Books about Hockey

[Money99]

Wasn't sure where this should go, so figured I'd start a new thread about this.
I've read quite a few hockey books in my day and I just finished Bobby Orr's memoir.

If you're looking for details about specific games or stats, don't get this book.
He's loathe to speak about himself and rarely gives any sort of exact detail about any event or game.
In fact, he splits his pro career into about 3 chapters without more than 3 or 4 pages dedicated to each.

What I liked best is the beginning and the end.
He talks about his child hood and getting to the NHL. Then at the end, he talks about what he likes about today's game and what he doesn't.

He really goes into detail how he thinks today's parents are too serious about the game and how they should let kids be kids.
He's very much against letting kids play one sport 12-months a year and believes they need more than one sport to be better athletes, not hockey players.

My cousin is an assistant GM for local Junior B team. Every year the owners spring for a cruise for all the players and staff.
He said watching these guys try to play volleyball or basketball is hilarious. They have no clue and look so uncordinated.
A few years back, some local NHLers came home to play in a softball tournament. One of those guys was Steve Ott. His entire team was made up of semi-pro players from the ECHL and AHL.
Hardly any of them knew how to hold a bat or catch a ball. It was hilarious watching them fumble out there.

Anyway, it was a good book. Not one of the best I've read, but still good.

Don Cherry's book is still one of the best I've ever read.

[gopher_guy]

Over the summer I read Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind.

It was a very good read. Goes through his playing days, his Minnesota teams in the '70s, and goes into pretty deep detail about the Olympic team.

A lot of interesting stuff in that book that I never knew, like how the '79 Minnesota team was essentially a test run for the 1980 Olympic team. If they hadn't won the national championship and played as well as they did that season, who knows what would have happened with the 1980 USA team.

Written by John Gilbert, who was (still is, maybe) a hockey writer who was good friends with Brooks. So plenty of behind the scenes stuff where Brooks describes his methods.

[Cletus]

I've read a couple. One I liked was A Breed Apart, about Goaltenders. IT helped me a lot to understand goaltenders in past eras. It was rather interesting but it's rather old. If you're a 90's hockey nut, you'll enjoy it.

I also read Breaking the Ice about black NHL players. It was more about how hockey is a huge racist sport more than the storylines about their players. I understand that being a minority in a sport like hockey is tough, but the book seemed more like it was trying to grind an axe than to celebrate the journeys of black hockey players.

[Mashiasu]

I'm really looking forward to Chris Nilan's book "Fighting Back" which is due out next week

[puckzone25]

The Boys of Winter is a great story about the US Olympic team, way more in depth yet interesting than anything else out there about Herbie and the boys.

Honestly though, "Tough Guy" by Probert was probably the best hockey book I have ever read. The guy was genuinely a friendly and nice human being, and didn't care about making the speech in the book seem more professional. He wrote the same way he talks and let that be that, which made it a really easy read without it being considered "dumbed down."

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by puckzone25

The Boys of Winter is a great story about the US Olympic team, way more in depth yet interesting than anything else out there about Herbie and the boys. Honestly though, "Tough Guy" by Probert was probably the best hockey book I have ever read. The guy was genuinely a friendly and nice human being, and didn't care about making the speech in the book seem more professional. He wrote the same way he talks and let that be that, which made it a really easy read without it being considered "dumbed down."

You betcha! I loved that book too!
Theo Fluery's book was also written in a very frank manor. It too was a tremendous read.

Check out Phil Esposito's "Thunder and Lightning". Another great, candid book. Extremely easy read.
And it's worth to read just for the story regarding Andre The Giant and a Bruins puck bunny, haha.

[Cletus]

I finished reading "Journeyman" by Sean Pronger. Good book, easy to read and makes you think about hockey from a personal standpoint you don't get on television.

[Money99]

I'm reading Chris Nilan's "Fighting Back" right now.
Pretty entertaining if not a bit far-fetched. I have to question the validity of some of his stories.
For instance, he talks about the time he met his first wife Karen Stanley.
Karen was the mother of Theresa Stanley who was the long-time girlfriend of Jimmy "Whitey" Bulger.

Whitey had basically helped raise Theresa's kids so he was very close to them.
The first time Chris met Bulger, Whitey took out a gun and basically threatened Chris that if he didn't treat Karen right, he would make him disappear.

The reason I think this is BS is because I doubt Whitey Bulger had to threaten anyone in Boston.
If you lived in Boston - especially if you were Irish and living in South Boston - you knew who he was. Words probably didn't even have to be exchanged.

There are some other tall tails that are a bit hard to believe.

Overall though it's been pretty entertaining.
I think he gets in more fights off the ice than on.

P.S. In the book, he has a photo of him and Probie riding camels in Dubai.
I'm not 100% certain, but I believe in Probie's book, he talks about doing a charity tour with Nilan in Dubai and the two of them get into a fight while Nilan's drunk at a casino.
Might have that wrong though.