Hockey Tough

Use mental-training strategies to become a complete player and embrace a team-first mindset. Self-assessments identify player strengths and weaknesses and personalize the book’s content to individual game preparation and play. Includes insights from the game’s top players and coaches on winning the mental game.

Hockey is a game of speed, agility, power, and skill. It’s also a game of intimidation, urgency, pressure, and isolation. The best players aren’t just physically gifted; they’re also mentally tough. They step on the ice with poise, tenacity, and focus. With Hockey Tough, so can you. Hockey Tough builds on the physical skills by strengthening the mental factors that apply directly to the game. You’ll learn how to control your emotions and maintain composure, stay focused in clutch situations, play aggressively—not carelessly—and improve the team’s performance game in and game out. Throughout, performance consultant Saul Miller presents the training techniques he has taught hockey players and teams for more than 40 years at every level from college to European leagues, from Olympics to NHL. With insights, anecdotes, and advice from elite players, such as Sidney Crosby, Daniel Sedin, Brendan Gallagher, Ryan Getzlaf, and Mark Messler, Hockey Tough is essential to becoming a complete player on and off the ice.

Documenting his notorious career with the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks, Bob Probert details in this autobiography how he racked up points, penalty minutes, and bar bills, establishing himself as one of the most feared enforcers in the history of the NHL. As Probert played as hard off the ice as on, he went through rehab 10 times, was suspended twice, was jailed for carrying cocaine across the border, and survived a near fatal motorcycle crash all during his professional career, and he wanted to tell his story in his own words to set the record straight. When he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 45 on July 5, 2010, he was hard at work on his memoir—a gripping journey through the life of Bob Probert, with jaw-dropping stories of his on-ice battles and his reckless encounters with drugs, alcohol, police, customs officials, courts, and the NHL, told in his own voice and with his rich sense of humor.

**One of Sports Illustrated's Best Sports Books of 2017** Controversial hockey star Sean Avery's no-holds-barred memoir of high living and bad behavior in the NHL—coupled with the behind-the-scenes glitter of celebrity and media nightlife in New York and LA. As one of the NHL’s most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on its head. For thirteen 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. In Ice Capades, Avery takes his trademark candidness about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton's game-changing Ball Four did for baseball. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of an athlete’s life, from what they do with their money and nights off to how they stay sharp and competitive in the league. While playing the talented villain in the NHL, Avery broke far away from his on-ice character in the off-season, and Ice Capades takes the reader inside the other unexpected and unprecedented roles that Avery inhabited—Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restauranteur, gay rights advocate, and many more. Love him or hate him, Sean Avery changed the way professional hockey is played today. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Ice Capades transcends the “sports book” genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of 21st century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

He didn't want to be known as a diabetic hockey player. He was a player with diabetes.

Professional hockey enforcers—popularly known as “goons”—finally get their due in this rollicking look at the players who have perfected the art of making mayhem. Whether they are called upon to duke it out with a fellow troublemaker or intimidate an opponent’s top scorer, these are the men who get the crowds to their feet, the sports radio shows buzzing, and the TV audience spilling their beers in excitement. Old timers like Joe Hall and Red Horner are profiled here, along with legendary heavy hitters Tiger Williams, Stu Grimson, and Bob Probert, fan favorites Tie Domi and Georges Laroque, and contemporary hockey stars Arron Asham and Brian McGrattan. The book also delves into the intense debate over the issue of violence on the ice as well as the personal and professional dramas of the NHL’s bad boys: the suspensions, the concussions, and the constant controversy of their role in the game.

Hockey's most polarizing figure takes us inside the game, shedding light not only on what goes on behind closed doors, but also what makes professional athletes tick. As one of the NHL's most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on their head. For thirteen 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. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of pro athletes' lives, from how they spend their money and their nights off to how they stay sharp and conditioned and employed. Avery also examines his singular career path–while playing the talented villain on ice, he skated out of character in the off-season, taking on unexpected and unprecedented roles: Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restaurateur, gay rights advocate, and many more. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Offside transcends the sports book genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of twenty-first-century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

A powerful memoir from an NHL heavyweight champion who moved from the dressing room to the courtroom. 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. He stared down the toughest players on the planet for seventeen years, while working on his first university degree. He retired on his own terms, and went on to practice law, including a stint as in-house counsel for the NHLPA. This has put him in a unique position when it comes to commenting on the game. He's seen it from the trenches, and he's seen it from the courtroom. This puts him in the eye of the storm surrounding fighting and concussions. And he handles that the way he does everything: on his own terms. When Don Cherry called him out on televison, it was the seemingly indominable Cherry who backed down. Hockey fans will be fascinated by his data-driven defence of fighting. But in the end, this is not a book about fighting and locker-room stories. It's the story of a young man who ultimately took on the toughest role in pro sports and came out the other side. Where many others have not.