A Century of Hockey Heroes

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.

In an alphabetical organization from Syl Apps to Steve Yzerman, the
authors present their version of the world’s 100 best hockey players
of the 20th century. While most are current or former members of the
National Hockey League, 10 international greats from Sweden,
Czechoslovakia, and Russia are also included.

Each player is dealt with via a pair of facing pages, one of which is
usually a captioned, full-color glossy action photo. On the other page,
the authors provide the player’s position, height, weight, and birth
date plus a table outlining his NHL season-by-season statistics for both
the regular season and the playoffs. (For foreign players’ statistics
as members of national teams participating in major world tournaments
are utilized in lieu of their club stats.) A brief history of the
player, coupled with comments about his particular skills or noteworthy
achievements, complete the page.

Casual hockey fans may be pleased to read about former greats like
George Vezina and Art Ross whose impact on the game of hockey has been
recognized by NHL trophies. More devoted fans can likely predict most of
the authors’ selections (names that include Gordie Howe, Maurice
Richard, and Wayne Gretzky); some of these true fans may take issue with
some of the selections from among the current crop of hockey
heroes—players such as Peter Forsberg and Paul Kariya, whose careers
began in the mid–1990s and who have not yet been tested by time.

A high-interest purchase for middle and senior schools, A Century of
Hockey Heroes also has a place in the adult collections of public
libraries. Recommended.