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Ravishing Rebounds


Heather C. Myers - 2018
    Going through a public divorce with two young children doesn’t make him an eligible bachelor even if he is making seven figures as a professional hockey player. Somehow, he wins the affection of Amanda Brown, an Ice Princess with red hair, a disarming smile, and a warmth that immediately draws him in and makes him feel safe.But his ex isn’t going to make things easy for him when she finds out - even though it was her indiscretions that led to their divorce in the first place.Three months into it and she can leave at any time. He may be serious about her but they aren’t serious - yet. And if Rita gets her way, Amanda will walk out of his life and never look back.

Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind


John Gilbert - 2008
    S. hockey team’s victory at the 1980 Olympics was a “Miracle on Ice”--a miracle largely brought about by the late Herb Brooks, the legendary coach who forged that invincible team. Famously antagonistic toward the press at Lake Placid, Brooks nonetheless turned to sportswriter John Gilbert after each game, giving his longtime friend and confidant what became the most comprehensive coverage of the ’80 team. This book is Gilbert’s memoir of Brooks. Neither strictly biography or tell-all exposé, Herb Brooks: Born to Coach is the story of an extraordinary man as it emerged in the course of a remarkable friendship.Gilbert, writing for the Minneapolis Tribune, first met Brooks during his coaching days at the University of Minnesota, whose hockey program he resurrected in the 1970’s. The two became fast friends, and here, for the first time, Gilbert relates anecdotes--his own and former players’--that illuminate Brooks’ oftentimes hard-nosed coaching methods, his dramatic successes, and his incomparable character. From Brooks’ beginnings in East St. Paul and his stint with the 1960 gold medal-winning Olympic team (from which he was famously the last player cut), Gilbert goes on to dissect the coach’s tenure with the Gophers (including three national titles) and the Lake Placid story, from the selection process and yearlong barnstorming tour to the Games themselves. Throughout this and later chapters of Brooks’ career--including coaching turns with St. Cloud State University, four NHL teams, and the 2002 U.S. Olympic squad--readers are treated to impossibly colorful quotes, rare photographs from Brooks’ playing and coaching careers, and pertinent sidebar pieces that originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune.

Coach: The Pat Burns Story


Rosie DiManno - 2012
    He worked with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and seemed always to enjoy instant success. He capped his extraordinary career by coaching the New Jersey Devils to a Stanley Cup victory in 2003. Cancer--his third bout--finally claimed him in 2010, aged 58. Rosie DiManno, who knew Burns well, has written a revealing, exhilarating and heartfelt account of his life: his childhood as a fatherless, solitary male surrounded by many women, his years as a police officer, his glorious coaching career and his long and characteristically valiant ending."Coach "is both the first major biography of Burns and one that, with its revelations, personal insights and riveting prose, is--like the man himself--sure to be both controversial and hard to beat. Rosie DiManno knew, liked and admired Burns, and in the writing of this book has interviewed many, many people from every stage of his life. She is not blind to his less endearing qualities, but seeks to explain them."" DiManno reveals a man of contradictions--gruff and crude, bullying and sentimental, and easily wounded. She shows, moreover, a man of hockey. The Burns who rode motorcycles, dressed like a cowboy, and sweet-talked the ladies was, says DiManno, a self-creation. His one indisputable, true talent was for coaching hockey. He was a pure coach. DiManno tells a compelling story and helps us to understand a complex man, one who gave little of himself to the public and yet whose funeral was a spectacle. How did that happen? Who was Pat Burns? Rosie DiManno, who witnessed much of the story, has the answers.

Straight Up and Personal: The World According to Grapes


Don Cherry - 2014
         Known for his opinions--and unabashed expression of them--Don Cherry has been causing debate for decades. Topics on "Coach's Corner" sometimes veer away from sports and on to other matters that are near and dear to Cherry's heart: the war in Afghanistan and politics, among many others.      In Straight Up and Personal, Cherry shares his thoughts on a broader range of issues than he ever has before. He shares some of his personal experiences on and off the ice, and offers the lessons he's learned along the way. This is Don Cherry: straight up and personal.

