Mark Messier is a six-time Stanley Cup champion and has played more playoff games than anyone in NHL history. As a star player with the Edmonton Oilers, Messier had two 100-point scoring seasons and -- along with Wayne Gretzky -- led the team to four Stanley Cup victories. After Gretzky left the Oilers to join the Los Angeles Kings, Messier stepped up to captain the Oilers to their fifth Cup victory. During his brief period with the New York Rangers, he won the Stanley Cup again. Currently, he plays center for the Vancouver Canucks and is fourth in NHL all-time scoring.

The incredible story of the life and phenomenal career of one of the greatest players ever to wear a Maple Leafs uniform, told through stories and never-before-seen photographs. Darryl Sittler may well be best remembered for two of the most remarkable performances in the history of the National Hockey League. On February 7, 1976, he scored six goals and added four assists for an NHL record total of ten points in a game. That spring, he joined Maurice Richard in hockey history by recording five goals in one playoff game. He also scored one of the most famous goals in hockey history, the overtime goal against Czechoslovakia to win the 1976 Canada Cup. Now, #27 looks back at his incredible career and greatest moments on and off the ice. He writes about growing up in St. Jacobs, Ontario, his days in junior hockey with the London Knights, and his rookie year in 1970-71. Also included are his personal reflections on some of his greatest teammates (Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull, and Mike Palmateer, to name a few) and his encounters with his greatest rivals (Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull, Brian Trottier, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, and Larry Robinson). He recounts his childhood hockey heroes (waiting in the cold outside an arena in Kitchener for Bobby Hull's autograph), his years playing for Philadelphia and Detroit, his induction into the Hall of Fame, and deep devotion to his family. Full of great anecdotes from his personal and professional life, this is an inspiring, revealing book by a revered leader and legend in hockey history.

Every player who ever scored in the NHL has a different story about his first goal. For some, like Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, or Phil Esposito, their first goal was just one of many they would score in their long and illustrious careers. For others, their first goal was also their last. Sports journalist Mike Brophy has interviewed fifty players about their first NHL goal, and the result is a wide-ranging wealth of personal stories that include high-profile former NHLers and many of the game’s best players from today. Some players, such as Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, scored in their first NHL game. Others were not so lucky. Jim Vesey, for example, scored his only NHL goal into an empty net. With lots of direct quotes from the players themselves and Brophy supplying the tantalizing background information and career highlights, this book is a treat for hockey fans young and old.

This reference work, updated since the 1997 edition, provides comprehensive information on the major professional leagues in North America--baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer. Arranged chronologically, the entries for each league in each sport include individual statistical leaders, championship results, major rules changes, winners of major awards, and hall of fame inductees.

The greatest hits from the world's largest—and most hilarious—hockey humour blog Hundreds of thousands of hockey fans around the world are addicted to Down Goes Brown, and with good reason: Sean McIndoe is the funniest writer in hockey. His often insightful, always entertaining posts have made the site one of the top hockey blogs in the world—and definitely the most amusing. From shrewd observations to tongue-in-cheek commentary, Down Goes Brown manages to capture the essence of hockey while exposing the frequently funny side of the sport. Now, in The Best of Down Goes Brown, McIndoe himself compiles some of the blog's best-loved posts, along with a host of all-new content, in one side-splitting volume. Packed with fan favourites, including The Code: Hockey's Unwritten Rules Revealed, The official map of an NHL rink, A complete transcript of every NHL game ever broadcast, What an official NHL trade call really sounds like, An NHLer’s guide to never saying anything interesting, The other former NHL stars who interviewed for Colin Campbell’s job, and more, many of which have become so ubiquitous that readers who have never even heard of Down Goes Brown know them by heart, the book is the ultimate gift book for hockey fans everywhere. Brings together dozens of the funniest articles from the premier hockey humour blog Includes the hugely popular viral hit, "The NHL's Top Secret Flowchart For Handing Out Suspensions,” and many other legendary posts Features exclusive, never before seen content not available online Sure to hit hockey fans right on the funny bone, The Best of Down Goes Brown is the ultimate anthology of the very funniest writing from the world's largest hockey humour blog.

