Logan in Overtime

C.S. Gray is director of Information Services at the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

According to the author’s prefatory note, Logan in Overtime was
written “for a rainy day at the Lodge.” And throughout the book,
Quarrington delivers exactly what he promises: a pleasant and
consistently amusing entertainment.

Set in Falconbridge, Ontario, the novel’s hero is Logan, a former nhl
netminder whose career and outlook on life have together followed a
downward spiral. By day, Logan now works as a sales clerk at Li’s
Hardware. Most nights, he works on developing the next day’s hangover,
either at the Dove Hotel, or down the street at the Birds of a Feather
lounge. And as if to remind himself of his professional mediocrity,
Logan does penance throughout the long Northern Ontario winter as
goaltender for the Falconbridge Falcons—the worst team in one of the
worst industrial hockey leagues anywhere.

But whereas some writers might be tempted to cash in on the depression
potential inherent in the leading character and his situation,
Quarrington manages to keep Logan in Overtime consistently light-hearted
and cheerful. Despite the fact that Logan is a hard-living,
hard-drinking man living through relatively hard times, the novel’s
tone is optimistic, because Quarrington makes it clear from the outset
that neither Logan nor his future is beyond redemption.

As a hockey player—and perhaps even as a man—Logan has failed to
achieve “official” greatness, consistently evading distinction. Yet
his nature remains irrepressible, and the self-administered alcohol- and
hockey-related poundings from which he consistently rebounds suggest
that he’s a lot tougher and worthier than he suspects.

These aspects of character development are neatly fused with the plot
when the hapless Falcons and their much-maligned goalie find themselves
unwittingly entering hockey’s record book—by becoming involved in
the longest overtime game in history. By making his character face the
prospect of losing the game, by forcing Logan to cope with the
uncertainty of “sudden death” during many consecutive overtime
periods, Quarrington neatly transforms a trivial sporting event in a
trivial town into something larger—something nearly mythic in stature,
and applicable to us all.

That Quarrington accomplishes this feat and still maintains a funny and
light-hearted tone is both a tribute to his skills as a writer and an
indication of this book’s worth.