvious one:

My Life in Hockey by Jean Beliveau. The man is a good storyteller and to me it's great insight into "The Golden Age" from a guy who played in it.

"Grandpa, tell me a story..."

 

[CorpseFX]

i always wanted to read this one: The Puck Starts Here: The Origin of Canada's Great Winter Game : Ice Hockey

and this one looks pretty interesting too: Splendid is the Sun: The 5,000 Year History of Hockey

 

[rmchahn]

In 1971, Brian MacFarlane wrote a book called "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Hockey". That was a favourite of mine back then. Aside from stories from different eras, there was also a section on stats and all time NHL records.

 

[Tretiak]

Lawrence Martin's The Red Machine
"Russian Revolution - Exodus to the NHL" by John Sanful
The RED MACHINE by Lawrence Martin
From Behind the Red Line: a North American Hockey Player in Russia
by Tod Hartje, Lawrence Martin

All good reads...

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

A good resource for stats and the history of the league:

Total NHL: The Ultimate Source on the National Hockey League by Dan Diamond

As a Flyers' fan, this book is a must but I think many others could find an interest in it:

Full Spectrum by Jay Greenberg

For a good read on the WHA:

Big Bucks and Blue Pucks by Murray Greig

 

[vancityluongo]

Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game By Storm is a pretty good read.

Phil Esposito's Autobiography: 'Thunder and Lightning'

I highly recommend it... it is hillarious and very insightful!!!

Both of these were good reads.

 

[newf]

can't believe no one has mentioned the game by ken dryden.
i haven't read espo's or looking for bobby orr, but i've heard good things about both.

a great book, but about a fictional hockey player, is king leary by paul quarrington.

 

[raleh]

"Searching for Bobby Orr" was great, so was "Our life with the Rocket", "Hockey Tropics", and "Lions in Winter".

However, the best hockey book I've ever read is a book of poetry by Richard Harrison called "Hero of the play"...get a copy!

Also, a guy by the name of Brian Kennedy has written a book called "growing up hockey" that will be in stores soon. He's a great story teller and the sections of it that I've read are really good! If you see it in stores it's worth buying.

Other books that involve hockey but aren't completely based around it are "The Divine Ryans" and "The Age of Longing".

Finally, Bill Gaston's books on hockey "The Good Body" and "Midnight Hockey" are great reads too. REALLY funny!

 

[Big Phil]

The "Sweater" about the boy who wore a Maple Leafs jersey in Montreal.

Seriously though, Esposito's book "Thunder and Lightning" is pretty good. I often wonder why he called out on so many players that cheated on their wives. Did he have their prior permission beforehand? There's a lot of times in the book where he says "I dont want to mention the players name because he's still married to the same person." Well it wouldnt take a rocket scientist to eventually find that one out if you tried you could narrow it down.

He even talks about Bobby Orr and about how girls would ***** him and how much sex he got before he met his future wife in 1972.