The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane

In this second book in “The Ice Chips” series, Lucas and his friends Edge and Swift are travelling through time straight into a hurricane! Their teammates, Bond and Mouth Guard, join them just in time to call for help as the three friends flounder on a rickety boat in Halifax Harbour. Bond and Mouth Guard get help from a young hockey player as Captain Brannen pilots the boat through heavy seas. Will the players survive?

Before they travelled through time again, Lucas was facing several challenges. He needed a new pair of hockey pants, and his mother promised to find a way to buy them if he would stop biting his nails. The Ice Chips played their first game at the reopened Riverton Community Arena against their arch rivals the Riverton Stars. When the game ended in a disastrous loss, the team realized, “The situation was simple: they just weren’t ready.” (p. 29) The team needed help. In order to find inspiration, Lucas and his friends decided to travel back in time once again.

This time, they meet a young Sidney Crosby who helps save them from the hurricane. The players need more practice time, and they need some effective strategies to improve their game. Sidney trains with them and shows them the value of hard work, endurance, creativity and commitment to his sport. They soon realize that they don’t need fancy training equipment to train effectively. Will Sidney’s tips make the difference in their next game against the Riverton Stars?

Roy and Kerry MacGregor have once again captured the spirit of minor league hockey in their novel The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane. Lucas is an energetic and determined young player who loves the game! “There weren’t many pleasures in the world that Lucas cared for as much as those first few steps into a hockey rink…the feel of the fresh, cold ice itself. That was Lucas’s paradise.” (p. 60) Although the team may lack skill, Coach Small knows that they have something much more important – heart!

Roy MacGregor was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012 for his work on the “Screech Owls” hockey mystery series. His co-author, Kerry MacGregor, has worked as a journalist for the CBC as well at The Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen and Parenting Times Magazine. This new hockey novel looks at several timely issues including: minor league hockey, hurricanes, bullying, time travel, friendship, training and sportsmanship. Readers will also learn about the history of Halifax as well as Sidney Crosby’s career. The brief chapters and amusing illustrations will make a good choice for readers of all abilities who enjoy novels about hockey.