If only an honest book can live, as Emerson said, then Growing Up Hockey is immortal. It's the story of everyone who plays or cares about the game. It's warm reading for a cold night. Or any night. Jack Falla Author of Home Ice Many of us grew up scoring a thousand glorious NHL goals in our minds, and on our streets and corner rinks. We won the Stanley Cup over and over in our imaginations. What happened to those childhood heroics? We packed them in a box with our hockey cards and forgot them. Growing Up Hockey uses the heartwarming and comical exploits of a house-league third-liner to prompt us to re-live our memories of hockey glory. It shows that for those who love it, the game is never far away. Bobby Hull, Frank Mahovlich, Wayne Gretzky they're all here. But equally large are the neighbourhood rink bullies, the Pee Wee league super-starts and the obsessed NHL aficionados. Together, they create a hockey myth as grand as ever existed and as unique as each of us.
This is a memoir about the timeless magic of growing up playing hockey on the frozen lakes, rivers and ponds of Canada and the northern United States. California-based sports writer Brian Kennedy, who covers the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks of the NHL for Inside Hockey, calls his book an autobiography of anyone who ever loved the game. Kennedy harkens back to his own youth growing up in Montreal in evoking a compelling voice for fans everywhere.