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Burning the Midnight Oil

The Hockey Fanatics’ Definitive List of Hockey Books

25 Hockey Books All Hockey Fans Should Read

Being a self-proclaimed Hockey Fanatic means that you eat, sleep and breath hockey. When I started the Hockey Fanatic site back in 2011 , I wanted to share all of the great experiences that come along with being a hockey fan. I wanted to create a site for the true hockey fan where they could go to find fun hockey lists, notable hockey stats and entertaining hockey anecdotes. It’s pretty been a one-man show. I am the author, I’m the editor, I’m the hockey fan who uses the Hockey Fanatic as a great hockey resource.

My inspiration is a simple one. I am passionate about hockey. No, I never got to play at the high level that I probably should have, but I’ve been involved in so many facets of the game. I’ve been an official, I’ve been a players, I’ve coached a little, I’ve been a spectator and my most important job I’m a hockey parent.

My collection of hockey books is impressive to say the least. I believe I have every book written about the Edmonton Oilers (save one). I enjoy the tails that former NHL players, coaches and executives tell. I especially enjoy the writings of Ken Dryden who has authored some of the greatest hockey books to have ever been published. Mr. Dryden even inspired me to write my own hockey book: Burning the Midnight Oil: The Story of a Lifelong Oilers Fan .

With the holiday season coming up, you might be in the market for a Christmas gift for that special hockey fan in your life. May I recommend a good hockey book? There are so man, but to help you decide on which hockey book to consider I present to you The Hockey Fanatics Definitive list of 25 hockey books that all hockey fans should read.

Within our list of the top twenty-five hockey books that all hockey fans should read are books for the past 50 years. There are too many to list here but there have been some great books that have come out over the past decade that could have easily made this list as well.

Honorable Mention : Hockey Card Stories: True Tales from Your Favourite Players – Ken Reid – This is a fun book. Amazon describes the book as “Hockey Card Stories reveals what was really going on in your favourite old hockey cards through the eyes of the players depicted on them. Some of the cards are definitely worth a few bucks, some a few cents ― but every story told here is priceless. Sportsnet’s Ken Reid presents the cards you loved and the airbrushed monstrosities that made you howl, the cards that have been packed away in boxes forever, and others you can’t believe ever existed.”

#25: The Hockey Sweater – Authored by Roch Carrier (1979) . An all-time classic and iconic piece of Canadian literature. Amazon’s recap of the classic short story: In the days of Roch’s childhood, winters in the village of Ste. Justine were long. Life centered around school, church, and the hockey rink, and every boy’s hero was Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Maurice Richard. Everyone wore Richard’s number 9. They laced their skates like Richard. They even wore their hair like Richard. When Roch outgrows his cherished Canadiens sweater, his mother writes away for a new one. Much to Roch’s horror, he is sent the blue and white sweater of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, dreaded and hated foes to his beloved team. How can Roch face the other kids at the rink?

#24. The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team – Wayne Coffey – In 1980, the United States Olympic hockey team pulled off one of the greatest upsets in sports history, winning the first medal round match against the Soviet Union. Lead by the visionary coaching of Herb Brooks, whose motivational techniques have since been immortalized in the film Miracle, the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team pulled out the Miracle on Ice. If you’re a fan of Team USA you’ll love this read.

#23. Play Better Hockey: The Essential Skills for Player Development – Ron Davidson – for the hockey player in your life, “Play Better Hockey: The Essential Skills for Player Development” (second edition) of Ron Davidson’s best-selling volume has been retooled with even more individual skill advancements for the modern player. From fundamentals to high-level skills, Play Better Hockey gives players the tools they need to become the next superstars of the NHL by focusing on the development of individual hockey skills and by promoting a mastery of body positioning, skating and stick work.

#22: The Hammer: Confessions of a Hockey Enforcer – Dave Schultz – Published in 1981, The Hammer depicts the career of former Broad Street bully Dave Schultz. The Hockey Fanatic listed Dave Schultz as the second best NHL fighter of all-time . Schultz still holds the NHL record for most penalty minutes in a single season, at 472. Learn more about what it was like being an NHL tough guy during the heyday of 1970’s NHL hockey.

The Hammer: Confessions of a Hockey Enforcer by Dave Schultz

#21. Tretiak: The Legend – Vladislav Tretiak – Published in 1987, Tretiak: The Legend provides an enlightening look into the hockey career of one of the greatest goaltenders the world has ever seen. It provides the story of Vladik Tretiak’s personal life and his relationships with his coaches, teammates and rivals. Relive the Canada / Russia hockey battles from the lens of a Soviet player. If you are a fan of the Russia/Canadian hockey rivalry (and Cold War politics) you should like this book.

#20. A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs & The Rise of Professional Hockey – Stephen J. Harper – Published in 2013, relive the history of hockey’s first decades and the early star players of the game. A Great Game shows how much about hockey has stayed the same with string hard-nosed play, fervent hockey fan hometown loyalties, owner-player contract disputes, partisan news coverage, and how big money were issues from the get-go. Hockey is a great game and learning about some of the early history shows how the game has grown but maintained critical aspects to be the game we all love to play and watch.

#19. Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games: Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey’s Greatest Record –Mike Brophy and Todd Denault – there are a few books out there about Wayne Gretzky. I included this one because this is simply one amazing record that may never be broken. This book focuses on the 1981-1982 season in which he only needed thirty-nine games to score fifty goals. The fun of this book is that you get to be on the ice during each one of these games, as Gretzky describes them. I have been waiting to read this book and cannot wait to dive in. Originally published in 2016.

#18. Crossroads: My Story of Tragedy and resilience as a Humboldt Bronco – Kaleb Dahlgren – On April 6, 2018, the Humboldt Broncos were going to a playoff game when a semi-truck struck their bus in which the collision resulted in sixteen deaths and thirteen injuries. Among the victims was Kaleb Dahlgren, who suffered a fractured skull and dislocated shoulder. Dahlgren tells his story of resilience in the face of the Broncos bus tragedy. He describes his journey from being hospitalized and in critical condition to making a full recovery and eventually returning to play for the Broncos. This is his story…

#17. Hockey Moms: The Heart of the Game – Theresa Bailey / Terry Marcotte – In the Hockey universe we can argue that there is no one more important than the Hockey Mom. Hockey moms: The Heart of the Game is a great collection of stories and celebration of the unsung heroes behind the game, including first-hand stories from moms of the NHL’s biggest stars. Hockey Moms laces together the stories of NHL hockey moms like Kelly McDavid and Ema Matthews with those of mothers who never expected their children to set foot on the ice.

#16. Over the Boards: Lessons from the Ice – Hayley Wickenheiser. The greatest women’s hockey player of all time, Hayley Wickenheiser shares the lessons that won her four Olympic gold medals, and hard-earned wisdom. Published in 2021, Hayley shares the hard-won lessons she learned on and off the ice that helped her not only have a record-breaking hockey career but craft a life filled with joy, growth, and challenges.

#15. Cujo: The Untold Story of My Life On and Off the Ice – Cutis Joseph / Kirstie McLellan Day – Published in 2019, this is a book that a number of people have recommended to me over the past couple of years. A 31 best seller, Amazon describes this book as… “in this revealing memoir, Joseph talks about his highly unusual upbringing and what led him to put on his first pair of skates. Written by Kirstie McLellan Day, the world’s top writer of hockey books, this book surprises and entertains, and shares on- and off-the-ice tales no fan has heard before: the untold story behind the legend.”

#14. Burke’s Law: A Life in Hockey – Bryan Burke / Stephen Brunt. Published in 2020, Burke’s Law is an entertaining journey through the life of an NHL executive and one of the biggest hockey personalities. Some great stories of his days as an NHL GM, junior player and advocate of the game. Want to learn how he pulled off the trade at the draft to land both Henrik and Daniel Sedin? It’s in there too. Great read.

#13. Playing with Fire – Theoren Fleury -Published in 2009 and co-written with author Kirstie McLellan Day, Theoren Fleury documents how he became a star player in junior and in the NHL, Stanley Cup champion and an Olympic gold medalist despite battling drug and alcohol addictions that ultimately ended his NHL career. A best seller, Playing with Fire sold over 80,000 copies within six weeks of its release.

#12. A Helluva Life in Hockey – Brian McFarlane – Brian McFarlane is one of the great storytellers of the game of hockey. Published in 1989, A Helluva Life in Hockey is a captivating memoir from Canada’s foremost hockey historian and a beloved NHL commentator. McFarlane has written 96 (with one in the works) books on hockey, selling over 1.3 million books.

#11. Orr: My Story – Bobby Orr – there are so many great hockey memoirs out there (as you can see on our list). Published in 2014m Bobby Orr’s “Orr My Story” is a great look into one of the games and sports most loved athletes. Many will still describe Bobby Orr as the greatest hockey player to play the game. As Chapters-Indigo describes the book: “In the end, this is not just a book about hockey. The most meaningful biographies and memoirs rise above the careers out of which they grew. Bobby Orr’s life goes far deeper than Stanley Cup rings, trophies and recognitions. His story is not only about the game, but also the age in which it was played. It’s the story of a small-town kid who came to define its highs and lows, and inevitably it is a story of the lessons he learned along the way.”

