51. – 740.) Fire on Ice by Darrell Davis – In addition to mysteries one of my
passions is sports. During the years I have covered the Saskatchewan
Roughriders of the Canadian Football League as a columnist for the Melfort Journal I met Darrell. He was a sports writer for the Regina Leader Post
newspaper who wrote about the Riders for over two decades. I acknowledge he is a
friend in writing this review of Fire on
Ice, a book he has written about Saskatchewan hockey players boldly
sub-titled, Why Saskatchewan Rules the NHL.
There are approximately 50 NHL players currently playing in the league
out of about 700 players. Yet Saskatchewan is far more disproportionately
represented in the NHL. Our province produces NHL players at 4.8 players per
100,000 people while the next leading province, Manitoba, has 2.6 players per
100,000.
Current Edmonton Oiler
forward, Jordan Eberle, wrote the forward to the book. He grew up on Janzen Crescent
in Regina just down the street from the home of Darrell and his wife, Eva,
playing street hockey with Darrell’s sons.
Darrell accompanied L.A.
forward, Jarret Stoll, and the Stanley Cup back to the village of Neudorf (283
people) where he started playing hockey and the city of Yorkton (18,000 people)
where his family moved as a teenager. (For readers unfamiliar with Stanley Cup
tradition each player on the winning team is allowed to take the Cup anywhere
they want for a day after the Championship season. Most players take it to
their home towns.) Over 1,000 people went to the celebration in Neudorf and
hundreds had their photo taken with Jarret and the Cup.
Not surprisingly for
Saskatchewan two other NHL players, Brian Propp who played in the 1980’s and
1990’s, and Eddie Litzenberger who played a generation earlier, came from Neudorf.
Darrell also notes the village honours Henry Taube, a Nobel Prize winning
chemist, who grew up there.
Darrell, after a story
on Stoll’s willingness to do what is best for the team set out the
characteristics of a Saskatchewan player:
That’s typical of a Saskatchewan hockey player –
somebody you want on your team. He’s the glue who holds the dressing together,
A back-checker. Somebody who never floats through a shift and doesn’t care if
his accomplishments are recognized by the fans or the media, as long as his
teammates respect his efforts. He remembers his roots, where he came from, who
preceded him, who helped him, and he respects the sport’s tradition, how it binds
Canada together on every frozen pond and indoor arena from Newfoundland to
British Columbia.
Exploring the roots of
Saskatchewan hockey Darrell makes a 3 hour drive to Wawota to watch a Big Six
Senior League hockey game. Saskatchewan’s love of hockey has hundreds of teams
of men playing organized hockey for the joy of the game. Wawota has several
citizens who made the NHL and a major contribution to their Zamboni came from
the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL.
Darrell uses the example
of Brooks Laich from Wawota on the attitude of Saskatchewan hockey players. After
his team, the Washington Capitals, lost the 7th game of a hard
fought series to be eliminated from the playoffs he was driving across a bridge
where he saw a car with a flat tire. He stopped and changed the tire for a
mother and her daughter. No one who lives in Saskatchewan was surprised he
pulled over to help them.
Saskatchewan hockey
players are consistently tough men. Dave “Tiger” Williams holds the NHL record
for penalty minutes racking up 3,966 minutes during his career. Darrell tells a
powerful story about Tiger inspiring a young Bryan Trottier to keep playing by
becoming his personal protector.
The first aboriginal
player in the NHL, Fred Sasakamoose, came from Saskatchewan. His life is filled
with accomplishment and addiction.
I loved the stories in
the book but found the recitation of player statistics and backgrounds took
away from the stories at times. I wished Darrell could have included more
stories. I wanted to learn more about the players.
The book will help readers
understand Saskatchewan hockey but I
regret that Darrell did not really analyze the
information and offer his thoughts on what has made Saskatchewan so successful
in producing NHL players. Knowing him he had the ability to provide such
analysis. Maybe there is another book to be written. (Oct. 21/13)
Bill - I didn't know you'd covered the Roughriders for a newspaper. That's really interesting! It sounds as though this is a fascinating book that looks at an aspect of hockey that most people don't think about. I can understand why the stories would especially hold your interest - I think they would mine too. I like the idea of the background information in this book, too - something for the reader who may not know a lot about hockey, but who is still interested. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Towards the end of November I will have some more news about writing as a sports columnist. The stories help readers to understand the people who live in Saskatchewan.
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