Shoot to Score

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.

“Shoot to score” was the advice offered to Steven Edwards, a Grade 7
student and aspiring hockey player, by his older brother, Jeff. Such
advice was easy for Jeff to give for he was already a member of the West
Van peewee rep team, the team an abashed Steven had just failed to make.
Relegated to playing defence on the B team, Steven still carries the
faint hope that he could be asked to join the senior team for its
February Colorado tournament. While feeling overshadowed by Jeff, whom
he is certain his father prefers, Steven must cope with demanding Coach
Carter whose twin sons, Josh and Andrew, also play on the B team. Making
matters worse, Josh, for some unknown reason, targets Steven for verbal
abuse. The ramifications of a team practical joke played during a
Kelowna hockey tournament serve both to pull the team together and to
provide Steven with insights into Josh’s behavior and his own
relationship with his father and brother. A final test awaits Steven
when he is given the chance to join the rep team on its February trip,
an event that conflicts with the B team’s playoff games.

Shoot to Score is a light, undemanding read that imbeds aspects of the
problem novel in the action of a hockey setting while adding just the
slightest touch of early adolescent romance. Boys who are reluctant
readers will be drawn to the book’s action cover art. Recommended.