For the Love of Hockey: Hockey Stars' Personal Stories. Rev. ed.

Description

200 pages
Contains Photos
$24.95
ISBN 1-55209-606-8
DDC 796.972'092'2

Publisher

Year

2001

Contributor

Edited by Compiled by Chris McDonell
Reviewed by Janet Money

Janet Money is a writer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation in Toronto.

Review

This collection of first-person ruminations about hockey by some of the
best to play the game will be a welcome addition to hockeyphiles’
libraries. There are no uninteresting stories here. Tough guy and
substance abuser Derek Sanderson recalls being knocked out twice in the
same game by Gordie Howe’s elbow, and admits how he failed to heed
Phil Esposito’s warning, early in his career, to avoid alcohol (“I
lived hard and I paid the price”). Johnny Bucyk, who won many awards
and much esteem, says the award he treasures most, and which he still
wears, was a medal made for him by some teammates. Peter Stastny talks
about how responsible he felt for his brother Marion’s difficult
year—he lost all his friends because they would be routinely
interrogated after visiting him—before they got him out of
Czechoslovakia. And legendary goaltender Glenn Hall discusses his famous
penchant for pre-game purging: “I always felt I played better if I was
physically sick before the game. If I wasn’t sick, I felt I hadn’t
done everything I could to try to win.”

Although the book is a revised edition, there are some oddities; for
example, goaltender Jim Carey talks about winning the Stanley Cup as an
achievable goal, but an editorial note reveals that he is retired.
Excellent action photographs and personal statistics supplement the
hockey stars’ accounts.

Citation

“For the Love of Hockey: Hockey Stars' Personal Stories. Rev. ed.,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed October 15, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/7323.