#10. Mr. Hockey: My Story – Gordie Howe – Published in 2013, Mr. Hockey: My Story is a great read about the playing career of arguably the NHL’s best all-around player Gordie Howe. Mr. Hockey shares some insights into how different the game was in the 40’s and 50s and when he was young regarding player contracts, players getting paid peanuts, and playing through horrible travel conditions. From the fields of Saskatchewan to the ice of Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Gordie Howe is Mr. Hockey.

#9. Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the N.H.L.’s First Treaty Indigenous Player – Fred Saskamoose – Published in 2021, an amazing story of how Sasakamoose was taken from his home and sent to a residential school but went on to play in the NHL and played against some of the greatest players in the history of the league. Learn about how Fred Saskamoose became the first Indigenous player to make the National Hockey League.

#8. The Russian Five: A Story of Espionage, Defection, Bribery, and Courage – Keith Gave. Published in 2018, The Russian Five is a great account of how the 1990’s Detroit Red Wings became the dominant powerhouse in the NHL largely because of the Russian Five. They is a great documentary on this as well, but the book is an amazing read of how the Detroit Red Wings went from outhouse in the eighties to penthouse in the nineties. This is the story of espionage, defection, and bribery that brought five Russian players to the Detroit Red Wings dating back to the early eighties.

#7. 99: Stories of the Game – Wayne Gretzky with Kirstie McLellan Day – Published in 2016, The Great One” shares some of his favourite stories as he recalls memories of his legendary career with an inside look at the sport of professional hockey, and the heroes and stories that inspired him.

#6. Beauties: Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories – James Duthie – Published in 2021, Duthie has compiled a number of great stories some fun some funny. The Roberto Luongo foreward is worth the price of this book alone.

#5. The Rebel League: The Short and Unruly Life of the World Hockey Association – Ed Willes. From Bobby Hull’ s astonishing million-dollar signing to how the Edmonton Oilers had to smuggle fugitive forward Frankie Beaton out of their dressing room in an equipment bag, The Rebel League includes a bunch of great anecdotes of the WHA. A very entertaining read. Originally published in 2005, The Rebel League is one of The Hockey Fanatic’s all-time favourite hockey books.

#4. Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey – Ken Dryden – Ken Dryden is a Conn Smythe winning goalie and a best selling author. Published in 2107, Game Change is a powerful examination of hockey’s failure to address the growing issue of head shots and concussions in hockey. Well researched and very convincing, Dryden writes about the life of Steve Montador from his youth and his minor hockey days in Ontario to the end of his NHL career due to multiple head injuries and his untimely death at the age of 35. Dryden looks at the scientific quest to better understand the short and longtime effects of concussions and describes the history of game of hockey to illustrate how players are more vulnerable than ever to these types of head injuries.

#3. Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the N.H.L.’s First Black Player – Published in 2020, I must say that this is one of my favourite hockey books that I have ever read. Written by Willie O’Ree and Michael McKinley, the book details how O’Ree, not unlike Jackie Robinson in baseball became the for African-Canadian to play in the National Hockey League. Simply put, Willie O’Ree is an amazing man with courage, skill, ands smarts to excel at the game of hockey. Willie O’Ree was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2018 and was a key component in the creation of the NHL Diversity program.

#2. The Game – Ken Dryden – Published in 1983, The Game by Ken Dryden is one of the greatest books written of all time. Much of the book is about Dryden’s Canadiens teammates, life on the road, and details of the life of a professional hockey player. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the Montreal Canadiens 1978-79 team that would go on to win the Stanley Cup. Gain insights about some of the games all-time great players from one of the players themselves. Ken Dryden was not like other pro hockey players, it is an amazing view of the game and the locker room from one who was within the inner sanctum. Sports Illustrated has list “The Game” as one of the greatest sports books of all time.

#1. The Game of Our Lives – Peter Gzowski – released in 1981, this was the first real hockey book I remember reading. The original cover of the book actually features Wayne Gretzky on it. The book recounts the 1980-81 season Peter Gzowski spent travelling around the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. What makes this book so much more amazing is that it details the Oilers pre-Stanley Cup championships, describes all of those great Hall-of-Famers as they were just stating their NHL careers. You don’t have to be an Edmonton Oilers fan to appreciate this but it you are an Oilers fan you will love this book!

There you have it, The Hockey Fanatic’s Definitive list of hockey books that all hockey fans should read. Of course, there are many more hockey books that are amazing reads, but this list covers a diverse perspective of the game. Heck did you know there is even a hockey romance book category of hockey books? What’s the best hockey book ever? Well, that’s for you to decide. We’re hoping our list will whet your appetite to pick up a good hockey book and learn about some of the game’s greatest events and players that have played, coached, parented or officiated the game.

5 Great Hockey Books for Kids

You may have noticed that we included one children’s hockey book on our list. There are many great hockey books for children, so we will feature some of the best hockey books for children in an upcoming post, but for now here’s five great hockey books for kids.

#5. I Am a Zamboni Machine – Kevin Viala (2014) Younger hockey fans will love seeing this big Zamboni machine in action! Featuring simple facts and colourful illustrations, this book follows a Zamboni as it does its job to clear and resurface the rink.

#4. The Moccasin Goalie – Written by William Roy Brownridge (2016). Danny has a disability that prevents him from being able to wear skates, but that doesn’t stop him from playing the sport he loves with his friends, hockey. Only one of his friends gets picked for the town team, but later on Danny has the chance to prove that he could be a good asset to the team.

#3. Goodnight Hockey – Michael Dahl (author) / Christina E Forshay (illustrator) – 2017 . Any fans of the Goodnight Moon children’s book? Goodnight Hockey is the perfect bedtime board book for every hockey fan! The rhyming text, exciting illustrations, and classic sport combination are a hat-trick of fun for the whole family.

#2. Just One Goal – Robert Munsch (author) Michael Martchenko (illustrator) – 2008 . Ciara is tired of hauling her hockey gear across town to play on the rink. It makes no sense―there is a perfectly good frozen river in her own backyard! But her dad says it’s too jagged, and her mom says it’s too bumpy, and her older sisters don’t see why she can’t keep going all the way across town, just like they did. But Ciara won’t let anybody stop her. And with a little help from the neighbourhood, she knows that her team, the River Rink Rats, will finally win a game on their own brand new rink.

#1. The Hockey Sweater – Authored by Roch Carrier (1979) . An all-time classic an iconic piece of Canadian literature. Amazon’s recap of the classic short story: In the days of Roch’s childhood, winters in the village of Ste. Justine were long. Life centered around school, church, and the hockey rink, and every boy’s hero was Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Maurice Richard. Everyone wore Richard’s number 9. They laced their skates like Richard. They even wore their hair like Richard. When Roch outgrows his cherished Canadiens sweater, his mother writes away for a new one. Much to Roch’s horror, he is sent the blue and white sweater of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, dreaded and hated foes to his beloved team. How can Roch face the other kids at the rink?

Other hockey book lists that you might be interested in:

Celebrate the NHL Centennial with the top 100 hockey books: https://www.booknetcanada.ca/blog/2018/1/22/celebrate-the-nhl-centennial-with-the-top-100-hockey-books
26 awesome hockey books (Today’s Parent) https://www.todaysparent.com/family/books/21-awesome-hockey-books/
25 Must Read Books about Hockey and the NHL: https://www.onmybooklist.com/hockey-books.html
30 in 30: Notable Hockey Books https://sihrhockey.org/2020/pubs/30_in_30.cfm
17 Best Hockey Biography Books of All Time (Editor’s Note: We do not necessarily agree with the books featured on this list, but there are still some fine choices). https://bookauthority.org/books/best-hockey-biography-books

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Hockey Biographies

99: Stories of the Game

By: Wayne Gretzky
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 423
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 367
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 363

In this sports memoir, Wayne Gretzky weaves memories of his legendary career with an inside look at professional hockey and the heroes and stories that inspired him. From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One”, he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has - but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw.

5 out of 5 stars

A great book

By Amazon Customer on 03-28-18
Release date: 10-18-16
Language: English
4.5 out of 5 stars 423 ratings

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Regular price: $20.25 or 1 credit

Sale price: $20.25 or 1 credit

Scotty Audiobook By Ken Dryden cover art

A Hockey Life Like No Other
By: Ken Dryden
Narrated by: Ken Dryden
Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 115
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 102
Story 5 out of 5 stars 101

Scotty Bowman is recognized as the best coach in hockey history, and one of the greatest coaches in all of sports. He won more games and more Stanley Cups than anyone else. Despite all the changes in hockey, he coached at the very top for more than four decades, his first Cup win and his last an astonishing thirty-nine years apart. Yet perhaps most uniquely, different from anyone else who has ever lived or ever will again, he has continuously experienced the best of hockey since he was fourteen years old.

Great Concept and Excellent Execution

By Dennis E. Pipper on 04-24-20
Release date: 10-29-19
5 out of 5 stars 115 ratings

Scotty Bowman is recognized as the best coach in hockey history, and one of the greatest coaches in all of sports. He won more games and more Stanley Cups than anyone else....

Regular price: $27.00 or 1 credit

Sale price: $27.00 or 1 credit

Boy on Ice Audiobook By John Branch cover art

The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard
By: John Branch
Narrated by: John Pruden
Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 76
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Story 5 out of 5 stars 69

The much-anticipated debut from the Pulitzer Prize - winning New York Times reporter, Boy on Ice is a moving human story and behind-the-scenes account of a life lived in the glare of sporting fame. The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports.