Rose Sees Red


Cecil Castellucci - 2010
    Partly based on the author's own experiences at the famous Manhattan high school for the performing arts, this novel explores friendship, freedom, and the art of challenging convention.Set in New York in the 1980s, this story of two ballet dancers (one American, one Russian) recounts the unforgettable night they spend in the city, and celebrates the friendship they form despite their cultural and political differences.

The Fox Steals Home


Matt Christopher - 1978
    Already troubled by his parents' divorce, Bobby Canfield is further distressed when he learns that his father, who has coached him in running bases, intends to move away.

Delayed Penalty


Shey Stahl - 2013
    As long as the non-offending team maintains possession, the referee allows play to continue and signals a delayed penalty by raising his arm.I’m Evan Mason, an NHL hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks. I spend my nights roughing up two hundred pound defensemen and, at times, spend more time in the penalty box than I do on the ice.That’s my job. One night changed everything I thought I once knew about my life on, and off, the ice. A girl. A brutally beaten girl left to die in an alley.I don’t know why or how but something made me stay that night after taking her to the hospital. I didn’t know her, nor did I have an obligation to stay but something inside of me rooted me there telling me I should stay. Saving a life is worth something. At least I thought so. And I wouldn’t have been me if I just simply left her there. Any man who put his heart and soul into a game of hockey couldn’t just walk away when someone needed them. She had no one else right now. The same guy who saw determination where there was desire, now saw hope where there was once despair.I couldn’t leave. That wouldn’t be me. No, not a man that put all he had into something some called just a game. I couldn’t walk away from her holding onto life, weak and powerless to something she had no control over.So I stayed. In a room full of family members praying for their loved ones to pull through, I prayed for a girl I didn’t know and had never met before, to have a beating heart. While others’ sorrows turned to grieving pain, I sat waiting on the words of the unknown.No bond is stronger than the ones you’ll bleed for.

The Rarity of Falling


Leeann M. Shane - 2019
    Not girls. But then again, Ava wasn’t girls. She was only one. One girl with eyes the color of sweetness and a personality that spun the same. My life was about school and my friends. Not boys. But then again, Bishop wasn’t just any boy. He was my solid ground. When forcing out smiles and hiding secrets is no longer possible, Bishop’s the unlikely force there to steady me. She wasn’t supposed to uproot my life. I wasn’t supposed to like it. He wasn’t supposed to be my strength. I wasn’t supposed to need any. It’s rare when opposites attract. He’s quiet and broody. I’m outgoing and bubbly. But when we come together, we fall. Over and over again. And nothing is ever the same… The Rarity of Falling is a sensitive and unputdownable coming of age love story by Leeann M. Shane.

When It Counts (2016, #2)


Lauren Hopkins - 2016
    Gymnastics is Amalia’s life and she’s sacrificed everything to get this far, but she still has to prove she has what it takes to stand out in Rio. The competition is tough and nothing is guaranteed, not even for her teammates, recently-crowned national champion Ruby Spencer, who missed the 2012 Olympics after rupturing her Achilles a month before the Games, and world champion Emerson Bedford, whose personal drama is threatening her mental game when she needs it most. Picking up where "Finding Our Balance" left off, "When It Counts" follows Amalia, Ruby, and Emerson on the next steps in their journey to Rio.

The Missing Collection: Found; Sent; Sabotaged; Torn; Caught


Margaret Peterson Haddix - 2013
    But when sinister messages start to suggest an unimaginable secret in his past, Jonah and his sister, Katherine, are swept up in an adventure greater than time itself. Because Jonah isn’t just any kid—he’s one of the famous missing children from history. And if he and his friends can’t fix the past, then the future—and the present—are in grave danger…Ideal for newcomers to the series and loyal fans alike, this collection of the first five books in The Missing series includes Found, Sent, Sabotaged, Torn, and Caught.

