Overview
One hot afternoon in 1998, Dave Bidini – who loves hockey, watches it, plays it, and breathes it – found the Stanley Cup final so tedious to watch that at one point he clicked channels to Martha Stewart – and never switched back. This made him wonder where in the world the game might exist free of the complications of professional sport. He set out to find the tropic of hockey. His quest took him to a rink on the seventh storey of a mall in Hong Kong – a rink encircled by a dragon-headed roller coaster – and to the gritty city of Harbin in northern China, where a version of hockey has been played for 600 years; to Dubai in the desert of the United Emirates, where hockey is brand new and incredulous Bedouin drop by the Al Ain rink to touch the ice; and to Transylvania, where the game is a war between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians, who were introduced to hockey by a 1929 newsreel of Canadians chasing the puck. Bidini’s encounters with odd-sized rinks and players of wildly different talents and experiences have inspired him to interweave his stories of hockey in unlikely places with funny and eyebrow-raising stories about places and players back in Canada. As a bonus, readers are also treated to some striking observations about the game, its fans, and the testosterone, the profanity, and the moments of grace that enrich it.
Full Product Details
Author: Dave Bidini
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Imprint: McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Dimensions:
Width: 15.30cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.80cm
Weight: 0.420kg
ISBN: 9780771014581
ISBN 10: 0771014589
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 18 September 2001
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
One of the best books on the game this country has seen since Ken Dryden's The Game ...conversational, compelling, funny and raw. Not to mention literate and studied. <br>- National Post <br><br> This year's best hockey book <br>- Globe and Mail <br><br> By travelling the world...Bidini renews his faith in this Canadian game. And with it, ours. <br>- Exclaim! <br><br>. ..stands above the bookshelf in terms of page-turning imagination. <br>- Toronto Star
“One of the best books on the game this country has seen since Ken Dryden’s The Game…conversational, compelling, funny and raw. Not to mention literate and studied.” –National Post “This year’s best hockey book” –Globe and Mail “By travelling the world…Bidini renews his faith in this Canadian game. And with it, ours.” –Exclaim! “…stands above the bookshelf in terms of page-turning imagination.” –Toronto Star
Author Information
Author and musician DAVE BIDINI is the only person to have been nominated for a Gemini, Genie, and Juno as well as CBC's Canada Reads. A founding member of Rheostatics, he has written thirteen books, including On a Cold Road, Tropic of Hockey, Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs, and Home and Away. He is a three time National magazine award-winner, and his play, The Five Hole Stories, was staged by One Yellow Rabbit Performance Company, touring the country in 2008. His most recent book is Midnight Light: A Personal Journey to the North, and he is the publisher of the West End Phoenix community newspaper in Toronto.
