Gretzky to Lemieux


Book Description

Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Coffey, Fuhr, all on the same team — in their prime. The greatest collection of hockey talent ever assembled, playing the games of their lives. Three epic 6-5 contests between Canada and the Soviet Union decided the ’87 Canada Cup. Canada evened the series, after the Soviets won Game 1, when Gretzky’s fifth assist of the game set up Lemieux’s hat trick, ending Game 2 in double overtime. Game 2 is widely considered one of the greatest hockey games ever played. With time running out in Game 3, after Canada battled back from a 3-0 deficit, Team Canada coach Mike Keenan sent the Gretzky / Lemieux / Hawerchuk line on the ice for a faceoff in Canada’s end. The rest is history as Gretzky, Lemieux, and Larry Murphy rushed up the ice, Gretzky skating on the left wing, setting up Lemieux’s game-winner in the slot with 1:26 left in the game. Gretzky’s pass to Lemieux, followed by Lemieux’s goal, is one of the most memorable plays in hockey history. Gretzky to Lemieux captures the on-ice drama that led to the historic three-game final, and the stories behind it. Ed Willes adds depth and weight to the games by revealing the rebellion among Soviet hockey stars in the early days of Glasnost and a crumbling Soviet Union; the trouble brewing for Alan Eagleson; the ascendancy of Mario Lemieux; and the end of the glorious Gretzky era in Edmonton. Packed with interviews of players and coaches, Gretzky to Lemieux tells the full story of the greatest hockey ever played.




99: Stories of the Game


Book Description

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. For the first time, Gretzky discusses candidly what the game looks like to him and introduces us to the people who inspired and motivated him: mentors, teammates, rivals, the famous and the lesser known. Weaving together lives and moments from an extraordinary career, he reflects on the players who inflamed his imagination when he was a kid, the way he himself figured in the dreams of so many who came after; takes us onto the ice and into the dressing rooms to meet the friends who stood by him and the rivals who spurred him to greater heights; shows us some of the famous moments in hockey history through the eyes of someone who regularly made that history. Warm, direct, and revelatory, it is a book that gives us number 99, the man and the player, like never before.




On the Ice with...Mario Lemieux


Book Description

Hockey has been a part of Mario Lemieux's life since his childhood. At the age of six he was holding his own against boys four years older; by the time he was sixteen, he had captured the attention of the National Hockey league, and soon after signed on with NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games he captained the Canadian hockey team, leading them in their gold medal winning performance.




The Game Is Not Over


Book Description

After publishing the Quebec Major Junior hockey League: from Lafleur to Lemieux and Crosby, in 2012, authors, Jean-Pierre D’Auteuil (right) and Jean-Philippe Otis (left), present The Game Is Not Over: The epic story of the most prestigious Pee wee hockey tournament in the world. The Quebec City International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament took off in 1960, when five die-hard hockey fans, led by Gérard Bolduc, decided to bring together young Pee-Wee calibre players in Quebec City. After starting out at the Aréna du Parc Victoria, the adventure continued for many years at the Colisée de Québec and currently takes place at the Centre Vidéotron. This book tells the beautiful and great story of this prestigious event, which has enabled millions of hockey fans to see the great players of yesterday and the stars of today at work: Guy Lafleur, Auston Matthews, Wayne Gretzky, Manon Rhéaume, Connor McDavid, Patrick Roy, Jonathan Quick, Nikolaj Ehlers, Brett Hull, Brendan Gallagher, Nico Hischier, Mario Lemieux, Sylvain Côté, Steven Stamkos, Thomas Chabot, Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Audy-Marches-sault, Pierre Larouche, Yanni Gourde, Réal Cloutier, Mathew Barzal et Guy Chouinard, just to name a few. While reading this book, you will also discover Gaétan Boucher, Arthur Quoquochi, Raynald Fortier, Gilles Levasseur, Benoît Parke, Jeannot Ferland, Tim Connolly, Gilles Duclos, Freddie Meyer and many others, as well as players, who are less well known today, but who have made their own mark on the history of the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. Statistics, anecdotes, highlights, quotes and more than 400 photos. A real piece of anthology!




