Georges Laraque
Georges Laraque

Author: Georges Laraque

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 2011-11-08

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0143185837

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Think you know NHL tough guy Georges Laraque? Think again. Sure, Laraque knows all about the rough side of hockey. The Hockey News named him “best fighter.” Sports Illustrated called him the league’s “#1 enforcer.” Fans called him “BGL”—for Big Georges Laraque. Ottawa Senators’ pugilist Chris Neil called him “probably the toughest in the league.” Ask Laraque, though, and he’ll say that’s not who he really is. Known as a player who was unfailingly respectful and gentlemanly even when he was going toe to toe with the toughest guys in the toughest league in the world, he now takes that courageous sense of what is fair into fights that are much more important than the outcome of a hockey game. The son of Haitian immigrants, Laraque campaigns for World Vision to help Haitian reconstruction and relief. A committed believer in animal rights (and probably the toughest vegan in the world), he is a spokesperson for PETA. A conscientious environmentalist, he stepped up to be the deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada. From facing racism in Quebec’s minor-hockey system to the thrill of the Stanley Cup finals as an Edmonton Oiler, Laraque tells the story of a hockey player’s life defined by courage and a refusal to compromise. Honest, startling, and brave, this is a portrait of a hockey player unlike any you’ve read before.

Breaking the Ice
Breaking the Ice

Author: Cecil Harris

Publisher: Insomniac Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1897415052

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Black hockey players from Grant Fuhr to Jarome Iginla speak candidly for the first time about their experiences in the NHL. Since 1958, thirty-seven black men have played in the National Hockey League. Out of the 600 players active today, fourteen are black. Breaking the Ice: The Black Experience in Professional Hockey is the first book to tell the unique stories of black hockey players - how they overcame or succumbed to racial and cultural prejudices to play Canada's favourite pastime. Sports journalist Cecil Harris outlines in detail the personal and professional battles as well as the vict.

Don't Call Me Goon
Don't Call Me Goon

Author: Greg Oliver

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2013-09-01

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1770904212

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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.

The Same but Different
The Same but Different

Author: Jason Blake

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2017-08-21

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0773550569

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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.

The Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper

Author: Stu Grimson

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0735237255

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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.

A Fly in a Pail of Milk
A Fly in a Pail of Milk

Author: Herb Carnegie

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2019-11-08

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1773053795

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Revised and updated with commentary from Bernice Carnegie, Herb’s daughter, and life lessons passed from father to daughter Herbert Carnegie was the complete hockey package in the 1940s and 1950s. Though his contributions to society both in sport and education have been referenced and profiled in books, documentaries, and thousands of articles, this is Carnegie’s own account of striving to break the glass ceiling, starting with his career as a professional hockey player on all-white teams. In 1978, noted hockey journalist Stan Fischler wrote a powerful headline about Carnegie: “Born Too Soon.” A Fly in a Pail of Milk reveals the feelings of a trailblazer — a man who proved to be unstoppable on the ice and in his resolve to make our world a better place. In this new edition, Herb’s daughter Bernice Carnegie shares stories about what it was like to work closely with Herb on youth and educational projects for more than 30 years. She also reflects on parts of her father’s writings, sharing personal thoughts, family stories, and conversations about how his journey profoundly influenced her life.

The Bone Cage
The Bone Cage

Author: Angie Abdou

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781897126172

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"Tells the tale of Digger, an 85 kilo wrestler, and Sadie, a 26-year-old speed are nearing the end of their athletic careers, and are forced to confront the question: what happens to athletes when their bodies are too old and injured to compete?"--Pub. desc.

The Best Laid Plans
The Best Laid Plans

Author: Terry Fallis

Publisher: Emblem Editions

Published: 2010-03-26

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0771047533

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WINNER OF CBC CANADA READS WINNER OF THE STEPHEN LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR Here’s the set up: A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election—but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock—an engineering professor who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to engineers—to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign, certain to lose, and so on. Then a great scandal blows away his opponent, and to their horror, Angus is elected. He decides to see what good an honest M.P. who doesn’t care about being re-elected can do in Parliament. The results are hilarious—and with chess, a hovercraft, and the love of a good woman thrown in, this very funny book has something for everyone.

Tales of a First-Round Nothing
Tales of a First-Round Nothing

Author: Terry Ryan

Publisher: ECW Press

Published: 2014-05-01

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1770905049

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Terry Ryan was poised to take the hockey world by storm when he was selected eighth overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1995 NHL draft, their highest draft pick in a decade. Expected to go on to become a hockey star, Ryan played a total of eight NHL games for the Canadiens, scoring no goals and no assists: not exactly the career he, or anyone else, was expecting. Though Terry's NHL career wasn't long, he experienced a lot and has no shortage of hilarious and fascinating revelations about life in pro hockey on and off the ice. In Tales of a First-Round Nothing, he recounts fighting with Tie Domi, partying with rock stars, and everything in between. Ryan tells it like it is, detailing his rocky relationship with Michel Therrien, head coach of the Canadiens, and explaining what life is like for a man who was unprepared to have his career over so soon.

Pain Killer
Pain Killer

Author: Brantt Myhres

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 073523941X

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#1 BESTSELLER "This book is at times startling, yet very real and down to earth . . . I saw [Brantt] in all phases of his life and his career. I consider him a friend and an ally. Pain Killer sends a strong message." --Darryl Sutter, former NHL player, coach, and GM From the only player to be banned for life from the NHL, a harrowing tale of addiction, and an astonishing path to recovery. Brantt Myhres wasn't around for the birth of his daughter. Myhres had played for seven different NHL teams, and had made millions. But he'd been suspended four times, all for drug use, and he had partied his way out of the league. By the time his daughter was born, he was penniless, sleeping on a friend's couch. He'd just been released from police custody. He had a choice between sticking around for the birth, or showing up for league-mandated rehab. He went to rehab. For the fifth time. This is his story, in his own words, of how he fought his way out of minor hockey into the big league, but never left behind the ghosts of a bleak and troubled childhood. He tells the story of discovering booze as a way of handling the anxiety of fighting, and of the thrill of cocaine. In the raw language of the locker room, he tells of how substance abuse poisoned the love he had in his life and sabotaged a great career. Full of stories of week-long benders, stripper-filled hot tubs, motorcycle crashes, and barroom brawls, Pain Killer is at its most powerful when Myhres acknowledges how he let himself down, and betrayed those who trusted him. Again and again, he fools the executives and doctors who gave him a second chance, then a third, then a fourth, and with each betrayal, he spirals further downward. But finally, on the eve of his daughter's birth, when all the money was gone, every bridge burnt, and every opportunity squandered, he was given a last chance. And this time, it worked. It worked so well, that not only has he been around for his daughter for the past eleven years, in 2015 he was signed by the LA Kings as a "sober coach": a guy who'd been there, a guy who could recognize and help solve problems before they ruined lives and made headlines (as the Kings had seen happen three times that season). Not only did Myhres save himself, he saved others. Unpolished, unpretentious, and unflinching, Myhres tells it like it is, acknowledging every mistake, and painting a portrait of an angry, violent, dangerous man caught in the vice of something he couldn't control, and didn't understand. If Brantt Myhres can pull himself together, anyone can. And he does, convincingly, and inspiringly.