4 out of 5 stars

Very interesting hockey bio of a fighter

By Mark on 01-03-16
Release date: 12-23-14
4.5 out of 5 stars 76 ratings
Boy on Ice is a moving human story and behind-the-scenes account of a life lived in the glare of sporting fame....

Regular price: $24.95 or 1 credit

Sale price: $24.95 or 1 credit

The Boys of Winter

The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
By: Wayne Coffey
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 307
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 272
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 272

Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after.

Great, but...

By S. B. G. on 02-13-18
Release date: 02-28-17
4.5 out of 5 stars 307 ratings
They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century....

Regular price: $14.61 or 1 credit

Sale price: $14.61 or 1 credit

Ice Capades

A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey
By: Sean Avery, Michael McKinley
Narrated by: Sean Avery
Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 608
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 547
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 544

As one of the NHL's most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on its head. For 13 seasons Avery played for some of the toughest, most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player that was sometimes loved, often despised, but always controversial.

Great book for any hockey fan

By Daniel on 09-09-20
By: Sean Avery , Michael McKinley
Release date: 10-24-17
4.5 out of 5 stars 608 ratings
Controversial hockey star Sean Avery's no-holds-barred memoir of high living and bad behavior in the NHL....

Mr. Hockey Audiobook By Gordie Howe cover art

By: Gordie Howe
Narrated by: Don Hagen
Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 242
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 219
Story 5 out of 5 stars 219

Big, skilled, tough on the ice, and nearly indestructible, Howe dominated both the sport and the record books like no one has before or since. Over an incredible six decades, the Hall of Famer had so many accomplishments that he set the record for the most records by any athlete ever in any sport. He also achieved the remarkable feat of playing for six years with his own two sons, Mark and Marty.

By Tattooed Birdy on 07-02-21
Release date: 10-14-14
5 out of 5 stars 242 ratings
The definitive autobiography from hockey's greatest living legend - "Mr. Hockey" himself, Gordie Howe....

Regular price: $15.75 or 1 credit

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Sidney Crosby

The Rookie Year
By: Sidney Crosby
Narrated by: Sidney Crosby, Joe Manganiello
Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
Original Recording
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 1,999
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 1,768
Story 5 out of 5 stars 1,762

Sidney Crosby is ready to tell his story in his own words. As one of the greatest NHL players of all time, he reflects on his 2005-06 rookie season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. From a Canadian phenom dubbed “the next Gretzky” to an 18-year-old carrying the burden of a struggling franchise, he talks candidly about the intense pressure he was under, the surreal experience of lacing up alongside his childhood idol Mario Lemieux and the truth about his rivalry with Alex Ovechkin.

3 out of 5 stars

Neat story, disappointed with foul language

By Josh on 03-28-22
Narrated by: Sidney Crosby , Joe Manganiello
Release date: 03-02-22
5 out of 5 stars 1,999 ratings

Sidney Crosby is ready to tell his story in his own words. As one of the greatest NHL players of all time, he reflects on his 2005-06 rookie season with the Pittsburgh Penguins....

Regular price: $19.91 or 1 credit

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Pain Killer

A Memoir of Big League Addiction
By: Brantt Myhres, Michael Landsberg - foreword
Narrated by: Brantt Myhres, Michael Landsberg
Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 67
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 64
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 63

Brantt Myhres wasn't around for the birth of his daughter. Myhres had played for seven different NHL teams, and had made millions. But he'd been suspended four times, all for drug use, and he had partied his way out of the league. This is his story, in his own words, of how he fought his way out of minor hockey into the big league, but never left behind the ghosts of a bleak and troubled childhood.

I love hockey.

By Brew2go on 06-14-21
By: Brantt Myhres , Michael Landsberg - foreword
Narrated by: Brantt Myhres , Michael Landsberg
Release date: 02-16-21
5 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

From the only player to be banned for life from the NHL comes a harrowing tale of addiction, and an astonishing path to recovery....

Regular price: $22.29 or 1 credit

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Nicklas Lidstrom

The Pursuit of Perfection
By: Niklas Lidstrom, Gunnar Nordstrom - with, Bob Duff - with
Narrated by: Barry Abrams
Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 46
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 42
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 42

The life and career of Nicklas Lidstrom almost reads like a real-life hockey fairy tale. Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings as a 19-year-old defenseman out of his native Sweden, Lidstrom spent the next two decades manning the Motor City blueline. During those years he became a Hockeytown legend, amassing a mind-boggling collection of accomplishments and accolades: four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenseman, a Conn Smythe Trophy, 12 All-Star selections, and gold medals in both the Olympics and World Championships.

one of the best wings

By JANE L HAGAN on 05-16-23
By: Niklas Lidstrom , Gunnar Nordstrom - with , Bob Duff - with
Release date: 05-05-20
4.5 out of 5 stars 46 ratings

In Nicklas Lidstrom: The Pursuit of Perfection , the Hall of Fame defenseman and a who's-who of hockey luminaries investigate and reveal precisely how he made dominating the game he loves appear so effortless....

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The Grim Reaper

The Life and Career of a Reluctant Warrior
By: Stu Grimson
Narrated by: Stu Grimson
Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 71
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 62
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 62

NHL tough guys all tell the same story. They all grew up dreaming of skating in the big league as stars. Then one day, a coach tells them the only way to make it is to drop the gloves. And every guy says the same thing: I'll do whatever it takes to play in the NHL. Not Stu Grimson, though. When he was offered a contract to patrol the ice for the Calgary Flames, he said no thanks, and went to university instead. And that's the way Grimson has approached his career and his life: on his own terms.

A great story about a dying breed in the NHL

By C,L, Richey on 07-06-21
Release date: 03-10-20
5 out of 5 stars 71 ratings

A powerful memoir from an NHL heavyweight champion who moved from the dressing room to the courtroom....

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Stars of Hockey

Sports Stars
By: Matt Doeden
Narrated by: anonymous
Length: 2 mins
Overall 3 out of 5 stars 4
Performance 2.5 out of 5 stars 3
Story 2.5 out of 5 stars 3

They fire hard slap shots. They speed across the ice. Who are the brightest stars in the game of hockey?

Release date: 02-25-22
3 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

They fire hard slap shots. They speed across the ice. Who are the brightest stars in the game of hockey? Listen to Stars of Hockey to learn more....

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Lake Placid Miracle

When U.S. Hockey Stunned the World
By: Blake Hoena, Eduardo Garcia
Length: 18 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 5
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 4
Story 5 out of 5 stars 4

In 1980 the Soviet Union had dominated the world of hockey for nearly 30 years. Nobody thought the USSR's hockey team could be beaten in the Winter Olympics. But US Hockey coach Herb Brooks didn't believe that. He pulled together a ragtag team of amateur hockey players and molded them into a team that could compete with the best teams in the world.

By: Blake Hoena , Eduardo Garcia
Release date: 03-15-22
5 out of 5 stars 5 ratings

In 1980 the Soviet Union had dominated the world of hockey for nearly 30 years. Nobody thought the USSR's hockey team could be beaten in the Winter Olympics....

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Burke's Law

A Life in Hockey
By: Brian Burke, Stephen Brunt - contributor
Narrated by: Brian Burke
Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 396
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 358
Story 5 out of 5 stars 356

Brian Burke is one of the biggest hockey personalities - no, personalities full-stop - in the hockey media landscape. His brashness makes him a magnet for attention, and he does nothing to shy away from it. Most famous for advocating "pugnacity, truculence, testosterone, and belligerence" during his tenure at the helm of the Maple Leafs, Burke has lived and breathed hockey his whole life.

I couldn’t put it down

By VyTri on 11-11-20
By: Brian Burke , Stephen Brunt - contributor
Release date: 10-13-20
5 out of 5 stars 396 ratings

The gruffest man in hockey opens up about the challenges, the feuds, and the tragedies he's fought through....

Jonathan Toews

By: Gail Saunders-Smith, Tracy Nelson Maurer
Length: 3 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 1
Performance 0 out of 5 stars 0
Story 0 out of 5 stars 0

Jonathan Toews is a standout center in the NHL. Learn about his childhood and his rise to becoming a hockey superstar.

By: Gail Saunders-Smith , Tracy Nelson Maurer
4 out of 5 stars 1 rating

Jonathan Toews is a standout center in the NHL. Learn about his childhood and his rise to becoming a hockey superstar....

The Most Incredible Hockey Stories Ever Told

Inspirational and Legendary Tales from the Greatest Hockey Players and Games of All Time
By: Hank Patton
Narrated by: Virtual Voice
Length: 3 hrs
Overall 0 out of 5 stars 0

Are you a fan of hockey and the amazing stories that take place on the ice? Get ready to lace up your skates and dive into a world of slap shots, hat tricks, and heart-pounding action! Introducing The Most Incredible Hockey Stories Ever Told – the ultimate puck-tastic journey through the thrilling, chilling, and occasionally spill-filled world of ice hockey In this book, you'll be transported to the heart of the rink, where the icy battles of the coolest sport on earth come to life. Join us for a wild ride as we share incredible tales of determination, teamwork, and sheer, unadulterated ...

Release date: 04-18-24
Not rated yet
Are you a fan of hockey and the amazing stories that take place on the ice? Get ready to lace up your skates and dive into a world of slap shots, ...

