A visitor to this website writes in to say:

"Can you help me. I'm looking for a hockey book comparable to the wonderful baseball book Glory of Their Times by the late Lawrence Ritter (he died last week). He sought out old time ballplayers and had them tell their story, of learning the game of baseball, making it to the bigs, and then about the game in decades past. I haven't been able to locate a similar book for ice hockey and old time NHL players. Do you know of any."

Ritter's book, of course, was certainly a landmark in sports writing, its formula often copied for other books and articles since its release many years ago. Hockey, however, with the NHL and the hockey media always eager to ignore and bury the game's history, did little to follow suit, even though time was already running short and few genuine "old-timers" dating to the formation of the NHL were still around to share their tales when the first Klein & Reif Hockey Compendium was in the works twenty years ago. There are a few books, however, along the lines of what our reader is looking for.
"Life After Hockey: When the Lights Dimmed," by Michael A Smith (1987, Codner) interviews post-retirement players at length, although the subjects are mainly more recent players and their stories deal more with, as the title suggests, their lives in retirement than during their playing days.
Dick Irvin's "Behind the Bench: Coaches Talk About Life in the NHL" (1993) is another collection of in-depth interviews, although here of course the subjects are coaches, not players, and again, mainly recent and contemporary coaches, not old-timers.
The best bet among what's already available would be "Heroes and History: Voices from the NHL's Past," by Stan and Shirley Walton Fischler (1993). By the time this came out, there were very few genuine "old-timers" remaining to be interviewed, but this was a worthy, if not wholly successful, attempt by Fischler to do precisely for hockey what Ritter had done for baseball. Sorry, we don't have the publisher info for that oddly hard-to-find volume.
We can also tease you with the news that a new book will be coming out in probably 2005, covering much of the same anecdotal ground but with expansion-era journeymen rather than Original Six-era stars. Keep looking in at Above and Beyond Hockey for word on that.
Finally, if you're a fan of the stories in Ritter's seminal sports-interview template, we'd also recommend "The Glory of Their Hindsight" by writer-illustrator Bruce McCall, which is collected in McCall's brilliant humour anthology, "Zany Afternoons" (1982, Knopf).
We welcome related suggestions from visitors to this Forum.

One recent book that is worth a look is "Over the Glass & Into the Crowd!: Life After Hockey: Profiles of Over 200 Former NHL Players (1933-1994)" by Brian McFalone. Publisher: Main Street Press; (January 1997) ISBN: 0968146007

My paperback copy of the Fischler book "Heroes & History" was published by McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
ISBN: 0-07-551639-X

Also see "After The Applause" by Charles Wilkins (1989 McClelland & Stewart Inc.) ISBN: 0-7710-4228-0
It is along the same lines as the Michael Smith book previously mentioned.

Stu

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Replying to:

A visitor to this website writes in to say:

"Can you help me. I'm looking for a hockey book comparable to the wonderful baseball book Glory of Their Times by the late Lawrence Ritter (he died last week). He sought out old time ballplayers and had them tell their story, of learning the game of baseball, making it to the bigs, and then about the game in decades past. I haven't been able to locate a similar book for ice hockey and old time NHL players. Do you know of any."

Ritter's book, of course, was certainly a landmark in sports writing, its formula often copied for other books and articles since its release many years ago. Hockey, however, with the NHL and the hockey media always eager to ignore and bury the game's history, did little to follow suit, even though time was already running short and few genuine "old-timers" dating to the formation of the NHL were still around to share their tales when the first Klein & Reif Hockey Compendium was in the works twenty years ago. There are a few books, however, along the lines of what our reader is looking for.
"Life After Hockey: When the Lights Dimmed," by Michael A Smith (1987, Codner) interviews post-retirement players at length, although the subjects are mainly more recent players and their stories deal more with, as the title suggests, their lives in retirement than during their playing days.
Dick Irvin's "Behind the Bench: Coaches Talk About Life in the NHL" (1993) is another collection of in-depth interviews, although here of course the subjects are coaches, not players, and again, mainly recent and contemporary coaches, not old-timers.
The best bet among what's already available would be "Heroes and History: Voices from the NHL's Past," by Stan and Shirley Walton Fischler (1993). By the time this came out, there were very few genuine "old-timers" remaining to be interviewed, but this was a worthy, if not wholly successful, attempt by Fischler to do precisely for hockey what Ritter had done for baseball. Sorry, we don't have the publisher info for that oddly hard-to-find volume.
We can also tease you with the news that a new book will be coming out in probably 2005, covering much of the same anecdotal ground but with expansion-era journeymen rather than Original Six-era stars. Keep looking in at Above and Beyond Hockey for word on that.
Finally, if you're a fan of the stories in Ritter's seminal sports-interview template, we'd also recommend "The Glory of Their Hindsight" by writer-illustrator Bruce McCall, which is collected in McCall's brilliant humour anthology, "Zany Afternoons" (1982, Knopf).
We welcome related suggestions from visitors to this Forum.

i am the proud owner of the worlds oldest known manufactured hockey stick.It has been authenticated by the hockey hall of fame.it predates 1871 is three foot in length ,one piece and full size for the era.if you go to my website there is a picture there and also a limited edition print.the background is a painting done by a british soldier in 1867 which is one of the earliest recorded games on record.they are playing with the same size stick. the company that made the stick was called ditson which later became ditson and wright and eventually became the modern day spalding co.just go to wwwhockeysholygrail.com for all the info.

thanks

mark o'connell