Midnight Hockey

From Giller-nominated author Bill Gaston, proof not only that hockey players can read, but that some of them can even write. Midnight Hockey tells the story of Gaston’s final season, as he contemplates hanging up his skates, and looks back on the sport that has meant so much to him. Sometimes lewd and hilarious, sometimes (though not as often) reflective, Midnight Hockey is a portrait of Canada’s fastest-growing athletic phenomenon: beer-league and oldtimers’ hockey. Gaston spills the beans about the rules of the game (written and unwritten), weird beer, team names, and road-trip sex, illustrated with stories of Gaston’s life in the game, from the outdoor rinks of Winnipeg, through junior hockey, varsity, the professional leagues of Europe, to the late-night games and road-trip shenanigans of beer-league. For all those thousands of guys who drive to the rink late on a snowy night, who know the euphoria of a beer after the game, who think of how good they used to be, who grow nostalgic over a whiff from an unwashed hockey bag – and for anyone who has had to live with such a person – Midnight Hockey is laugh-out-loud funny, true-to-life, and ultimately thoughtful.

Cody Powell has graduated from playing pick-up hockey on the streets of Winnipeg to skating with his community club team, the Transcona Sharks. Coach Brackett is impressed with Cody's speed and stickhandling ability, and promotes him to the team's first line. Unfortunately, Cody takes Stu, Coach Brackett's son's, spot. Cody is worried that coach is too hard on Stu, and that Stu has as much right to play on the first line as he does. As the pressure to win games mounts, Cody is torn between loyalty to his coach and loyalty to his friend. Hockey Night in Transcona is a story about the conflicting pressures young hockey players face in their quest to succeed. [Fry Reading Level - 4.0

From coast to coast, hockey is played, watched, loved, and detested, but it means something different in Quebec. Although much of English Canada believes that hockey is a fanatically followed social unifier in the French-speaking province, in reality it has always been politicized, divided, and troubled by religion, class, gender, and language. In The Same but Different, writers from inside and outside Quebec assess the game's history and culture in the province from the nineteenth century to the present. This volume surveys the past and present uses of hockey and how it has been represented in literature, drama, television, and autobiography. While the legendary Montreal Canadiens loom throughout the book's chapters, the collection also discusses Quebecers' favourite sport beyond the team's shadow. Employing a broad range of approaches including study of gender, memory, and culture, the authors examine how hockey has become a lightning rod for discussions about Québécois identity. Hockey reveals much about Quebec and its relationship with the rest of Canada. The Same but Different brings new insights into the celebrated game as a site for community engagement, social conflict, and national expression.

When the Lights Went Out tells the story of a moment in the 1987 World Junior Championship that forever changed the lives of the players involved, and ignited a debate that has yet to subside about the way the game is meant to be played. When Team Canada skated onto the ice that night in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, they thought they were 60 minutes away from a gold medal. Future superstars like Brendan Shanahan and Theo Fleury, pitted against Russians like Alexei Fedorov and Alex Mogilny, dreamed of returning to Canada in glory. Instead, they were sent home empty-handed, bearers of a legacy that would follow them throughout their careers. No one who saw it will ever forget it. The mere mention of Piestany evokes the image of twenty fights breaking out all over the ice as players rushed to their mates' defence, of haymakers, stick-swinging, and even kicking, of a referee skating off the ice in shame. ESPN hockey writer Gare Joyce tells the story of the game that marked the last time Canadian and Soviet players squared off as enemies, rather than potential team mates in the NHL. It tells the stories of the combatants on the ice. Of the coaches behind the bench. Of officials, international hockey executives, members of the media and even politicians who were caught up in the intrigue.

Ice hockey has featured in North American films since the early days. Hockey’s sizable cinematic repertoire explores different views of the sport, including the role of aggression, the business of sports, race and gender, and the role of women in the game. This critical study focuses on hockey themes in more than 50 films and television movies from the U.S. and Canada spanning several decades. Depictions of historical games are discussed, including the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” and the 1972 Summit Series. National myths that inform ideas of the hockey player are examined. Production techniques that enhance hockey as on-screen spectacle are covered.

Sport literature is never just about sport. The genre’s potential to explore the human condition, including aspects of violence, gender, and the body, has sparked the interest of writers, readers, and scholars. Over the last decade, a proliferation of sport literature courses across the continent is evidence of the sophisticated and evolving body of work developing in this area. Writing the Body in Motion offers introductory essays on the most commonly taught Canadian sport literature texts. The contributions sketch the state of current scholarship, highlight recurring themes and patterns, and offer close readings of key works. Organized chronologically by source text, ranging from Shoeless Joe (1982) to Indian Horse (2012), the essays offer a variety of ways to read, consider, teach, and write about sport literature.

There's so much more to winning in fantasy hockey than drafting Sidney Crosby and praying for some magic. So, Fantasy Hockey Standard proudly presents it's first volume of pure hockey pool strategy - 60 pages worth! Inside: strategy articles dedicated to roto and keeper leagues, goalies, rookies, and free agency. Our advanced strategy research uncovers trends relating to veterans and youth, player salaries, trades, and advanced statistics. We offer up hardcore draft and auction strategies covering the regular season and playoff pools. Get ideas for your league from our our "Fantasy Hockey Rule Book." As well, our article "Trade Strategy" will teach you how to become the shark in the tank. The Fantasy Hockey Standard Strategy Book: Volume 1 is the end result of four-years of strategy writing by our team of fantasy hockey degenerates. Don't sit down at the draft table without studying these techniques first...