Here are a couple hockey book recommendations The Maven.
It's hockey book-reading time.
The following pair are can't miss winners that you'll enjoy whether you're a Rangers fan or not:
1. THE COUNTRY AND THE GAME: 30,000 MILES OF HOCKEY STORIES: This reads like a gripping – back and forth – hockey game and is hard to put down. Author Ronnie Shuker crossed Canada making hockey stops – and actually playing – in places you wouldn't believe. Not to mention towns you never heard of and wish you did.
Rangers fans will be particularly interested in former Blueshirts who Shuker encountered. One was toughie Darren Langdon in Deer Lake, Newfoundland. Langdon opened his bar while he was still with the Rangers and offered patrons a round on the house whenever – on the rarest of occasions – he scored a goal!
In Sydney, Nova Scotia, Shuker met ex-Blueshirt defenseman – and good fighter – John Hanna. According to Ronnie, Hanna was the first of several Lebanese players to make it to the pros. There are plenty of other fascinating Hannas in this segment.
Well-known former Ranger Brad Richards surfaces in an off-the-wall sort of way when Shuker met hockey card collector Cornelius Van Ewyk. When Van Ewyk married Richards' cousin, Lorna, in 2004 he began collecting Richards' hockey cards. The collection now has an estimated worth of $30,000.
I loved this book and highly recommend it. The volume is published by Sutherland House Books in Toronto and is available on Amazon. You won't regret it. Check it out: https://sutherlandhousebooks.com/product/the-country-and-the-game/.
2. GAME-WINNERS: THE GREATEST GAME-WINNING GOALS IN HOCKEY HISTORY: Indefatigable Matthew Blittner has teamed with Russ Cohen to produce a much-needed body of work. Rangers fans will appreciate the number of Blueshirt classics, well told and very well remembered.
They include: A. Stephane Matteau's double-overtime gem against the Devils in 1994; B. Derek Stepan's Game Seven killer over the Capitals in 2015; C. Wayne Gretzky's Hat Trick Winner vs. Florida in the 1997 playoffs and D. The Maven's personal favorite, Pete Stemkowski's triple overtime winner against Chicago at The Garden in 1971. (By the way, Stemmer wrote the book's foreword.
Other biggies include such notables as Hall of Famer Bryan Hextall , Artemi Panarin and – remember him? Brad Richards.
Here's a teaser. Guess which game Blittner and Cohen wrote about when they said: "If this were a normal, regular season game, the goal would not make our list. However, this wasn't any regular season game. It was a massive spectacle."
It was J.T. Miller's Winter Classic winner at Citi Field, 2018!
Blittner has a solid list of winners but this one – with the redoubtable Cohen – is truly what I consider a monument to literary memory. Check it out; You won't be sorry!