Roger's World: The Life and Unusual Times of Roger Neilson

Ian A. Andrews is editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus and co-author of Becoming a Teacher.

To the hockey world, the death of Roger Neilson (“Captain Video”) in
2003 marked the passing of a unique contributor to the sport, one who
introduced video technology and more quantifiable statistics to a game
structured around goals, assists, and points and one whose decent
humanity touched the hearts of friend and foe alike. His induction into
the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada climaxed a life of
dedication and caring.

It is this full and generous life, centred around but not consumed by
hockey, that journalist Wayne Scanlan explores in Roger’s World.
Through interviews with many of the people who were closest to this
innovator, Scanlan taps into the drive, sincerity, genuineness, and
religious foundation of a man who deeply cared for the moral character
of those he coached, be they teenagers on the ball field, a hockey rink,
or in the classroom, or professionals earning millions of dollars.

The hockey story is told. Neilson coached eight NHL teams, including a
two-game stint with Ottawa that allowed him to reach the 1,000-game
plateau. He motivated underachievers to achieve in places like Vancouver
and Miami, ran afoul of eccentric owners like the notorious Harold
Ballard in Toronto, and learned from such mentors as Scotty Bowman and
Sam Pollack. His hockey schools from Lindsay, Ontario, to Metulla,
Israel, were attended by players wanting to be taught not only the
skills of a hockey player but the morals of a good person. And although
Neilson was strong-willed (or stubborn), accident-prone, demanding, and
often absent-minded, his skills as a people person, as a communicator
and teacher, transcended all of his idiosyncrasies.

Roger’s World is highly recommended for its investigation of the life
of a Canadian who lived each day to the fullest and sought to make those
around him better.