The Rocket, The Flower, The Hammer and Me: An All-Star Collection of Canadian Hockey Fiction edited by Doug Beardsley

Best Quote: “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful; not a single ugly movement on the ice…Morenz, Joliat, Gagnon, Jackson, Smith - the whole lot of them are about the best artists this country ever turned out.”

Summary: A collection of short stories, some very good, and other leaving you wanting more. Each short story looks at characters on the margins of hockey, the average fan, aging players, and children who dream of one day playing in the National Hockey League. The writing throughout the book is clear, avoiding tired clichés so often associated with sports.

The Last Season by Roy MacGregor

Best Quote: “Life is just a place where we spend time between games.”

Second Best Quote: “Hockey is the dance of life, an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive.”

Summary: A work of fiction published in 1983 by Roy MacGregor, and one of the better sports fiction books out there. The story follows Felix Batterinski, a hockey player from Northern Ontario who earns his way as a fighter and as an enforcer for the Stanley Cup Champion Flyers. Following his playing career, Batterinski turns to work as a player-coach in Finland, where a controversial incident becomes the catalyst for his tragic downfall. What makes the book work is the author’s deep knowledge of the game, but also of Canadian hockey culture. There is a high price athletes pay for the mental and physical sacrifice they make to reach the highest levels of the game, even if for a brief moment in time. MacGregor captures this perfectly.