Hockey's Young Superstars: The 25 Hottest Players on Ice. Jeff Rud. Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books, 2003. 159pp., pbk., $19.95. ISBN 1-55192-637-7. Subject Headings: Hockey players-Biography. National Hockey League-Biography. Grades 4 and up / Ages 9 and up. Review by Dave Jenkinson. *** /4

excerpt:

At first Jerome wanted to play goalie and spent some time in net. But there wasn't enough action at that position and, by age nine, he was playing "out" full-time. At 10, when he made the St. Albert rep. Team, his interest in the game snowballed. "I always dreamed of playing in the NHL,: Iginla says. I never thought about the odds or chances of making it. That's just what I wanted to be."

Growing up in Edmonton, predictably he was a big fan of the Oilers such as Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. But he was also significantly influenced by the presence of Grant Fuhr, the Oilers' outstanding goaltender and one of just a handful of black NHL players. Iginla says that Fuhr's presence on the Oilers made it easier for him to dream about the NHL. He even met Fuhr briefly at a baseball tournament when he was just 10.

"I heard other kids say things like: 'What are the odds?' [of a black player making the NHL]" Iginla says. "It was nice for me to be able to say that yeah, there is one. It was nice to know that it is possible."

Those who watched Jarome Iginla develop as a minor-hockey star in the Edmonton area had little doubt about his potential. His surname means "big tree" in his father's native language of Yoruba and by the time he reached bantam age the young Iginla was well on his way to the imposing six- foot-one, 207 pound frame he has today.

The author of two previous books about basketball, Long Shot: Steve Nash's Journey to the NBA and Skywalking: How Ten Young Basketball Stars Soared to the Pros, Victoria, BC's Jeff Rud, a long-time sports writer, turns his hand to hockey, specifically the NHL and 25 of its young superstars. Arranged alphabetically from the Toronto Maple Leafs' Nik Antropov to the Boston Bruins' Joe Thornton, the players in this collective biography represent 17 of the league's 30 teams, with the Florida Panthers having the greatest number, three. The Calgary Flames' Jerome Iginla is the oldest, having been born on July 1, 1977, while the Columbus Blue Jackets' Rick Nash, born June 16, 1984, is the youngest. In terms of NHL experience, through the 2002-03 season, Iginla had the most with seven years while Rick Nash and the Florida Panthers' Jay Bouwmeester had each played but a single NHL season. Not surprisingly, the book's contents include 19 forwards (10 wingers and 9 centres) while the positions of goalie and defense, which normally require some years of "seasoning" in the minors, are respectively represented by only two and four players.

     The players' entries vary in length from five to seven pages (the exception being the Vancouver Canucks' Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik who are jointly treated in eight pages), with at least one of those pages being a full-colour, usually action photograph of the player. Entries begin with the player's "tombstone" data: sweater number, and position played, height and weight in imperial units only, and date and place of birth. Statistics by year, though the 2002-03 NHL season, are provided in terms of: NHL teams played for, number of games played, goals, assists, total points, penalty minutes, plus/minus and scoring percentage re. shots taken on goal. Goalie statistics include: games played, minutes played, wins, losses, ties, goals against, shutouts, and goals against average. The rest of the entry is a lively prose description which provides an overview of the player's childhood and early involvement in hockey and his route to playing in the NHL as well as his achievements since reaching the NHL. The highly readable text is further enlivened by direct quotes from the individual players as well as comments from teammates, coaches and managers. In Rud's closing "Acknowledgements," he identifies the numerous primary and secondary sources he used in creating this volume.

     As previously noted, the information in Hockey's Young Superstars concludes with the 2002-03 regular NHL season. Since then, Edmonton Oilers's centre Mike Comrie has been involved in a contract dispute with the team and has not played at all this season nor have the New York Rangers' goalie Dan Blackburn and the Atlanta Thrashers' right winger Dany Heatley, both of whom have been injured, the latter in the tragic car accident.

     An attractive volume, Hockey's Young Superstars will find a ready audience from middle school through adult readers. While the book's text is available to newly independent readers, the book's contents will be of interest to hockey fans of all ages.

Recommended.

Dave Jenkinson, when not teaching courses in children's and adolescent literature at the Faculty of Education, the University of Manitoba, still pines for his Winnipeg Jets.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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