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Dreamer Audiobook By Nazem Kadri cover art

My Life on the Edge
By: Nazem Kadri
Length: Not Yet Known

No one who knows the game is unfamiliar with the story of the NHL’s first Muslim Stanley Cup winner, Nazem Kadri, nor does anyone doubt his warmth and openness in front of a microphone, or his eagerness to challenge the next generation of Muslim athletes. He is a league All-Star, a highlight-reel player, and someone who has been called upon to be the face of his community from the moment he put on skates.

Release date: 10-15-24

An outspoken, inspirational memoir from a charismatic athlete in the spotlight, Dreamer is the moving story of the first Muslim hockey player to win the Stanley Cup, and the impossible dreams he made a reality.

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Vlad the Impaler

More Epic Tales from Detroit's '97 Stanley Cup Conquest
By: Keith Gave
Narrated by: Bob Brill
Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 4

Picking up where the best seller The Russian Five left off, Vlad the Impaler will have listeners alternately laughing and in tears with dozens more memorable, untold stories and anecdotes from the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup championship season 25 years ago. The book includes a foreword by Hall of Fame defenseman Slava Fetisov, along with lengthy excerpts from interviews of several members of that team, from captain Steve Yzerman, teammates Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Slava Kozlov, and coach Scotty Bowman, among many others.

Release date: 08-01-22
5 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

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Frank Zamboni and the Ice-Resurfacing Machine

Inventions and Discovery
By: Kay Melchisedech Olson
Length: 14 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 4
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 3
Story 4 out of 5 stars 3

Frank Zamboni created the ice-resurfacing machine, and ice-based sports would never be the same!

Series: Graphic Biographies
Release date: 02-28-22
4 out of 5 stars 4 ratings

Frank Zamboni created the ice-resurfacing machine, and ice-based sports would never be the same....

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Tales from the New Jersey Devils Locker Room

A Collection of the Greatest Devils Stories Ever Told
By: Mike Kerwick, Glen 'Chico' Resch
Narrated by: David Marantz
Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 9
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 9

In Tales from the New Jersey Devils Locker Room, former New Jersey goalie Chico Resch and coauthor Mike Kerwick bring listeners along for a wild ride from the lean early seasons to the three Stanley Cup championships of this beloved team.

Loved this book

By Martha on 04-07-24
By: Mike Kerwick , Glen 'Chico' Resch
Release date: 02-20-13
4.5 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
In Tales from the New Jersey Devils Locker Room, former New Jersey goalie Chico Resch and coauthor Mike Kerwick bring listeners along for a wild ride....

Regular price: $14.95 or 1 credit

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Game of My Life: New York Rangers

Memorable Stories of Rangers Hockey
By: John Halligan, John Kreiser
Narrated by: David Deboy
Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 6
Performance 3.5 out of 5 stars 4
Story 4 out of 5 stars 5

Famous games and players have been the hallmark of the New York Rangers from their NHL debut in 1926 to the present day. From Frank Boucher and the original Blueshirts to Jaromir Jagr, the Rangers have thrilled their fans with some of the most memorable performances in hockey history. In Game of My Life: New York Rangers , John Halligan and John Kreiser share the recollections of 24 of the most famous names in Rangers history as they discuss the most memorable games in their careers.

By: John Halligan , John Kreiser
Release date: 12-18-12
4 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
Famous games and players have been the hallmark of the New York Rangers from their NHL debut in 1926 to the present day....
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Hockey Biographies

Sidney Crosby

The Rookie Year
By: Sidney Crosby
Narrated by: Sidney Crosby, Joe Manganiello
Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
Original Recording
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 52
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 47
Story 5 out of 5 stars 46

4 out of 5 stars

Inspiring journey wonderful guy

By Jason on 31-01-23
Narrated by: Sidney Crosby , Joe Manganiello
Release date: 02-03-22
Language: English
5 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

Sidney Crosby is ready to tell his story in his own words. As one of the greatest NHL players of all time, he reflects on his 2005-06 rookie season with the Pittsburgh Penguins....

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Regular price: £14.99 or 1 Credit

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Tales from the New Jersey Devils Locker Room

A Collection of the Greatest Devils Stories Ever Told
By: Mike Kerwick, Glen 'Chico' Resch
Narrated by: David Marantz
Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
Overall 0 out of 5 stars 0
Performance 0 out of 5 stars 0
Story 0 out of 5 stars 0

By: Mike Kerwick , Glen 'Chico' Resch
Release date: 20-02-13
Not rated yet
In Tales from the New Jersey Devils Locker Room, former New Jersey goalie Chico Resch and coauthor Mike Kerwick bring listeners along for a wild ride....

Regular price: £11.99 or 1 Credit

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Tales from the Toronto Maple Leafs Locker Room

A Collection of the Greatest Maple Leafs Stories Ever Told
By: David Shoalts
Narrated by: Ian Eugene Ryan
Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins

The glory years for the Toronto Maple Leafs—four Stanley Cups in the 1960s—may be distant memories, but what the team lacks in recent accomplishments is made up for by their history, which is rich in drama, pathos, and, most of all, humor. Figures connected to the Maple Leafs from the 1950s to the present offer their best stories, including some new takes on the team’s legends

Release date: 08-02-13
Skate into the rink with the best in Toronto hockey—newly updated....

Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room

A Collection of the Greatest Canadiens Stories Ever Told
By: Robert S. Lefebvre
Narrated by: J. P. Linton
Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 2
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 2
Story 4 out of 5 stars 2

When most sports fans hear the stat 3,000, they immediately turn to baseball. But for those fans whose breath comes out in frosty puffs, and who bleed ice and snow, 3,000 can only mean one thing - the glory of Montreal Canadiens hockey. The "Original One" of the "Original Six", the Montreal Canadiens hockey team is practically synonymous with superlative: The most Stanley Cup championship victories, with 24? The Montreal Canadiens. The highest number of regular-season wins? The Montreal Canadiens. The oldest active franchise in the NHL? The Montreal Canadiens.

3 out of 5 stars
By andrew anderson on 22-06-23
Release date: 23-02-13
4 out of 5 stars 2 ratings
Relive the greatest moments of Canadiens hockey with this one-of-a-kind collection....

Henri Richard (French Edition)

La légende aux 11 coupes Stanley [The Legend of 11 Stanley Cups]
By: Denis Richard, Léandre Normand
Narrated by: Éloi Archambaudoin
Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Fils du hockeyeur Henri Richard, Denis Richard, avec la collaboration de Léandre Normand, nous rappelle les exploits mais aussi les revers et les sautes d’humeur de son illustre père, le joueur le plus sous-estimé de l’histoire des Canadiens. Fougueux et déterminé, Henri a toujours mené son équipe par l’exemple plus que par la parole. Timide et renfermé, le « Pocket Rocket » a connu son lot d’heures glorieuses et d’autres plus difficiles aussi.

By: Denis Richard , Léandre Normand
Release date: 09-06-21
Language: French

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Ice War Diplomat

Hockey Meets Cold War Politics at the 1972 Summit Series
By: Gary J. Smith
Narrated by: Kyle Tait
Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins

Tasked with finding common ground and building friendships between the world's two largest countries and arctic neighbors, a young Canadian diplomat finds himself on his first overseas assignment in Moscow, the Soviet capital. It's the early 1970s and a Cold War between communism and capitalism, the west and the east, is simmering-while the ice rink is just starting to heat up. Smith opts for sports diplomacy, throwing off his embassy black tie dress codes and donning the blue and white sweater of the Moscow Maple Leafs.

Release date: 10-05-22

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A Fly in a Pail of Milk

The Herb Carnegie Story
By: Herb Carnegie, Bernice Carnegie
Narrated by: Leon Nixon, Adenrele Ojo
Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins

Herbert Carnegie was the complete hockey package in the 1940s and 1950s. Though his contributions to society both in sport and education have been referenced and profiled in books, documentaries, and thousands of articles, this is Carnegie's own account of striving to break the glass ceiling, starting with his career as a professional hockey player on all-white teams. In 1978, noted hockey journalist Stan Fischler wrote a powerful headline about Carnegie: "Born Too Soon."

By: Herb Carnegie , Bernice Carnegie
Narrated by: Leon Nixon , Adenrele Ojo
Release date: 08-11-19

Nicklas Lidstrom

The Pursuit of Perfection
By: Niklas Lidstrom, Gunnar Nordstrom - with, Bob Duff - with
Narrated by: Barry Abrams
Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
Overall 3.5 out of 5 stars 3
Performance 3.5 out of 5 stars 3
Story 3.5 out of 5 stars 3

By: Niklas Lidstrom , Gunnar Nordstrom - with , Bob Duff - with
Release date: 05-05-20
3.5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

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The Rodchenkov Affair

How I Brought Down Russia's Secret Doping Regime
By: Grigory Rodchenkov
Narrated by: Andrew Byron
Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 97
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 77
Story 5 out of 5 stars 77

In 2015, Russia’s Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme. Involving a nearly undetectable steroid delivery system known as ‘Duchesse cocktail’, tampering and switching of urine samples and a complex state-sanctioned cover-up, the programme was masterminded by Grigory Rodchenkov. The Rodchenkov Affair tells the full, unadulterated story that was first glimpsed in Bryan Fogel’s award-winning documentary and still continues to captivate and shock the world.

5 out of 5 stars

Lying Liars and the Liars That Tell Them!

By Gordon on 06-03-22
Release date: 30-07-20
4.5 out of 5 stars 97 ratings

In 2015, Russia’s Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics....