The Little Book of Hockey Sweaters


Book Description

For many hockey players, the number on their sweater is as essential as their childhood or the skill that got them into the NHL. Written for both hardcore hockey fans and sports trivia buffs, The Little Book of Hockey Sweaters Volume 2 presents the inside story of these numbers.Explaining their importnace as inspiration and identity, from professional players past to present, this volume features legends such as Bobby Hull and Darcy Tucker talking personally about these small but significant aspects of the game.




Then Wayne Said to Mario. . .


Book Description

Here is your chance to go inside the huddle, head into the locker room, or grab a seat on the sideline. This is your exclusive pass to get on the team plane or have breakfast at the team hotel. Go behind the scenes and peek into the private world of the players, coaches, and decision makers and eavesdrop on their conversations.




The Voices of Hockey


Book Description

Line changes, limited time outs, and pucks traveling 100 miles per hour—hockey is called “the fastest game on Earth” for a reason. Keeping up with this non-stop action, especially for decades on end, takes a special kind of talent. Today’s NHL broadcasters capture the game in arguably the most difficult capacity in the world of sports, giving the fans a guide to the action in a way nobody else could. With careers outlasting the players, coaches, general managers, and, in some cases, the city itself, the NHL’s broadcasters have more than their fair share of stories to tell. In The Voices of Hockey: Broadcasters Reflect on the Fastest Game on Earth, Kirk McKnighttakes thirty-four of the game’s most gifted play-by-play broadcasters—including nine hall of famers—and shares their many insights, memories, and experiences. These broadcasters have witnessed all-time greats such as Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, and Alexander Ovechkin, making them the ideal voices to pay tribute to the legends of yesterday and the heroes of tomorrow. The Voices of Hockey brings the reader down to the surface of the ice to experience overtime marathons, record-setting performances, bloodied fights, intense rivalries, and the raising of the Stanley Cup, with details and inside perspectives from some of the most qualified spectators of the game. From Bob Miller’s description of “The Miracle on Manchester” to John Kelly’s childhood recollection of Bobby Orr’s famous “flying goal,” this bookis truly an encapsulation of the NHL over the past fifty years. Generations of hockey fans will enjoy reliving their favorite moments and reading about those they missed in this unique and captivating view of the fastest game on Earth.




Road to Gold


Book Description

Celebrate another historic gold medal with the behind-the-scenes story of the Canadian World Junior program, from bestselling author Mark Spector. On the World Juniors hockey stage today, Canada is known as the team to beat. They hold the record for the most gold medals won (eighteen since the tournament’s inception), their games draw millions of fans each year, and the tournament serves as a showcase for each year’s best talent. But things weren’t always so rosy. For years, Canada languished in obscurity at the World Juniors. Wearing the red-and-white wasn’t a mark of honour but merely a sideshow to the players, owners resented the interruption to their league operations, and Canada was an afterthought at the tournament. Canada was supposed to be better at hockey than any nation on earth, but no one took them seriously. So, the team set out on a reclamation mission. The Program of Excellence was born, and with it, a new hope for hockey’s future in Canada. No more would Canada be content with merely showing up. Instead, each year, the country would send its best talent—from Gretzky to Lemieux to Crosby to McDavid—to reclaim its spot at the top of the hockey world. Tracing the owner disputes, off-ice antics, and riveting on-ice action of nearly forty years at the World Juniors, Road to Gold is full of inside stories from hockey greats. And, this edition features a new chapter reliving the amazing final game against Russia in January 2020 that brought the gold medal back to Canada. Funny, smart, and clear-eyed, Mark Spector traces the remarkable rise of the Canadian World Junior program and shows how Canada created not just a new team, but a new dream for the sport.




Road Games


Book Description

An authoritative, revealing, and passionate account of the 1992-93 season -- one of the most tumultuous in NHL history -- by the award-winning writer hailed as "hockey's Faulkner".




Wayne Gretzky's Ghost


Book Description

"For nearly fourty years, Roy MacGregor has brought our national sport alive on the pages of Canada's newspapers and magazines. Now, he has collected the very best of that writing - along with some published for the first time - in a volume that will provide hours of delight to anyone who loves the game."--Publisher.