The Crazy Canucks

Crazy Canucks recounts the trials and triumphs off the Canadian men's alpine ski team of the 1970s and early 1980s. Eric Zweig offers a behind-the-scenes look at this innovative team that dared to take risks other skiers were too afraid of. The team rose from obscurity to prominence on the European and North American ski circuits with Olympic medal and World Cup wins. [Fry Reading Level - 4.9

Winner of the 2009 One Book, One Vancouver: The Host City Reads "Janet Love Morrison has written about an important part of our sporting history . . . For a younger generation, this is like discovering the people who laid the first tracks in fresh powder--the boys of winter who inspired so many who followed." --Peter Mansbridge, foreword No one in Europe had ever seen anything like it: a handful of young Canadian men fearlessly hurling themselves down the iciest, steepest courses of the ski racing circuit. At first they were regarded as a bit of a joke as they travelled in a rusty old Volkswagen and showed little regard for the niceties of European alpine traditions. In the early 1970s no non-European had ever won a Men's World Cup downhill and nobody expected this to change. Then in 1975 Canadian Ken Read won at Val d'Isère and the Canadian boys began appearing on World Cup podiums with increasing regularity. It didn't take long for journalists to start calling them the "Kamikaze Canadians," but the name that stuck was the "Crazy Canucks." The courage and high spirits of the young Canadian racers--Jim Hunter, David Murray, Dave Irwin, Ken Read and Steve Podborski--made them favourites across Europe, where Swiss or Austrian or French fans would rather see Canadians win than their old archrivals. In The Crazy Canucks, Janet Love Morrison chronicles the grit and perseverance of the young skiers who believed they had the right stuff to win and keep winning. Her careful research and interviews with all the key players paint a detailed picture of the Crazy Canucks. As Canadians approach the 2010 Olympics with high hopes for their ski teams, The Crazy Canucks provides a timely look at a most distinguished--and colourful--chapter in our nation's sporting history.

Plenty of Canucks fans have taken in a game at Rogers Arena and will tell you they know just how to tell the Sedin twins apart. But only real fans can immediately recall Pavel Bure's penalty shot in the 1994 Stanley Cup final, or have hit the road to support their team in enemy territory. 100 Things Canucks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource for true Vancouver Canucks fans. Whether you're a diehard from the days of Stan Smyl or a more recent supporter, these are the 100 things every fan needs to know and do in their lifetime. Experienced sportswriters Mike Halford and Thomas Drance have collected every essential piece of Canucks knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom.

It’s not surprising if you’ve never heard of Ernie Gare; the man behind innovations that paved the way for many Canadians to pursue their athletic dreams without sacrificing education cared more about the future of the athletes and the sports than garnering fame for himself. Without Gare and his drive to create the scholarship program, the world may not have seen Nancy Greene win an Olympic gold medal, or the Crazy Canucks take Canada to the top of the ski racing world. Without Gare’s collaboration with Bob Nicholson, the Program of Excellence might never have been created to help keep Canada one of the top hockey nations in the world. This is the story of the man who changed the future of Canadian winter sports.