My Life Crossing the Line
By: Sean Avery, Michael McKinley
Narrated by: Sean Avery
Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 20
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 19

As one of the NHL's most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on their head. For 13 seasons, he played for some of the most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player who was sometimes loved, sometimes despised, and always controversial. In Offside , Avery displays his trademark candor about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton's game-changing Ball Four did for baseball.

By Tom Sliz on 01-05-20
By: Sean Avery , Michael McKinley
Release date: 29-11-17
4.5 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
Hockey's most polarizing figure takes us inside the game, shedding light on not only what goes on behind closed doors but also what makes professional athletes tick....

Game of My Life: New York Rangers

Memorable Stories of Rangers Hockey
By: John Halligan, John Kreiser
Narrated by: David Deboy
Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

By: John Halligan , John Kreiser
Release date: 18-12-12
Famous games and players have been the hallmark of the New York Rangers from their NHL debut in 1926 to the present day....

Burke's Law

A Life in Hockey
By: Brian Burke, Stephen Brunt - contributor
Narrated by: Brian Burke
Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 22

By: Brian Burke , Stephen Brunt - contributor
Release date: 13-10-20
4.5 out of 5 stars 24 ratings

The gruffest man in hockey opens up about the challenges, the feuds, and the tragedies he's fought through....

Regular price: £13.99 or 1 Credit

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Shattered Ice

By: Steve Seftel
Narrated by: Steve Seftel
Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
Overall 4 out of 5 stars 1
Performance 4 out of 5 stars 1
Story 4 out of 5 stars 1

This is a story about my hockey odyssey and passion for the game. My compelling journey starts on a schoolyard rink in Kitchener, Ontario. Filled with inspiring memories, people, relationships, players and coaches, including chance childhood meetings with Darryl Sittler and Wayne Gretzky. Along the way, young dreams turn to reality as I play my first NHL game at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, starting on a line with Dale Hunter and John Druce.

Release date: 06-12-19
4 out of 5 stars 1 rating

The Role I Played

Canada's Greatest Olympic Hockey Team
By: Sami Jo Small
Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
Length: 12 hrs
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 1
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 1

Men's hockey in Canada may hog the limelight, but interest in women's hockey has never been higher. The Role I Played is a memoir of Sami Jo Small's 10 years with Canada's National Women's Hockey Team. Beginning with her experience as a rookie at the first-ever women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 and culminating with Canada's third straight Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, the veteran goaltender gives the listener behind-the-scenes insight into one of the most successful teams in sports history.

Release date: 29-09-20
5 out of 5 stars 1 rating

The Role I Played is a memoir of Sami Jo Small's 10 years with Canada's National Women's Hockey Team. Beginning with her experience as a rookie at the first-ever women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 and culminating with Canada's third straight Olympic gold medal....

Detroit Red Wings

Greatest Moments and Players
By: Stan Fischler
Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 3
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 3

Stan Fischler, the dean of American hockey journalists and best-selling author of more than 60 books on hockey, profiles the heroes of Hockeytown in Detroit Red Wings: Greatest Moments and Players. One of the National Hockey League's "Original Six", few teams in professional hockey have enjoyed more success than the franchise in Detroit. Among the players Fischler glorifies are the immortal Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, and Sid Abel, all players whose numbers reside on banners in the rafters of Joe Louis Arena.

A GOLDMINE FOR AN RED WING FAN

By Mikael Åberg on 12-12-21
Release date: 28-02-13
4.5 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
Stan Fischler, the dean of American hockey journalists and best-selling author of more than 60 books on hockey, profiles the heroes of Hockeytown in Detroit Red Wings: Greatest Moments and Players. ...

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A Hockey Life Like No Other
By: Ken Dryden
Narrated by: Ken Dryden
Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Performance 4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Story 4.5 out of 5 stars 7

Fascinating Walk through Hockey History

By Adrienne on 11-07-23
Release date: 29-10-19
4.5 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

Scotty Bowman is recognized as the best coach in hockey history, and one of the greatest coaches in all of sports. He won more games and more Stanley Cups than anyone else....

This Team Is Ruining My Life (But I Love Them)

How I Became a Professional Hockey Fan
By: Steve "Dangle" Glynn
Narrated by: Steve "Dangle" Glynn
Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
Overall 5 out of 5 stars 32
Performance 5 out of 5 stars 29
Story 5 out of 5 stars 28

How do you turn ranting about hockey into a career? Steve “Dangle” Glynn is a YouTuber, podcaster, and sports personality from Toronto who managed to turn a 16-second online rant about the Maple Leafs into a career in sports media. From video blogging in his parents’ house at 19 to yelling on televisions across Canada at 28, Dangle has been involved with some of the most important sports companies in the country.

Brilliant I really enjoyed it.

By DAVID on 09-07-23
Release date: 09-04-19
5 out of 5 stars 32 ratings

Steve Dangle’s incredible odyssey, from self-starting Leafs lover to sports-media star....

The Hockey Scribbler

By: George Bowering
Narrated by: Paul Hecht
Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins

Hockey forms the backdrop of our lives. For many Canadians, the big moments - births, deaths, marriages, moves - are all mixed up with the wins and losses of our teams. The voices of Hockey Night in Canada sportscasters are our soundtrack, and visions of skates scraping across the ice lull us to sleep. George Bowering, Canada's former poet laureate, is no different.

Release date: 10-06-16
Canada's former poet laureate looks back at a life lived in literature and hockey fandom....

Call Me Indian

From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player
By: Fred Sasakamoose, Bryan Trottier - foreword
Narrated by: Wilton Littlechild
Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Fred Sasakamoose, torn from his home at the age of seven, endured the horrors of residential school for a decade before becoming one of 120 players in the most elite hockey league in the world. He has been heralded as the first Indigenous player with Treaty status in the NHL. After twelve games, he returned home. When people tell Sasakamoose's story, this is usually where they end it. Sasakamoose's groundbreaking memoir sheds piercing light on Canadian history and Indigenous politics, and follows this man's journey to reclaim pride in a heritage that had been used against him.

By: Fred Sasakamoose , Bryan Trottier - foreword
Release date: 18-05-21

Fred Sasakamoose, torn from his home at the age of seven, endured the horrors of residential school for a decade before becoming one of 120 players in the most elite hockey league in the world....

No Fluff Beginner's Guide to Ice Hockey

All You Need to Get Started on the Rink and Biographies of Some of the Game's Greatest of All Time
By: Darin Dale
Narrated by: Sean Thomas
Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins

This immersive book is your passport to understanding and mastering every aspect of the game, taking you through a meticulously detailed exploration. Discover the origins of ice hockey, tracing its history from pioneering moments to its evolution into a global sensation. Unveil the game's milestones, rule changes, and groundbreaking innovations that shaped the sport into what it is today.

Release date: 01-05-24

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Ice Skating Passion

There is not better feeling...

65+ Best Hockey Books (2021 list)

Last updated on March 30, 2021

Want to learn more about the history of hockey? Or be inspired by the stories of great players? Or discover techniques to improve your game? Check out my list of the best hockey books for you to read and do just that.

Back to all ice hockey articles

This article may contain affiliate Links (info on the Disclosure page ). If you purchase using my link, I get a commission at no extra cost to you.

Best Hockey Books - Summary

This page contains a lot of suggestions about wonderful books to read about ice hockey. However, if you want a summary with my top picks in each category, here it is:

Best ice hockey overview books - great gift ideas

Let's start with some of the best overview books about hockey to offer as a gift to hockey players or hockey fans alike. They cover:

The best moments of the sport
Interesting facts and stories
All the best players of several generations
Hockey trivia

But if you are looking for more inspiration books, head to the next section.

100 Years, 100 Moments: A Centennial of NHL Hockey

by Scott Morrison

Veteran hockey journalist gathers in this book many pictures and info about a century of NHL hockey teams and games: the most important moments!

Buy it / Read the reviews

The Great Book of Ice Hockey: Interesting Facts and Sports Stories

by Bill O'Neill and Ryan Black

Collection of interesting facts and stories about the game of ice hockey , including stories before the NHL... Random facts about how the game started, the players, the coaches, the rules...

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hooked on Hockey

by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Laura Robinson

Lots of inspiring stories about NHL players, hockey personalities, coaches but also fans and everyday players. Why are they hooked on hockey? Deep dives into their lives.

Sports Illustrated Hockey's Greatest

by The Editors of Sports Illustrated

Find out the greatest of all times in hockey: greatest goalie, greatest center... Experts have been polled to compile these 15 lists of top 10.

Hockey Puzzlers: Offbeat Trivia for the Fan and the Fanatic

by Bob Moll

Be unbeatable during hockey parties or trivia nights 100 hockey trivia questions covering seven categories including game history and strange rules.

Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL's Names, Logos, and Uniforms

by Chris Creamer, Todd Radom and Lanny McDonald

Looking for something different? Check out this book that covers the origins of the NHL team names as well as their logos and uniforms. You love wearing the logo of your favorite team? Now, you will know why.

Books about Hockey History & Team/Game stories

In this section, I am listing the best books to learn about the hockey history and its greatest moments, especially "the Miracle on ice" during the 1980 Olympics but also many other lesser known but still fascinating stories.

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

by Wayne Coffey

The true story of the 1980's US Hockey Olympic team and what Sports Illustrated called 'the greatest moment in sports history'. All you should know about the fairy-tale like story called "The Miracle on Ice", when amateurs took on the Russian team.

