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CM . . .
. Volume XVIII Number 17. . . .January 6, 2012
excerpt:
Readers familiar with Romanuk's annual Hockey Superstars volumes that have focussed on the previous season's premier NHL players will immediately be comfortable with the format of his new series, Hockey Superstars: All-Time Greats. However, unlike the annuals, these new "retrospective" works essentially consist of the large "hockey card" photos with their accompanying facing page of text. The annuals' matte reader-participation pages are not present in Hockey Superstars: All-Time Greats, and only the volumes' final page invites any direct reader engagement, with Vol. 1 asking readers to identify by playing position,"Who are your All-Time Greats?" and Vol. 2, "Who are your Future All-Time Greats?"
While both books are most interesting reads, the challenge is identifying the books' audience. In his "Introduction" to Volume 1, Romanuk says:
Given that only seven of the two books' 40 players were still active players in the twenty-first century, with the most recent retirees being Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux in 2006, most of the youth who are in the age span Romanuk defines as being in the "golden age of sports" will not immediately identify with the book's players, seeing them as NHL history. While the more ardent young NHL fans may open the pages of volumes of Hockey Superstars: All-Time Greats, the books' contents will likely have more appeal to youngsters' parents and grandparents. Recommended with reservations. Dave Jenkinson, who is CM's editor, lives in Winnipeg, MB, and he recalls watching a goodly number of the players found in the above two volumes during their playing days.
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Each of the Hockey Superstars: All-Time Greats volumes contains 20 Hockey Hall of Famers whose playing years in the NHL began as early as 1910 and ended as recently as 2006, with most playing during the latter half of the twentieth century. The vast majority of the players' photos are in full colour, but a few are in black and white because colour photography was either not available or was not common during their playing years. With just one page of two-column text available for each player, Romanuk can only provide an overview that highlights a player's career, careers that sometimes spanned more than two decades. The text page also includes a "Did You Know?" feature that, for example, includes the fact, in the case of Phil Esposito, that "In 1968-1969 Phil became the first player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season. He finished with 126 points – the first of six 100-point seasons he had during his career."
In both books, following the trophy/awards pages, Romanuk includes charts of '"NHL Records" with Volume 1's two pages highlighting the "Top 10 All-Time" goal-scoring leaders and point leaders, and, for goaltenders, the "Top 10 All-Time" shutout leaders and win leaders. A final chart lists the "Teams with the Most Stanley Cups." In Volume 2, the single page of "NHL Records" provides the names of the five players who have the most career regular season games played, most goals in a single season and the most career points by position (center, left and right wings, and defenseman).