Finding Murph: From First Overall to Living Homeless in the Bush - The Tragic True Story of Joe Murphy


Rick Westhead - 2020
    In 1986, he became the first college-educated hockey player ever selected first overall in the NHL entry draft. He won a Stanley Cup in Edmonton alongside Mark Messier. But since then, his life has taken a tragic turn as a result of mental illness, substance abuse and the untreated head injuries he suffered as a player.Murphy’s life didn’t begin on a track that would take him to poverty, addiction and illness. He was smart, dedicated and put his hockey life on hold to complete his education before joining the NHL. He once scored eighty-two points in a season and was a key player for the Oilers, Red Wings and Blackhawks, among other teams. But one vicious bodycheck during a game started him down a road to ruin. Murphy was clearly shaken by the hit, but he was never treated and he never missed a game. His entire life was about to change.Murphy became a journeyman, moving from team to team, and all along the way, other NHLers said they witnessed a change. Murphy was becoming more different by the day. He took to drugs and alcohol and soon found himself out of the NHL entirely. He and his wife divorced. Murphy eventually became homeless and, in the spring of 2019, he made his way to Kenora, Ontario, where he lived in the bush, spending his days outside a local convenience store, muttering to himself. The player who had once set the NHL aflame slept by the side of the road in the unforgiving North.In the vein of Playing with Fire and Boy on Ice, Finding Murph tells the tragic story of Joe Murphy and examines the role of the NHL in the downward spiral of one of the league’s most promising players.

Tara Flynn


Geraldine O'Neill - 2002
    But the wealthy Fitzgeralds who live at Ballygrace have little time for village girls, until Madeleine, their unstable, delicate daughter, meets Tara. Tara is everything Madeleine isn't, yet the two girls find themselves becoming firm friends. When Tara meets Gabriel, Madeleine's older brother, she becomes painfully aware of the differences between the Fitzgeralds and the Flynns. Without a wealthy family behind her, Tara will have to work her way to the life she dreams of. Then Tara finds herself with a heartbreaking decision to make, and must leave the world of Ballygrace behind her and flee to England . . .

The Instigator


Jonathon Gatehouse - 2012
    Many hardcore hockey followers are convinced the commissioner is out to ruin the game this country loves.Still, when Bettman took over in 1992, the gross revenue of the National Hockey League was US$400 million. This season, the figure will be closer to $3.3 billion—an eightfold increase. If that were the only criterion by which to judge Bettman’s tenure, he’d be a business success story. But on his watch, professional hockey has expanded beyond its traditional strongholds and shown it can prosper in unlikely places—even on American networks. And the best players in the world now all ply their trade in the league that Gary built.By taming the NHL’s famously fractious owners, all but busting its players’ union, and by enforcing lawyerly discipline on everything from trash talk to Jim Balsillie’s efforts to crash the party, Bettman has become a figure of almost unrivalled power in the business of sport. His influence shapes leagues in other countries, dictates the schedule of the Olympic Winter Games, and spills onto the ice itself with innovations such as the shootout and a second referee, and with crackdowns on obstruction and headshots.In The Instigator, Jonathon Gatehouse details the unlikely ascension of a lonely New York City kid from a single-parent family who never played hockey and can barely skate to the sport’s biggest job. It examines his motivations, peels back his often aloof demeanour, and explains how a true outsider manages to lead, confound, and keep order in the game Canadians love.

Jerkbait


Mia Siegert - 2016
    Forced to share a room to prevent Robbie from hurting himself, the brothers begin to feel the weight of each other's lives on the ice, and off. Tristan starts seeing his twin not as a hockey star whose shadow Tristan can't escape, but a struggling gay teen terrified about coming out in the professional sports world. Robbie's future in the NHL is plagued by anxiety and the mounting pressure from their dad, coach, and scouts, while Tristan desperately fights to create his own future, not as a hockey player but a musical theatre performer. As their season progresses and friends turn out to be enemies, Robbie finds solace in an online stranger known only as “Jimmy2416.” Between keeping Robbie's secret and saving him from taking his life, Tristan is given the final call: sacrifice his dream for a brother he barely knows, or pursue his own path. How far is Robbie willing to go—and more importantly, how far is Tristan willing to go to help him?

The Night the World Turned Royal Blue


Jason Sivewright - 2015
    A perfect way for Royals fans, and baseball fans everywhere, to share that magic night with their children and commemorate it themselves with beautiful illustrations and clever rhymes.