Book Description

Canadians have always dreamed about hockey. And we all love our kids. But somehow our desire to give everything we've got to two of the things we love the most has left both worse off. For many families, hockey has become more business than pleasure, where children don't even play anymore--now they compete. The dream of playing in the NHL and the enormous costs that come with it, are killing hockey in Canada. Drawing on decades of combined experience in hockey at all levels, Ken Campbell and Jim Parcels pull back the curtain to show just how far our national game has strayed from its roots. What they reveal is a system driven by unrealistic expectations of a financial windfall, where minor-hockey fees and new sticks for kids are deemed "investments"--and where there is no shortage of entrepreneurs more than happy to take money from starry-eyed parents. Often shocking, always informative, " Selling the Dream " is not only a guidebook for involved hockey parents across the country, it is a defence of the game we all love, and of childhood itself.