The stories of five real hockey heroes who overcame challenges to play the game they love at the highest possible level! This inspiring book profiles hockey players whose talent and determination eventually broke down barriers in hockey and opened doors and the generations that followed. Readers will learn about: Will O'Ree, who challenged racial barriers as the first black player in the NHL. George Armstrong, the first aboriginal player to make it big in the NHL, played 11 seasons as the Captain of the Maple Leafs, and proved his talent many times over. Bobby Clarke was the first player with diabetes to play in the NHL. Knowing his place in hockey history now, it is laughable to htink he was dismissed as "too fragile" to play the game. Manon Rhéaume, the first woman to play pro hockey. Larry Kwong, the first Chinese-Canadian in the league. This fascinating book includes photos of all the players and sidebars about others they inspired, including Jarome Iginla, Hayley Wickenheiser and Jordan Tootoo. It encourages young fans to consider hockey, and the meaning of determination, from a whole new perspective.

“Jam-packed with powerful advice, insights, and recommendations on how to market smarter, sell more, and capture the minds of the people who matter most” (David Newman, author of the #1 bestseller, Do It! Marketing). Trailblazers reveals how leaders develop and move markets when others say it’s impossible. Readers discover what twelve very different, yet highly successful, leaders did to achieve massive global success despite encountering countless setbacks, adversity, and critics during their journeys. Based on in-depth, recorded interviews, their stories are not only inspiring, but also reveal how they pushed onward when it seemed like quitting was the only option. Leaders will learn from the valuable wisdom and tips shared in this book—including the seven key characteristics all super successful and innovative leaders possess—and use them to immediately blaze their own successful trail in both business and life. “A powerfully effective, clear-cut guide to addressing and overcoming the adversity and setbacks which are a part of every business professional’s journey to success.” —Ivan Misner, PhD, New York Times–bestselling author

I always knew I’d marry my first everything, Declan Yaeger, the Southern boy with Irish roots. That was before he became my first heartbreak, a NHL superstar with a playboy reputation I no longer recognize. The summer he left our small, Tennessee town, to pursue his hockey dream is the summer my life changed. That was seven years ago, before he became a defenseman for the Boston Hawks. Before I became a hardened, desperate woman, trying to survive. To protect my grandfather's legacy, I agree to marry my oldest childhood friend, Henry. But when I enter the Church on my wedding day, the grey eyes piercing mine aren’t my fiancé’s. They’re Declan’s, the last person I expect to show up with an offer of his own. One I can’t refuse even though my heart should know better than to accept. Will my marriage to Declan heal the broken between us? Or are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our past?

Portland Trail Blazers is a beginner's history of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. Beginning with the franchise's early years, readers will experience the team's highest and lowest moments, meet the team's best players and managers, and gain the inside track on information that completes the team's story. Mini-biographies, fun facts, anecdotes, fantastic quotes, and sidebars combine with full-color, action-packed photographs to round out the story of the Trail Blazers, allowing your readers Inside the NBA! SportsZone is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.

Recently traded to the newly formed Vermont Trailblazers, professional hockey player Roman Kinsey needs to focus on helping the team win games and filling the stands, not on the blond, bespectacled part-timer who works at the library he volunteers at. He knows all too well that outing himself equals heartache and ridicule...or worse.Cody Evans, psych major and grad school hopeful, notices everything and thinks too much. But he doesn't know what to think when he sees Roman reading to kids. The rugged hockey player just doesn't look like the type. But it stirs something in him, something he's never felt before.When the library is threatened with closure, Cody enlists Roman's help. As they get to know each other better...much, much better...they realize that they have more in common than books. But Roman's keeping a big part of himself from his team, and giving in to his feelings for Cody might be more than he's willing to risk.

HOCKEY-From the Buddhist concept meaning Key to Happiness and Chilly Serenity during Bloody Brawls and Melees. How Hockey Saved the World is the greatest, if only, hockey protest book ever written. It is the often true story of how a middle-aged, overweight American got off the couch long enough to lose weight and learn to play hockey in order to find a magic puck that would end the NHL lockout, unseat President George W. Bush and end the Iraq War. A handbook on how to survive without professional sports while becoming a better parent, achieving world peace and playing hockey, however poorly. "A tongue-in-cheek view of politics and sports, delivering humor and laughs that recall the work of Mark Twain, Joseph Heller and Ambrose Bierce. -Cliff Bellamy, Durham Herald-Sun "[T]he author's subversive wit and genuine belief in the game's magic are oddly persuasive. An amiable meditation to warm even the iciest hearts." - Kirkus Discoveries After reading How Hockey Saved the World, and seeing the error of my ways, I will resign the Office of the Presidency effective January 15, 2009. -President George W. Bush