Portrait of a Hockey Scribe: Life on Press Row
$18.99-
A memoir tracking a child’s worship of sportswriters, Portrait of a Hockey Scribe is a cautionary tale about getting exactly what you want — for Joyce, a seat in Maple Leaf Gardens’ press box.
Joyce spares himself no embarrassment in cataloging his persistently humbling beginnings — from washing out in journalism school to working a dead-end job at a tabloid. After quitting the business and working as the Shamrock Tavern’s doorman, Joyce gets back in the game writing on spec for a sports monthly. The apprenticeship was rife with blunders, but it also landed him lunch with King Clancy and Wendel Clark at the Gardens and a private audience in the executive office of the new NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. In a few short years, The Globe and Mail hired Joyce as its hockey columnist even though he had only ever seen a half dozen live NHL games.
This book takes readers behind the scenes: with Larry Murphy, when he was Leafs fans’ scapegoat, and Pat Burns, when his firing loomed, to the last games at the Boston Garden and the Forum. These, however, are all a prelude for the final puck drop at the Gardens, when memories flood back and, with them, regrets about the price a scribe pays for a free seat on press row.
Available September 22, 2026. PRE-ORDER NOW!
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Gare Joyce has written for dozens of publications and media outlets in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. He has been featured in Best American Sports Writing, the television series Private Eyes was adapted from his mystery novel, The Code, and he has won the Canadian National Magazine Award four times. He lives in Kingston, ON.
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Published: September 2026
ISBN: 9781770418714
Dimensions: 6 x 9 in.
Pages: 344
Reviews
“If Canadian sportswriting were a team, Gare Joyce would be the goalie. He sees the game differently, unlike all the other key players in the game. He reads the play differently, understands the angles, the individual skills, the flaws, and the emotional wrench of losing and winning. Nothing gets past him. He’s unique. He’s brilliant. He’s Gare Joyce, sportswriter supreme.” — Roy MacGregor, columnist for The Globe and Mail and bestselling author of The Home Team
“More than anything, Gare Joyce is so much fun to read. Here is a masterwork that describes in hilarious detail his life in reading and writing — how he became a scribe, how he worshipped the press-box legends, and as you will soon see, how he became a master of an endangered if not dying art.” — Peter Golenbock, author of The Bronx Zoo, Bums, and Baseball Heaven
“Told with Gare Joyce’s signature style, this hilarious and self-deprecating memoir goes behind the curtain of the sports world and is as entertaining as it is informative and revealing. A fantastic work of literature.” — Jason Priestley, actor and director
“Gare Joyce is my favourite. I marvel at his skill. I love his new memoir — devoured it in one sitting.” — Donal Logue, actor, Gotham and The Tao of Steve
“Gare Joyce may have created a new genre with his sportswriting memoir, Portrait of a Hockey Scribe: a cautionary tour de force. Thirty-nine of its 40 chapter titles begin with the word “Don’t.” The other begins with “Never.” There are dozens of lamp-lighting moments of unflinching, hip-checked prose. Here’s one: As soon as legendary Maple Leaf Bob Pulford drew a deep breath, his face turned crimson. If he had played for the Montreal Canadiens, it would have looked like he had pulled his sweater over his face, like Bazooka Joe. Don’t miss the chance to devour this book. And by don’t, I mean never.” — Bill Scheft, author, former sportswriter, former winger for David Letterman
“Gare Joyce’s Portrait of a Hockey Scribe is a rollicking ride through the misadventures of one of Canada’s greatest sportswriters. With a unique talent for seeing the story beyond the obvious, Joyce turns his lens to the often self-important world of chronicling self-important games. As always, Joyce wields a deft touch for wit and irony, often turning those gifts on himself. But this is much more than a collection of entertaining tales from an illustrious scribe. It is the story of the mythologies we chase and the truths discovered in the balance of that restless pursuit.”—Dan Robson, The Athletic