Calling all hockey fans! It’s getting chillier and chillier outside, but we’re keeping our cool with two new hockey books to add to your collections, one that takes you into the depths of the American Hockey League and the other an extensive compendium of Toronto’s “Brief Leafs.”
Go on the road with the best hockey players not in the NHL
What is life really like in North American hockey’s top minor league? As told by dozens of the players, coaches, broadcasters, personnel, and owners who work a grinding schedule every winter, Chasing the Dream goes behind the scenes with seven AHL teams. Find out how players’ dreams of lacing up their skates in the NHL motivate them through long bus rides and games where they’re constantly gunning for a precious spot in the majors.
From young prospects to veterans whose own hopes have faded, hear from AHL players on why today’s minor league is no longer like Slap Shot, what playing three games in under 48 hours can do to a player, and why fighting — once a staple of the minors — is on the decline. Learn about the game from coaches, alumni, and broadcasters, as well as AHL president Dave Andrews, who reveals how the AHL is becoming an even more important tool for NHL teams in the salary-cap era.
Load your gear on the bus and take a tour around the many venues, personalities, pranks, and memories of the once-small AHL — an organization that now crosses the continent and is big business for players and owners.
Click here for a sneak peek of Chasing the Dream.
by Graig Abel and Lance Hornby, foreword by Wendel Clark
A full-colour compendium of Toronto’s “Brief Leafs”
Over the past 100 years, close to 1,000 players have suited up for at least one game with the legendary Toronto Maple Leafs, and more than 250 did in the most turbulent era in club history, 1978–1999. In that time span, the Leafs made more than 300 trades, signed 20 free agents, and claimed eight players on waivers while almost 100 draft selections changed hands in addition to dozens of Toronto’s own picks.
Unlike NHLers elsewhere, the names of Toronto players aren’t quickly forgotten by fans. A stint with the Leafs, no matter how short, carries a certain cachet; the names and sweater numbers, and the compelling stories behind them, live on as trivia talk for years. Featuring 256 players, Cup of Coffee tells those stories with full-colour action pictures shot by veteran Leafs photographer Graig Abel. Learn about these “Brief Leafs” — their backgrounds, statistics, and memorable tales — as detailed by veteran Leafs journalist Lance Hornby.