A fresh, comprehensive, and entertaining take on hockey goalies In hockey, goalies have always been a contradiction - solitary men in a team game, the last line of defence and the stalwarts expected to save the day after any and every miscue and collapse from his teammates. It's no wonder that anyone who played the position has had his sanity questioned; yet some of the biggest innovations in the game have come from its puckstoppers. In The Goaltenders' Union, Greg Oliver and Richard Kamchen talk to more than 60 keepers of yesterday and today, finding common threads to their stories, and in dozens of interviews about them with other coaches and players. From Gilles "Gratoony the Loony" Gratton, who refused to play because the moon was out of alignment with Jupiter, to Jonathan Quick, the athletically gifted master keeper of today's game, the book is an entertaining and enlightening peek behind the mask.

GOALIES: GUARDIANS OF THE NET, is a glorious testimonial to the goaltenders who have shaped the game at its highest level.

Brick, the Sockeyes’ young playboy goaltender, can’t block this shot straight to his heart.

Veteran Boston goaltender Jean Pierre Savard sees stardom and the money it brings as fate's make-up call for a life in which he lost his father, his wife, and most of his self confidence for anything not involving saves or sex. Now late in his career, Savard and his teammate and best friend, Cam Carter, are trying to fulfill their boyhood dreams of winning a Stanley Cup before they retire. A surprise late-season trade pits the friends against each other in a playoff series both could lose but only one can win. Saved takes the reader into the rinks, dressing rooms, planes, buses, and hotels that are the backdrop to the long grind of an NHL season. That grind is made bearable by the likes of players such as Bruno Govoni, whose cell phone ring tone is the orgasmic moaning of a porn star Loretta (Lash) LaRue; of Phil "Flipside" Palmer, the only person besides the Kingsmen who knows all the words to "Louie Louie" or that "Child of the Moon" was the flipside of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash"; and team enforcer Kevin Quigley, who claims all his fights are retaliations, "but sometimes I retaliate first." Most sports novels bring the game to the reader. Saved brings the reader to the game. Praise for Jack Falla "Falla's graphic portrayal of a violent sport (and its colorful players) and his insider's view of how hockey is played, coached, and officiated is exciting, surefire entertainment." -- Publishers Weekly on Saved "Literary hot chocolate that will warm your heart." ---Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times, on Home Ice "The best hockey book ever." ---John Buccigross, ESPN sportscaster, on Home Ice "Possibly the best hockey book since Ken Dryden's The Game." ---Toronto Globe and Mail, on Home Ice

HockeyÍs rich history explored through some of its most fascinating documents Every great career in hockey starts with a pen and a piece of paper. In Blue Lines, Goal Lines & Bottom Lines, author Greg Oliver takes a peek into historical documents of the stars, from Wayne GretzkyÍs first contract to a scouting report on Mario Lemieux; from Bobby Hull promoting a hair restoration product to Glenn Anderson fighting for his playoff bonuses. And whatÍs this about baseball Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins playing with the St. Louis Blues? The journeymen tell their tales too, from Lou Nanne explaining why he signed his own retirement papers to Pierre Pilot talking about Elmer ñMooseî VaskoÍs battle with his weight. Culled from the archives of Allan Stitt, one of hockeyÍs leading collectors, the book offers up page after page of treats never before seen by hockey fans. The documents that breathe life into Blue Lines, Goal Lines & Bottom Lines are complemented by a wide variety of stunning and rare photos from the Hockey Hall of Fame archives.