All-Star Pride

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.

The promise of hockey action will attract middle-schoolers to these
three Orca Sports titles, but readers will also discover that the books
contain a mystery that the central character, a 17-year-old hockey
player from a Western Hockey League team, will solve with the assistance
of a new romantic interest. The contents of All-Star Pride and Rebel
Glory may appear familiar because both books were originally published
in 1995 as part of the Lightning on Ice series (Thomas Nelson).

Russian criminals are central to All-Star Pride and Tiger Threat’s
mysteries. In the former, Timothy “Hog” Burnell, a member of a WHL
all-star team playing a seven-game summer series in Russia against that
nation’s best junior players, unwittingly becomes ensnared in a scheme
involving stolen valuable Russian paintings being smuggled into North
America. In the latter, when the coach tells Medicine Hat Tiger centre
Ray Hockaday to protect the team’s Russian superstar, Vladislav
“Vlad” Malininich, Ray has no inkling that Vlad’s life will be
threatened by the Russian mafia. Finally, in Rebel Glory, defenceman
Craig McElhaney, following a string of team “accidents,” concludes
that someone is trying to sabotage the Red Deer Rebels’ run at a
playoff position.

Beyond the mystery element, the books share other commonalities. Each
central character possesses a character “flaw” that could
potentially impact his making it to the NHL: Hog feels handicapped by
his parents’ financial straits, Ray fears hockey’s hard-hitting
aspects, and Craig dreads making dumb on-ice mistakes. However, within
the books’ action, the three players overcome these defects and
achieve their immediate hockey goals. As befitting sports titles aimed
at early adolescent boys, the romance element, while present, is
underplayed. Because Brouwer is particularly adept at creating authentic
hockey action, some readers might wish for more rink action and less
sleuthing. Recommended.