Miracle in Lake Placid: The Greatest Hockey Story Ever Told

by John Gilbert

The impact of that same story of "The miracle on ice" and how it impacted the sport.

99: Stories of the Game

by Wayne Gretzky and Kristie McLellan Day

Stories about "The Great one" from his own perspective, from his eyes: the people who inspired him, the famous moments in hockey history, his teammates...

The Original Six

by Lew Freedman

The NHL started in 1917 with the 6 "original teams": the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings. This is the story of how the NHL started and evolved.

Everyday Hockey Heroes: Inspiring Stories On and Off the Ice

by Bob McKenzie

The stories that make the greatest game in Canada: the NHL players, the everyday fans and coaches, the fans... Stories from on and off the ice.

Beauties: Hockey's Greatest Untold Stories

by James Duthie

57 stories... those that players tell each other: beautiful, crazy, funny... the tales of stars, coaches, referees, broadcasters, moms and dads

Hockey Strong: Stories of Sacrifice from Inside the NHL

by Todd Smith

Hockey is not an easy game. This is a collection of stories (with pictures) relating the dedication of hockey players and how they overcome injuries and difficulties to plan the game they love.

Behind the Bench: Inside the Minds of Hockey's Greatest Coaches

by Craig Custance

Learn from the coaches. Interviews with some of the top hockey coaches to collect and confront their thoughts on leadership, game plans, critical moments...

Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925

by George and Darril Fosty

The story of the complex sport organization that was the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes in Canada. Comprised of the sons and grandsons of runaway American slaves, they redefined the sport of hockey and participated in changing it into the fast game it is today.

On the Edge: Women Making Hockey History

by Elizabeth Etue and Megan Williams

The story of how women entered the sport, and despite popularity, still face intolerance. Portraits of the great women making history.

Kooks and Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, and the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey

by Thomas J. Whalen

All the memorable moments from the 1969-70 championship season when the Bruins became the talk of the sports because of how they intimidated their opponents and took the NHL by surprise.

Chill Factor: How a Minor-League Hockey Team Changed a City Forever

by David Paitson and Craig Merz

How a minor-league hockey team, the Columbus chill, became the talk of the city and allowed Columbus to get its own NHL franchise.

Hockey Players' Biographies (and coaches, personalities)

There is nothing more inspiring than a biography. Dive deep into the lives of some of the greatest hockey players in the history of the games. How did they reach their goals? How did they live the stress, the successes and the hardship? How was it for the first black NHL hockey players?

Orr: My Story

by Bobby Orr

Autobiography of Bobby Orr - considered one of the greatest defensemen in hockey history.

Cujo: The Untold Story of My Life On and Off the Ice

by Kristie McLellan Day and Curtis Joseph

Autobiography of Curtis Joseph. How he started late and still had a great 18-season career.

Most Valuable: How Sidney Crosby Became the Best Player in Hockey's Greatest Era and Changed the Game Forever

by Gary Joyce

How Sidney Crosby changed the game of hockey and how the league was re-made in his image.

Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador, and the Future of Hockey

by Ken Dryden

About hockey head injuries and the death of Steve Montador, diagnosed with CTE.

Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player

by Willie O'Ree and Michael McKinley

A memoir about the life of Willie O'Ree and his career, first in the minors and then in the NHL, the first black player in the league's history (Canada)

Black Ice: The Val James Story

by Valmor James and John Gallagher

We saw above, the first black player in NHL history. Valmor James was the first American black player in the league. This is his story.

J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless, and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey

by Jeremy Roenick and Kevin Allen

Autobiography of Jeremy Roenick. HIs youth and how he started in the Chicago Blackhawks, and later for 4 more franchises. He has racked up 513 goals in his career.

My Last Fight: The True Story of a Hockey Rock Star

by Darren McCarty

Autobiography of Darren McCarty. His time on the ice as a Detroit Red Wings player and his difficulties off the ice with addiction, finance and women.

Scotty: A Hockey Life Like No Other

Biography of Scotty Bowman, considered one of the greatest coaches in hockey history and in all the sports. He won more games and more Stanley Cups than anyone else.

Burke's Law: A Life in Hockey

by Brian Burke and Stephen Brunt

Burke has lived and breathed hockey his whole life as a player, an agent, a league executive, a scout, an Olympic GM and a media analyst. These are his views on the sport.

Eddie Olczyk: Beating the Odds in Hockey and in Life

by Eddie Olczyk and Perry Lefko

Autobiography. The story of his 16-year career in hockey and how he got there.

Off Mike: How a Kid from Basketball-Crazy Indiana Became America's NHL Voice

by Mike Emrick and Kevin Allen

A memoir by broadcast legend Mike Emrick, known as the voice of hockey in America.

Undrafted: Hockey, Family, and What It Takes to Be a Pro

by Nick Kypreos and Perry Lefko

Autobiography. About his youth, his life, his hockey career and how he transitioned to being a hockey analyst after his concussion.

Books for fans of Hockey Teams

Now, hockey stories in general are great. But you may want to learn more about your favorite hockey team. So many things to learn... Here are some of the great collections to become even more a fan!

Collection - The Big 50

The best 50 stories about your favorite hockey teams.

The Detroit Red Wings book Buy it / Read reviews

The New York Rangers book Buy it / Read reviews

The Chicago Blackhawks book Buy it / Read reviews

Collection - The Tales from the Locker Room

Even more stories about your favorite teams.

The Boston Bruins book Buy it / Read reviews

The Montreal Canadiens Book Buy it / Read reviews

Collection - If these walls could talk

Some of the teams covered are listed below - find out more teams on this page (after the other sports)

The Boston Bruins stories Buy it / Read reviews

The San Jose Sharks stories Buy it / Read reviews

The Calgary Flames stories Buy it / Read reviews

The Philadelphia Flyers stories Buy it / Read reviews

Collection - 100 things fans should know

Some of the teams covered are listed below - find out more teams on this page

The Maple Leafs trivia Buy it / Read reviews

The Vancouver Canucks book Buy it / Read reviews

The Pittsburgh Penguins book Buy it / Read reviews

The Saint Louis Blues book Buy it / Read reviews

T oronto and the Maple Leafs: A City and Its Team

by Lance Hornby

The relationship between the city of Toronto, its inhabitants and its most beloved sports team.

The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory

by D'Arcy Jenish

All you want to know about the Montreal Canadiens.

Books about Hockey's Rules, practice and techniques

All the best hockey player and goalie books that help you work on your:

technical skills
mental strength
physical strength

Hockey Plays and Strategies

by Mike Johnston and Ryan Walter

Introduction to a variety of tactics to improve your game.

The Hockey Drill Book

by Dave Chambers

500 drills for all aspects of the game

Hockey Anatomy

by Michael Terry and Paul Goodman

All you need to know about increasing muscular strength and optimizing efficiency of every movement in order to improve your on-ice performance.

Hockey Tough

by Saul L. Miller

The best hockey players are mentally tough; This is a book to help you strengthen your mental: control your emotions, stay focus, play aggressively but not uncontrollably...

Physical Preparation for Ice Hockey

by Anthony Donskov

Explanations and exercises to develop your physical strength especially for hockey playing.

Hockey Goaltending

by Eli Wilson and Brian van Vliet

The guide with techniques, practice exercises, physical conditioning to stopping more pucks.

The Power Within: Discovering the Path to Elite Goaltending

by Mike Valley and Justin Goldman

The mental game for goaltenders.

Take Your Eye Off the Puck: How to Watch Hockey By Knowing Where to Look

by Greg Wyshynshi

For fans to better understand the games they are watching.

Ice Hockey puck player silhouette turquoise

Hockey novels

Beartown: A Novel

by Fredrik Backman

The story or a town and the game. After an intense game, a violent act eruptq and a young girl is traumatized.

And many many many hockey romance novels ... but it is not really the objective of this page!

Best hockey books for kids

My complete list of the best hockey books for kids can be found in this other article . But here are already a few ideas, which can be great hockey gifts for kids .

For toddlers

Let's play hockey (chunky lift-a-flap book) .

by Ginger Swift and Cottage Door Press

A great introduction to Hockey for babies and toddlers: practice words from the world of hockey, count the number of players, watch the fan cheering. This lift-a-flap book is a great first hockey book.

Buy it / Read reviews

For 3 - 7 years old

The day my fart followed me to hockey.

by Ben Jackson and Sam Lawrence

This book is part of the series of Timmy and his best friend the Fart. In this story, they play hockey together, when Timmy attends the hockey tryouts.

Buy it / read reviews

For 6 - 9 years old

There are no figure eights in hockey.

by Chris Kreie

Josh is a champion figure skater who is looking for a new challenge. He decides to try hockey since he is already a good skater. But he soon discovers that there is more than skating to playing hockey. No more figure eights.

For 8 - 12 years old

Hockey meltdown.

byJake Maddox

Dylan and his team head into the Midwinter Meltdown Tournament ready to win, but a pre-season injury takes him out of the game. Can he still be part of the team when stuck on the bench?

With girl heroin

Ice rink rookie.

by Jake Maddox

Pilar was born without part of her right foot. But she does not let it stop her from enjoying ice-skating. And she joins the hockey team. Can Pilar prove to herself and her teammates that she belongs?

Breaking the Ice: The True Story of the First Woman to Play in the National Hockey League

by Angie Bullaro

The inspiring true story of Manon Rhéaume, the first and only woman to play a game in the NHL.

