The Best and Worst of Hockey Firsts: The Unofficial Guide

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

Both Don Weekes and Kerry Banks are veterans of the hockey trivia wars,
and with this volume they have succeeded in finding a plethora of
first-time events that even the most diehard fan would be hard-pressed
to discover. Similar to promoters who have invented sports like indoor
football and ultimate Frisbee, Weekes and Banks have produced a book of
obscure trivia following their own rules.

Whether intentionally or not, The Best and Worst of Hockey Firsts
should bring comic relief to the reader. Although the usual firsts are
expected, like scoring and goaltending records, the most obscure
scenarios stand out: the first team to play a game inside a prison, the
first game cancelled by rain, the first goalie to have his jugular vein
slashed, the first TV sitcom to feature a crazed “face-painting”
hockey fan, and the first arena with a microbrewery are only a few of
the hundreds of weird, and sometimes wonderful, happenings attributed to
the sport of hockey.

In 20 chapters with catchy titles like “Crime Blotter,” “Sniper
Fire,” “Smoking Guns,” and “Smells Like Team Spirit,” the
authors introduce their firsts (and worsts) in a sentence each, followed
by the appropriate answer. The specifics for each item are then
explained in a brief narrative.

The Best and Worst of Hockey Firsts is amusing, insightful,
challenging, and designed for the ultimate hockey trivia buff. Many of
the “firsts” have been manufactured by the writers. Weekes and Banks
show ingenuity with their selections, but hockey purists may reject many
of their questionable constructs.