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CM . . . . Volume XXI Number 8 . . . . October 24, 2014
excerpt:
Each of these three volumes feature 20 players who have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. With the exception of Hockey Hall of Fame Super Scorers, the books' titles indicate the players' position. The super scorers, naturally, are the forwards, but a defenseman like Bobby Orr would not have been out of place in that volume. However, Orr is the opening entry in Hockey Hall of Fame Dominant Defensemen while Wayne Gretzky introduces the Hockey Hall of Fame Super Scorers. Terry Sawchuk is the introductory entry in the goalie volume. Zweig, who has written numerous hockey books, does not provide any rationale for his selections, and their order in each book appears to be entirely random.
The remainder of both facing pages contains two of a variety of different types of information pieces. The principal "categories" are: "Modern Match", "From the Vault" and "Blast From the Past". "Modern Match" connects a player from the current NHL with the pages' featured player. For example, today's high scoring Alex Ovechkin is favorably compared to Hall of Famer Phil Esposito. A photo of the contemporary player always accompanies this feature, but it takes the form of a bobblehead doll.
Other information "categories" are more specific to a player's position. For example, Hockey Hall of Fame Super Scorers contains a number of "Dynamite Linemates", the contents of which recognize that one player's scoring success was, in part, due to his linemates. Consequently, the entry for Mike Bossy acknowledges the contributions made by Bryan Trottier and Clarke Gillies to Bossy's game. Similarly, the "Powerful Pairs" sections of Hockey Hall of Fame Dominant Defensemen recognize the support provided by the other player in each defensive pairing, with an example being Chris Pronger's defensive play that supported Al MacInnis. "Parallel Puckstopper" is a section that is unique to Hockey Hall of Fame Great Goalies. In it, a feature goalie, such as Grant Fuhr, is compared to another goalie, in this case Andy Moog.
The brief text and numerous illustrations should make this series a favourite with hockey fans as well as those looking for hi-lo nonfiction. Highly Recommended. Dave Jenkinson, CM's editor, lives in Winnipeg, MB. Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
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Table of Contents for This Issue
- October 24, 2014. |
Each player's entry takes up a pair of facing pages with the featured hockey player's full-colour photo and accompanying text occupying the top half of both pages. The brief, readable text provides an overview of the player's hockey history, with the focus being on the elements of his game that merited his inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame. A "Did You Know?" insert adds a bit of colour to each main entry. For example, goalie Gerry Cheevers' "Did You Know?" reads, "Gerry Cheevers was one of the first NHL superstars to leave the league and join the rival World Hockey Association in 1972-73."
"From the Vault" presents a variety of hockey artifacts that are presumably held by the Hockey Hall of Fame. The "historical artifact" connected to defenseman Brian Leech is a colour photo of the "Battered Blades" that he wore between 1989 and 1995. The contents of "Blast from the Past" are similar to "Modern Match" except that the players involved in the comparison are other members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Consequently, Red Kelly, whose career saw him playing both on defense for the Detroit Red wings and later as a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs, is compared to Dit Clapper, whose 20 year NHL career was evenly split between the two positions but in reverse order to that of Kelly. The illustrations accompanying this section are a mixture of full-colour drawings and "hockey card-like" photographs. I suspect that the art work was employed when photos of players from hockey's early years were unavailable.
While players from the NHL dominate the pages of these three volumes, all three books do acknowledge that the Hockey Hall of Fame has inductees who never played in the NHL. The except above is the non-NHLer found in Hockey Hall of Fame Super Scorers, while Vladislav Tretiak is included in Hockey Hall of Fame Great Goalies. Hockey Hall of Fame Dominant Defensemen contains the only female to be featured in the trio of books, Geraldine Heaney, whose pages also recognize the first two women to become Hall members, Cammi Granato and Angela James.