The Hockey Card

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

A hockey-obsessed young boy celebrates his birthday by watching a hockey
game on the television with his dad and his Uncle Jack. When it is time
for bed, Uncle Jack tells his nephew a story about his favorite hockey
card. Once upon a time, way back when Uncle Jack was a little boy, all
the kids at school collected, traded, and even gambled with hockey
cards. One day, Sylvester Kornpot challenged Uncle Jack to “Odds and
Evens,” a game where the winner takes all the loser’s cards. Because
Sylvester was the best card player at school, Jack was afraid of losing
his cards, but he was even more afraid of being labeled “chicken” by
his classmates. At lunch they played and sure enough, in no time Jack
found himself down to his last and favorite card, Maurice “The
Rocket” Richard. Then the game changed.

Two generations of hockey fans find a common bond in a battered old
Maurice Richard hockey card in this charming picture book. By day, Jack
Siemiatycki is a scientist and Avi Slodovnick is a lawyer. By night,
these two brothers-in-law like to get together to talk hockey and tell
stories to their families. With award-winning illustrator Doris Barrette
added to the lineup, this book delivers a power play performance to the
reader. Highly recommended.