Hockey coloring books

Want to have fun and mediate while thinking about hockey. Check out the following coloring books.

Hockey notebooks and journals

And now it is time for you to do some writing of your own. Below are some classic notebooks with great hockey covers to personalize as well as training journals to write down your season's stories.

Notebooks to personalize

See my complete collection of hockey notebooks to personalize.

Hockey training journals

Buy my training journal

Hockey Biographies

Over the years The Hockey Writers has put together a rather nice collection of hockey player biographies, min-bios and interviews. We have stories on everyone from Elite Superstars to players that could have been as well as a few Hall of Famers and fan favorites.

Let’s begin with a couple of my favorites then we’ll move into the Bios.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s High School Hockey Program – producing Stanly Cup Champions

The NHL’s 500 Goal Club – with some interesting trivia on all 41 members

Bobby Orr’s Landmark 1969-70 season

Hockey Player Biographies, Profiles and Interviews

Harold Baldwin (Hartford Whalers Owner)
Jean Beliveau
Pavel Brendl
Martin Brodeur
Brian Burke
Jimmy Carson
Roman Cechmanek
Zdeno Chara
Don Cherry (Rockies coach era)
Sidney Crosby
Alexandre Daigle
Adam Deadmarsh
Drew Doughty
Mike Emrick (announcer)
Theo Fleury
Peter Forsberg
Kerry Fraser
Boom Boom Geoffrion
Claude Giroux
Scott Gomez
Doug Harvey
Trent Hunter
Ryan Kesler
Phil Kessel
Lou Lamoriello
Jamie Langenbrunner
Georges Laraque
Mario Lemieux (coming soon)
Mark Letestu
Eric Lindros
Pit Martin (by his daughter Nicole)
Lanny McDonald
Marc Methot
Howie Morenz
Kyle Okposo
Alex Ovechkin
Mike Richards
Derek Sanderson
Patrik Stefan
Martin St Louis
The Suter family (Bob, Gary & Ryan)
John Tavares
Jonathan Toews
James Van Riemsdyk
Jake Voracek
Gump Worsley
Steve Yzerman

The Essential Don DeLillo

His fascination with terrorism, cults and mass culture’s weirder turns has given his work a prophetic air. Here’s where to start.

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By Gregory Cowles

Gregory Cowles is a senior editor at the Book Review.

May 22, 2024

For years when I was younger, and still dreamed that I might be a novelist instead of an editor or a critic, I kept a quote from Don DeLillo’s 1993 Paris Review interview pinned to the bulletin board above my desk as a sort of talisman or goad prompting me to write: “Do you think it made a difference in your career,” Adam Begley asked him, “that you started writing novels late, when you were approaching 30?”

DeLillo’s mild answer (“Well, I wish I had started earlier, but evidently I wasn’t ready”) mattered less to me than the breathless audacity of the question itself, the blithe assumption that by your 20s — your 20s! — you were already too old, off the pace. And to ask that of DeLillo, who by the time of that interview had poured out almost a dozen novels in a torrent of productivity, probing his interests in everything from sports to mathematics to the inflection points of the American century … well, no wonder the man had a reputation for being paranoid.

In fact, despite all of DeLillo’s fascination with terrorism and death cults and the impotence of the individual swept up in unstoppable social forces, I’ve never considered him to be an especially paranoid writer. Anxious, sure — anxiety being one of his great themes, and one of the reasons he has so often seemed prophetic — but as a stylist he’s too cool and too alert to absurdity to be a true paranoid. I mean cool in every sense of the word: a little chilly, a little detached, and also ironic and knowing and hip, cool like the jazz he has cited as an influence on his sentences.

“He speaks in your voice, American, and there’s a shine in his eye that’s halfway hopeful.” That’s the opening to “Underworld” (1997), and it’s not just jazz, it’s poetry: the alliteration, the internal rhyme, the direct invocation to fellow citizens. DeLillo’s prose often summons this kind of music, whether he’s writing about nuclear annihilation or the Zapruder film or mass media or Hitler’s sex life. His syncopated riffs on culture’s weirder turns and mundane follies have influenced younger writers from Jennifer Egan to Jonathan Franzen, Dana Spiotta to David Foster Wallace, Zadie Smith to Richard Powers to Colson Whitehead to Rachel Kushner and many more.

With some overlaps, his career is neatly divided into three distinct phases, and the very beginning is not necessarily the very best place to start. The early promise of his debut, “Americana” (1971), and the novels that followed is evident in certain characteristic touches: the sympathy for neurotic misfits — even wildly successful ones, like the rock star Bucky Wunderlick in “Great Jones Street” (1973); the ear for off-kilter dialogue; the anthropological instinct; the chiseled prose that announced the arrival of a dedicated stylist. (The opening sentence of “Americana,” “Then we came to the end of another dull and lurid year,” was catchy enough to provide the title for Joshua Ferris’s own debut novel 36 years later.)

But those early books are also marred by a shaggy, frenetic jokiness and a sense that DeLillo was still finding his way. His potential is more fully realized in the midcareer books that started with “The Names” (1982) and culminated in “Underworld,” after which he shifted to the starker, sparer — but still exhilarating — style that has marked most of his subsequent work. In other words, there’s something for everyone. Start here.

The book cover for “White Noise” is white, with the title and Don DeLillo’s name in a bold font.

What’s his best-known work?

That’s probably “ White Noise ” (1985), which won the National Book Award that year and is still a mainstay on college campuses — possibly because it is itself set in part on the bucolic campus of the “College-on-the-Hill,” where the protagonist, Jack Gladney, teaches Hitler studies and worries about the state of the world. His immediate fears center on the so-called Airborne Toxic Event, a media-hyped but amorphous environmental threat involving a gas cloud that has drawn real-world comparisons to everything from the Bhopal chemical disaster (which happened a few months before the book was published) to climate change to the Covid pandemic: DeLillo’s genius in leaving it largely undefined is that there is always an Airborne Toxic Event.

More fundamentally, though, the characters are haunted by a free-floating angst that springs from the culture they inhabit: the breakdown of the family, the banality of tabloid celebrity and corporate language, the commodification of the individual. (“We are the sum total of our data,” Jack tells his wife at one point, in a sentence that feels especially clairvoyant today, “just as we are the sum total of our chemical impulses.”)

Above all, they are haunted by the crippling awareness of mortality that underlines so much of the book’s action, from the National Cancer Quiz on TV to the adult posture classes Jack’s wife teaches at the Congregational church (“We seem to believe it is possible to ward off death by following rules of good grooming,” Jack remarks) to the running conversation they have about who will die first. This is DeLillo at his most anxious and his most absurd.

I want to read his masterpiece.

The bad news is that it’s also his longest, by far. Having written in his earlier books about death and sex and sports and history and political violence, DeLillo finally brought them all together in “ Underworld ” (1997), an 827-page behemoth that surveys the whole of the Cold War with cool aplomb.

The novel opens in October 1951 with one of the great crowd scenes in all of American fiction. The Brooklyn Dodgers are facing the New York Giants at the old Polo Grounds for a baseball game that will end with a dramatic home run, and the ball in the hands of a boy who skipped school and hopped the turnstile to attend. (He’s the one in the first sentence with the halfway hopeful shine in his eye.)

This ball will lead readers through the rest of the novel like the bouncing balls that used to lead TV audiences through song lyrics, with detours to subway graffiti and Truman Capote’s Black-and-White Ball and Lenny Bruce routines and a Texas highway shooter, on and on. Mostly, though, the book turns on the complicated relationship between Nick Shay, a waste management executive with a tragic past, and Klara Sax, an artist famous for the large-scale paintings she makes on the surface of decommissioned B-52 bombers in the California desert. It’s an astonishing feat of engineering — at one point I paused to think of what a particular scene was reminding me of before I realized it was reminding me of another scene, hundreds of pages earlier, that had set it up.

I know readers who would edit out parts of “Underworld” (in fact, the prologue is also available as a stand-alone novella called “Pafko at the Wall”), and I know readers who didn’t make it to the end — but if you want to read his best book, this is the one.

Sorry, but I can’t commit to 800-plus pages.

An intellectual is recruited to help shape America’s wars in the Middle East. Afterward, a documentary filmmaker wants to stand him against a wall to talk about guilt and regret and complicity, à la Robert McNamara in “The Fog of War.” That’s the basic premise of “ Point Omega ” (2010), which at 117 pages is like a shot of icy vodka compared with the 12-course meal of “Underworld.”

DeLillo’s late-career novels, beginning with “The Body Artist” in 2001 and continuing through to “The Silence” in 2020, are exfoliated to the point that only bone remains, and “Point Omega,” set largely in a nameless desert near a former blast zone, is the most parched of them all. There’s a gesture toward conventional plot when the war planner’s daughter shows up, and DeLillo frames the story with a bravura description of Douglas Gordon’s video artwork “24 Hour Psycho,” which (like the novel itself) aims to slow time to a single, distilled vanishing point. But for the most part “Point Omega” is a frigid exercise in pure existential terror. I mean that as the highest compliment.

I want to read a novel with history as its subject.

Is the Kennedy assassination historical enough for you? DeLillo had just turned 27 when the president was shot, and in “ Libra ” (1988) he revisits that turning point in American history through an in-depth character study of Lee Harvey Oswald, who was three years younger than DeLillo (and, as it happens, briefly his neighbor in the Bronx when they were adolescents). DeLillo did his homework: He has described reading not only the Warren Commission Report but thousands of pages of supplemental documents.

