Guts and Go Overtime: More Great Saskatchewan Hockey Stories

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Daniels is a writer with Yorkton This Week. His book Guts and Go (2004)
profiled citizens of Saskatchewan having newsworthy or noteworthy
connections to the game of hockey. This sequel, which is divided into 31
chapters ranging in length from five to nine pages, brings nearly 40
additional individuals to the reader’s attention.

While hockey, in its broadest sense, is the book’s focus, Daniels
recognizes that many prairie boys still dream of some day playing in the
National Hockey League. Consequently, those who have made it to the NHL
feature prominently, and about 40 percent of the chapters feature ex-NHL
players like Jim Neilson, Ed Van Impe, and Brad McCrimmon. To brief
descriptions of players’ links to Saskatchewan, their varied routes to
the pro ranks, and what they’ve done since retiring, Daniels adds
interesting anecdotes, like the explanation for Brian Propp’s
post–goal scoring “Guffaw” move. Not all of the book’s players
made it to the Big Show. Travis Clayton is in his eighth year in the
Central Hockey League, while Jock Callander and Dave Michayluk spent
their professional career in the International Hockey League.

In addition to the players, Daniels includes others such as Hockey
Night in Canada’s long-time broadcaster, Dick Irwin, and coaches, like
the University of Alberta Golden Bears’s Clare Drake (who, over 28
years, achieved six national championships), the University of Denver
Pioneers’ 21-year coach, Murray Armstrong (who won five U.S. national
championships), on-ice NHL officials Brad Meier and Mark Wheler, and NHL
scout Barry Trapp. Women’s involvement in hockey is not entirely
overlooked: readers encounter Sarina Baker, a pioneer lines[wo]man, and
the girls’ Hounds team from Notre Dame College (a hockey player
“factory”). Two chapters are particularly newsworthy: “Hall of
Fame” and “The Moosomin Moose—Playing for Time.” The former
explains how a minor leaguer came to be included in the NHL Hall of
Fame, while the latter describes how hockey players in Moosomin came to
be an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Though Guts and Go Overtime may resonate more with Saskatchewanians,
ardent hockey fans anywhere will still find it informative, enjoyable
reading.