The Canada Cup gave us some the greatest games and never to be forgotten moments in hockey history. Re-live some of those moments with this fascinating insight into the tournament.

Sports talk in America has evolved from small-time barroom banter into a major media smorgasbord that runs 24/7 on TV and radio. With hundreds of billions of dollars generated annually by pro and college teams in major markets nationwide, sports fans across the country are more dedicated than ever to their teams. And when it comes to sports talk -- especially all-sports radio -- it's all about entertainment, information, prognostication, analysis, rankings, and endless discussion. Prominent sports-media figures in each of the three target cities -- Cleveland, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. -- engage in this phenomenon with a compilation of sports lists sure to delight as well as stir up debate within these already-buzzing sports communities. List topics include: What were the most lopsided trades in local sports history? Who were the most overrated athletes to play in our town? What local athlete had the best appearance in TV or film? What was the most heartbreaking loss in local sports history? What was the greatest single play in local sports history? Who are our team's most hated rivals? Plus dozens of "guest" lists contributed by famous local sports and entertainment celebrities. Not only does Detroit host major pro sports teams -- the Lions (NFL), the Red Wings (NHL), the Tigers (MLB), and the Pistons (NBA) -- the area also includes prominent college sports programs such as the University of Michigan. Detroit's fans are some of the most educated and fanatical in the country, thanks to the work of long-time commentators Mike Stone and Art Regner.

Fun, always surprising and a hockey lover's treasure chest of the little-known facts that shaped the game, you cannot Google the stuff that Liam Maguire shares in this entertaining little book. About 30% updated, revised and renewed from Liam’s 2001 trivia collection, What's the Score?, First Goal Wins! includes a foreword by Wayne Gretzky. Liam has scoured the depths of the NHL archives and stats to put together many of these questions and answers, which you can't get from just looking up your favourite player on Wikipedia. What sets his take on hockey trivia apart from the many pretenders out there is the magical connections he builds between the numbers, the players and the game's history. Besides the straight goods, you always get the ultimate "And did you know...?"

Where Countries Come to Play chronicles each Olympic tournament, from the 1920 Antwerp games to Vancouver in 2010. Illustrated with photographs from the IIHF archives, the book features rare pictures of games and players, as well as memorabilia and artifacts. Each event is retold through a detailed narrative that will offer fans a complete history of Olympic hockey, including amazing stories from both on and off the ice, organizational challenges, bitter battles, player's tales, and spectacular hockey action. The book also contains a prelude to 2014 Sochi and a detailed appendix of Olympic hockey stats. As well, Where Countries Come to Play celebrates the IIHF's Triple Gold Club, whose members have each won an Olympic Gold Medal, a Stanley Cup, and a World Championship. For the first time in book form, the elite club's twenty-five members are profiled and the story of their accomplishments told. The book will be publsihed in advance of the Sochi Winter Games and is the must-have hockey book for all fans of the game and for anyone that has ever cheered for their nation as they skated out onto the ice.

When the Lights Went Out tells the story of a moment in the 1987 World Junior Championship that forever changed the lives of the players involved, and ignited a debate that has yet to subside about the way the game is meant to be played. When Team Canada skated onto the ice that night in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, they thought they were 60 minutes away from a gold medal. Future superstars like Brendan Shanahan and Theo Fleury, pitted against Russians like Alexei Fedorov and Alex Mogilny, dreamed of returning to Canada in glory. Instead, they were sent home empty-handed, bearers of a legacy that would follow them throughout their careers. No one who saw it will ever forget it. The mere mention of Piestany evokes the image of twenty fights breaking out all over the ice as players rushed to their mates’ defence, of haymakers, stick-swinging, and even kicking, of a referee skating off the ice in shame. ESPN hockey writer Gare Joyce tells the story of the game that marked the last time Canadian and Soviet players squared off as enemies, rather than potential team mates in the NHL. It tells the stories of the combatants on the ice. Of the coaches behind the bench. Of officials, international hockey executives, members of the media and even politicians who were caught up in the intrigue.