Ice Hawk

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.

Keven Hawkins, better known by his nickname, Ice Hawk, has assumed the role of policeman on his Junior B hockey team. The physical brand of hockey Keven plays attracts the attention of a Junior A scout who invites Keven to join the Cougars, a step which “Hawk” sees as leading to a pro career. Hawk quickly discovers that his promotion has been based more on his fighting skills than his hockey abilities and that his ice time will be directly proportional to how roughly he plays. This situation causes a conflict within Hawk, for his rugged style during his Junior B career had almost led to the accidental death of an opposing player. Hawk experiences a moment of moral crisis when he is ordered by his new squad to deliberately injure a star from another team. Refusal means being cut from the Cougars and, hence, possibly never becoming a pro. To accept, though, is to cross what Keven sees as the fine line between policeman and goon.

Ice Hawk displays some of the faults endemic to the genre of high interest/low vocabulary books. Characters tend to be types rather than real people. In addition to tomorrow’s Lady Byng winner, the cast includes loyal friend Cheeky Hinton, crusading newsman Miles, win-at-all-costs coach Green, and I’ll-love-you-when-you-clean-up-your-act girlfriend Jenny. The pell-mell episodic plot pays minimal attention to cause and effect and concludes on a Cinderella-ish note with Hawk’s being courted by the junior version of Team Canada. Despite, or perhaps because of these shortcomings, the book will find readers among early adolescent males who are intimidated by full-length novels. The subject matter is appealing, and the full-colour cover photograph of hockey paraphernalia is enticing. Paul McCusker’s black-and-white illustrations on virtually every other page effectively capture the mood of the text. Large print, generous leading, and the numerous illustrations make the book a quick and easy read!