But as any moderately obsessed student of the assassination can tell you, there are enough gaps and provocative unanswered questions in the official narrative to give a novelist free imaginative rein while remaining faithful to what’s known. Oswald turns out to be a great DeLillo character: a malleable loser, a drifter, a self-important loose cannon who has a neurotic, endearing mother, a chip on his shoulder and a determination to do something big. In scrutinizing the inscrutable man at the center of the mystery, DeLillo spins a plausible web of conspiracy involving disgruntled C.I.A. officers and Castro’s Cuba and a plot that gathers its own momentum. A quote from “White Noise” is instructive here: “All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots. Political plots, terrorist plots, lovers’ plots, narrative plots, plots that are part of children’s games. We edge nearer death every time we plot.”

Tell me more about his interest in terrorism.

Terrorists, cults and conspiracies have been a recurring feature in DeLillo’s work: A stockbroker in “Players” (1977) is drawn into the orbit of a violent group targeting Wall Street financiers, a muddle of conspirators in “Running Dog” (1978) pursues a rumored home movie of Hitler having sex in the bunker where he died, a cult of killers in “The Names” selects its victims based on their initials and an arcane system of language. But nowhere does he focus more sustained attention on the theme, or on the link he perceives between terrorists and novelists, than in “ Mao II ” (1991) , about a reclusive writer (and DeLillo stand-in) named Bill Gray who is enlisted to negotiate the release of a poet held hostage by terrorists in Beirut. Published a few years after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie had been issued, the book is explicit about DeLillo’s status anxiety. As Bill Gray puts it: “I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.”

This remains DeLillo’s most rigorous look at the power of mass movements — “The future belongs to crowds,” he writes at the end of the prologue, which details a group wedding at Yankee Stadium for members of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. (A bride in that wedding will go on to become the shared love interest for Bill Gray and his self-appointed assistant.) Thanks to the novelist protagonist, it’s also the closest he’s come in his fiction to offering an overt artist’s statement. “Every sentence has a truth waiting at the end of it and the writer learns how to know it when he finally gets there,” Bill says. “I’ve always seen myself in sentences. I begin to recognize myself, word by word, as I work through a sentence. The language of my books has shaped me as a man. There’s a moral force in a sentence when it comes out right. It speaks the writer’s will to live.”

Give me a deep cut.

It’s hard to claim that the mock hockey memoir “Amazons” (1980), about the first woman to play in the N.H.L., is essential as in “indispensable,” since DeLillo himself has dispensed with it . He wrote it under a pseudonym, Cleo Birdwell (which is also the name of the narrator), and omits it from his list of published books; it has long since fallen out of print. But if by “essential” you mean that a work contains the essence of a writer’s voice and vision, then “Amazons” deserves a spot in the lineup.

For one thing, it’s as prescient in its way as his more serious books: “They play ice hockey in Dallas-Fort Worth?” one character asks, 13 years before the Minnesota North Stars in fact relocated to Texas and became the Dallas Stars. For another, DeLillo’s interest in sports as an element of American culture has been a constant, from college football in “End Zone” (1972) to baseball in “Underworld” to the Super Bowl in “The Silence.”

But in “Amazons” the sport he’s most concerned with isn’t really hockey at all; it’s sex. By featuring a woman in a hypermasculine environment, the novel revels in opportunities to explore gender roles and lust as comic themes. (In this light, the glamorous “author photo” of a flaxen-haired model in a Rangers uniform is a nice touch.) The book is every bit as much a sex romp as movies of the era like “Porky’s” and “Night Shift,” only written with DeLillo’s customary verve. This leads to brilliant set pieces like the one in which Cleo’s father, hoping to desensitize her before she starts playing on boys’ teams, calmly instructs her in a litany of filthy slang; and another in which Cleo, during an unsatisfying tryst — “After a while it began to seem he was more or less performing a gall bladder operation for all the personal interest involved” — muses on the difference between expertise and prowess: “Expertise is specialized knowledge that you get from making yourself tremendously familiar with a thing. Prowess is the application of this knowledge in an erectile state.”

“Amazons” is the last book DeLillo wrote before “The Names,” and in disavowing it he may have been signaling a new gravity, making a clean break between phases of his career. But it’s also tremendous fun, written with a heedless headlong energy and studded with sharp observational asides, and DeLillo — a writer who loves to take history as a subject — does this book a disservice in erasing it from his own.

Gregory Cowles is the poetry editor of the Book Review and senior editor of the Books desk. More about Gregory Cowles

Explore More in Books

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An assault led to Chanel Miller’s best seller, “Know My Name,” but she had wanted to write children’s books since the second grade. She’s done that now with “Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All.”

When Reese Witherspoon is making selections for her book club , she wants books by women, with women at the center of the action who save themselves.

The Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro, who died on May 14 , specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope , spanning decades with intimacy and precision.

“The Light Eaters,” a new book by Zoë Schlanger, looks at how plants sense the world and the agency they have in their own lives.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

COMMENTS

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avg rating 3.80 — 360 ratings — published 2003. Want to Read. Rate this book. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. Books shelved as hockey-biographies: Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey by Sean Avery, All Roads Home: A Life On and Off the Ice by Br...
The Hockey Fanatics' Definitive List of Hockey Books
The Hockey Fanatic lists 25 definitive hockey books that all hockey fans should read. Includes hockey memoirs and some of the greatest books ever written about hockey. ... 17 Best Hockey Biography Books of All Time (Editor's Note: We do not necessarily agree with the books featured on this list, but there are still some fine choices). ...
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avg rating 3.98 — 45 ratings — published 1995. Want to Read. Rate this book. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. Books shelved as hockey-biography: One Game at a Time: My Journey from Small-Town Alberta to Hockey's Biggest Stage by Harnarayan Singh, A Guy Like Me: F...
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The much-anticipated debut from the Pulitzer Prize - winning New York Times reporter, Boy on Ice is a moving human story and behind-the-scenes account of a life lived in the glare of sporting fame. The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at 28 was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports.
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Stan Fischler, the dean of American hockey journalists and best-selling author of more than 60 books on hockey, profiles the heroes of Hockeytown in Detroit Red Wings: Greatest Moments and Players. One of the National Hockey League's "Original Six", few teams in professional hockey have enjoyed more success than the franchise in Detroit.
65+ Best Hockey Books (2021 list)
Let's Play Hockey (Chunky Lift-a-flap Book) by Ginger Swift and Cottage Door Press. A great introduction to Hockey for babies and toddlers: practice words from the world of hockey, count the number of players, watch the fan cheering. This lift-a-flap book is a great first hockey book. Buy it / Read reviews
Hockey, Sports, Books
by Triumph Books. Paperback $19.99 $22.00. QUICK ADD. Off Mike: How a Kid from…. by Mike Emrick, Kevin Allen, Eddie Olczyk (Foreword by) Paperback $19.95. QUICK ADD. Hockey: A Global History. by Stephen Hardy, Andrew C. Holman.
Hockey Biographies
Shattuck-St. Mary's High School Hockey Program - producing Stanly Cup Champions. The NHL's 500 Goal Club - with some interesting trivia on all 41 members. Bobby Orr's Landmark 1969-70 season
Don DeLillo's Best Books: A Guide
It's hard to claim that the mock hockey memoir "Amazons" (1980), about the first woman to play in the N.H.L., is essential as in "indispensable," since DeLillo himself has dispensed with ...
Hockey Night in Moscow by Jack Ludwig
A thorough description of one man's experience of the 1972 Canada vs. Soviet Union hockey series. Ludwig gives us a well balanced history of what happened in the games, an analysis of those events as well as what was happening outside the arena, This is especially true of the Moscow half of the series. His wanderings around Moscow are illuminating.
Igor Larionov
Igor Nikolayevich Larionov (Russian: Игорь Николаевич Ларионов; born 3 December 1960) is a Russian ice hockey coach, sports agent and former professional ice hockey player, known as "the Professor".Considered one of the best hockey players of all time, he, along with Viacheslav Fetisov, were instrumental in forcing the Soviet government to let Soviet players compete in ...
Hockey at the Olympic Games
21 June, 2021. With just over one month to go until the start of Tokyo 2020, we provide a snapshot summary of the history of hockey at the Olympic Games, a saga that began well over a century ago. The inaugural Olympic Hockey Competition for men was held in London in 1908 with England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales competing separately.
How to meditate, with help from Dan Harris
Harris recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of his book "10% Happier," a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Dan Harris/Harper Collins Publishers. Harris is now a meditation expert himself. "I ...
"A Gentleman in Moscow" Author Amor Towles Discusses His New ...
ISAACSON: Well, one of the greatest stories in the book is "The Ballad of Timothy Touchett," which I assume is a bit autobiographical. You can push back if I'm wrong. You can push back if I ...
Russian Gains in Ukraine Don't Point to a Breakthrough for Moscow, Top
Kyiv says it is now thwarting Russian advances in the north. U.S. sees Moscow grabbing territory but not gaining strategic advantage.
Manchester United:The Biography: From Newton Heath to Moscow, the
Manchester United:The Biography: From Newton Heath to Moscow, the Complete Story of the World's Greatest Football Club [White, Jim] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Manchester United:The Biography: From Newton Heath to Moscow, the Complete Story of the World's Greatest Football Club