Professional hockey is a fast game, and a dangerous one. Skates slice like razors; a hard-shot puck can take out an eye; and the ice surface is as hard as rock, especially when skulls are slammed against it. Innovations in equipment make the game faster and more exciting -- and have to be countered by measures that keep it safe for players.

From hoc …

Maurice Richard was the greatest hockey player of the 20th century. He was also the most popular and respected hero of French-speaking Canadians. His career paralleled the dramatic changes that occurred in Quebec after the Second World War, when the Quebecois people asserted their equality and their rights.

This new biography of Richard records his …

The Ottawa Senators have had a long and storied history as one of the original -- and dominant -- Canadian hockey franchises. Stocked with skilled and adventurous players, the early Senators were known for their aggressive play and never-say-die attitude. The fascinating story of the team continues into the present with the thrilling account of how …

In 1917, the Montreal Canadiens became one of the four founding teams of the National Hockey League. Since then, the team has enjoyed countless breathtaking triumphs. Not only have they won more Stanley Cup Championships than any other team in the NHL, they have also boasted some of the best players the league has ever seen. Through it all, they ha …

"Since its construction in 1931, the Maple Leaf Gardens had seen its share of powerful, memorable moments and held its share of championship glory. But there was something different about this evening of May 2, 1967."
This book will be especially facinating for readers interested in hockey or sports. The Toronto Maple Leafs is one of Canada's great …

Willie O'Ree quietly made NHL history at the Montreal Forum on January 18, 1958, when he became the first black player to take to the ice. In the dressing room before the game, his Boston Bruins teammates told him not to worry. If any one of the Montreal players said anything to him, they'd have his back.

There was a round of applause when O'Ree ste …

It wasn't until Canadian teams started losing in international tournaments in the mid 1950s that an epic hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union began. Canadians believed hockey was
"their game." So Canadians were in for a rude awakening when they lost Game One of the 1972 Summit Series to the Soviets. The eight-game tournament quickly …

Nicknamed "Cyclone" for his breathtaking speed, Fred Taylor was hockey's first superstar. Though known for his squeaky clean game, Taylor was often caught up in the politics and turmoil of hockey's early professional years. Star Power is the story of one of Canada's greatest athletes and a game in transition.

[Fry Reading Level - 4.8

The sons of Icelandic immigrants and friends since boyhood, the Winnipeg Falcons were a superbly talented team of just eight players who brought home Canada's first Olympic gold medal in hockey in 1920. But before they became world champions, the Falcons endured years of prejudice on and off the ice.

Author and renowned hockey historian Eric Zweig b …

Fresh off the plane from Vancouver, sixteen-year-old hockey player Aaron Wong is excited to be starting his first year at Podium, the Calgary school for top teen athletes. Aaron has to make friends and fit in at a new high school, while also adjusting to a new home and a family with a different culture than his own. Luckily, he finds a tight-knit g …

In 1931, a group of ten teenage girls from Preston (present-day Cambridge), Ontario, enlisted the help of the top women's sport journalists of the era, and the Preston Rivulettes hockey team was born. Within a decade the team became so good that no other team would dare to play against them. Yet the struggles these young women faced are ones that w …

At the first-ever women's hockey world championships in 1990, Canada dressed its National Women's Team in pink. Offending many, the controversial decision nevertheless drew media and public attention to the series and subsequently registration in girls' hockey went up 40%. Lorna Schultz Nicholson offers an insider's look at the power behind the pin …

"Bad" Joe Hall and Newsy Lalonde were bitter enemies on the ice. Crowds were drawn as these two roughneck hockey players battled it out for victory. But the game changed during WWI, when many of Canada's hockey players left the game to become soldiers and fight for their country. Rivals Joe and Newsy were then forced to play side by side as teammat …

How did the Kenora Thistles become, against all odds, the smallest team and the smallest town ever to win the Stanley Cup?

This famously scrappy hockey team was founded in the rough and tumble town of Kenora, Ontario, at the end of the 19th century. A decade later, playing far away from home, in Montreal, the fiery teenagers whom the Montreal Star d …

Aiden is the roughest player on his Calgary hockey team, as likely to be in the penalty box as on the ice.
When he hits another player after a game, however, he's charged with assault and sentenced to one hundred hours of community service. He's bored and annoyed when he's forced to help Eric, a blind player with the Calgary Seeing Eye Dogs. In t …

He's the face of the Calgary Flames, but there's much more to Jarome Iginla's story than just being the first black captain of an NHL team. He's also renowned for his social commitment and generosity off the ice.
Jarome (nicknamed Iggy) grew up in a single-parent household in St. Albert, Alberta. It was thanks to support of his grandparents that he …

Lionel Conacher excelled at football, hockey, baseball, boxing, wrestling, and lacrosse. He taught himself how to play and he worked hard, and it paid off. He supported his struggling family, never giving up or letting people down. He was given the nickname Big Train because he was unstoppable on the football field when he ran through the oppositio …

Most people recognize hockey superstar Bobby Clarke as the tough guy with the toothless grin. This fast-paced and energetic new book tells the story of Clarke's fights on and off the ice -- not with rival hockey players, but with diabetes. Long-time sports editor Nicole Mortillaro examines how Bobby was almost shunned from the league because of the …