Sports Hockey Biographies

Touching on family, forgiveness, sport, and making peace with tragedy, this narrative captures the lives of two unlikely friends from very different backgrounds. Dan Snyder was not a sure thing in professional hockey, but defied expectations by playing for both the minor league's Chicago Wolves and the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers. Dany Heatley, on the other hand, had been tapped for success from the start as a college star and high draft pick.

Gordie Howe may have been the greatest player in the history of hockey, but greatness was never defined by goals or assists in the Howe household. Greatness meant being the best person you could be, not the best player on the ice. Unlike his two brothers, Murray Howe failed in his attempt to follow in his father's footsteps to become a professional athlete. Yet his failure brought him to the realization that his dream wasn't really to be a pro hockey player. His dream was to be his father. To be amazing at something, but humble and gracious. To be a hero.

Skating on Thin Ice exposes the culture of toxic masculinity in professional hockey and suggests how sport and society can change the narrative on sexual assault and violence.

In the four biggest American sports leagues, 124 franchises vie for the crown of greatest of all. Only one can sit atop the throne. Now for the first time ever, Got Your Legends ranks all of the franchises and explains which teams are legendary, or unique, or exciting, or tragic . . . or laughable.

This is a story about my hockey odyssey and passion for the game. My compelling journey starts on a schoolyard rink in Kitchener, Ontario. Filled with inspiring memories, people, relationships, players and coaches, including chance childhood meetings with Darryl Sittler and Wayne Gretzky. Along the way, young dreams turn to reality as I play my first NHL game at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, starting on a line with Dale Hunter and John Druce.

It is the greatest American underdog sports story ever told: how a team of college kids and unsigned amateurs, under the tutelage of legendary coach - and legendary taskmaster - Herb Brooks, beat the elite Soviet hockey team on their way to winning the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. No one believed the scrappy Americans had a real shot at winning. Despite being undefeated, the US - the youngest team in the competition - were facing off against the four-time defending gold medalist Russians.

In 1980 the Soviet Union had dominated the world of hockey for nearly 30 years. Nobody thought the USSR's hockey team could be beaten in the Winter Olympics. But US Hockey coach Herb Brooks didn't believe that. He pulled together a ragtag team of amateur hockey players and molded them into a team that could compete with the best teams in the world.

In this inspiring book, US Olympian and hockey star Kendall Coyne shares the grit and determination it took to break down barriers and achieve her dreams against tremendous odds, encouraging young people to follow their passions and never give up.

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber tells the hilarious and improbable true story of Attila Ambrus, the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe. He's the onetime pelt smugger, goaltender (possibly the worst in the history of pro hockey), pen salesman, Zamboni driver, gravedigger, church painter, roulette addict, building superintendent, whiskey drinker, and native of Transylvania who's decided that the best thing to do with his time is to rob as many banks as possible.

Qui était l'homme derrière le numéro 3 ?Pourquoi le retrait de son chandail est-il devenu un devoir de mémoire ? Émile « Butch » Bouchard, l'un des meilleurs défenseurs de la LNH et le premier capitaine francophone du Canadien de Montréal à s'imposer à ce titre, est un personnage iconique : joueur chevronné, certes, mais aussi apiculteur, homme d'affaires, restaurateur célèbre, père de famille et bon citoyen.

Hockey forms the backdrop of our lives. For many Canadians, the big moments - births, deaths, marriages, moves - are all mixed up with the wins and losses of our teams. The voices of Hockey Night in Canada sportscasters are our soundtrack, and visions of skates scraping across the ice lull us to sleep. George Bowering, Canada's former poet laureate, is no different.

Ask a hockey fan if they have heard the wonderfully electric call of Nick Bonino's overtime-winning goal from the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, and they will almost surely answer with a resounding "Yes"! That's because video clips of the Hockey Night in Punjabi broadcast immediately went viral, amplifying the profile of Harnarayan Singh, the voice behind the call.

Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after.

Picking up where the best seller The Russian Five left off, Vlad the Impaler will have listeners alternately laughing and in tears with dozens more memorable, untold stories and anecdotes from the Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup championship season 25 years ago. The book includes a foreword by Hall of Fame defenseman Slava Fetisov, along with lengthy excerpts from interviews of several members of that team, from captain Steve Yzerman, teammates Brendan Shanahan, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Slava Kozlov, and coach Scotty Bowman, among many others.

Men's hockey in Canada may hog the limelight, but interest in women's hockey has never been higher. The Role I Played is a memoir of Sami Jo Small's 10 years with Canada's National Women's Hockey Team. Beginning with her experience as a rookie at the first-ever women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 and culminating with Canada's third straight Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, the veteran goaltender gives the listener behind-the-scenes insight into one of the most successful teams in sports history.

Jonathan Toews is a standout center in the NHL. Learn about his childhood and his rise to becoming a hockey superstar.

Hilary Knight started skating when she was five. Fifteen years later, she was the youngest member on Team USA at the 2010 Olympics. The next 10 years of her career have only gotten more impressive. Discover more about Knight's highlights on and off the ice in this thrilling biography in the Stars of Sports series.

In Open Net, George Plimpton takes to the ice as goalie for his beloved Boston Bruins. After signing a release holding the Bruins blameless if he should meet with injury or death, he survives a harrowing, seemingly eternal five minutes in an exhibition game against the always-tough Philadelphia Flyers.

In the early 2000s, 16-year-old Todd Davison and his older brother Wade were living the Canadian hockey dream—playing together in the Western Hockey League, a stepping-stone for many future NHL stars. Todd seemed destined to be one of them. But after facing off against Sidney Crosby at the Canada Winter Games in 2003, that dream became a nightmare when Todd's mysterious shoulder pain led to a devastating cancer diagnosis. His Last Shift: The Playbook of Todd Davison recounts the journey of an incredible young man as he comes to terms with his death long before his time.

Frank Zamboni created the ice-resurfacing machine, and ice-based sports would never be the same!