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“Journeyman” leads list of holiday hockey books

Journeyman

A book makes for a great Christmas gift. It’s super easy to buy, doesn’t take long to wrap, and when the person’s finished with it you can read it too.

Here are four hockey books that people are talking about this holiday season:

Journeyman: The Many Triumphs (and Even More Numerous Defeats) of a Guy Who’s Seen Just About Everything in the Game of Hockey, by Sean Pronger (with Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy) – Perhaps best known as Chris’s brother, Sean never became a star. He played in the NHL, AHL, IHL, ECHL before finishing his career in Germany. He also once told Wayne Gretzky to not pass him the puck during practice because he was too hungover. The Great One then passed him the puck a lot. “If there is just one hockey book you buy this holiday season,” the Globe and Mail says Journeyman should be it. (PHT review: Haven’t read it.)

The Instigator: How Gary Bettman Remade the NHL and Changed the Game Forever by Jonathon Gatehouse – For those who can’t get enough of the lockout, here’s an in-depth look at the man who’s been commissioner for three work stoppages. The Winnipeg Free Press calls it “a crisply written, carefully researched and thought-provoking biography about a sports icon neither beloved nor athletic but who’s arguably the most powerful figure pro hockey has ever known.” (PHT review: Haven’t read it.)

J.R.: My Life as the Most Outspoken, Fearless, and Hard-Hitting Man in Hockey by Jeremy Roenick (with USA Today’s Kevin Allen) – One of the greatest American hockey players ever, Roenick is known for much more than scoring 1,216 points in 1,363 games. Patrick Marleau did not care for this book. (PHT review: Haven’t read it.)

The Best of Down Goes Brown by Sean McIndoe – Hockey’s most popular humorist besides Scott Howson has written his first book. With chapters like “A moment with the guy who has to go out and fix the glass when it breaks” and “An NHLer’s guide to never saying anything interesting,” Amazon commenter Christopher L Hoffman says, “If you love either Sean or hockey, you might kinda like this book.” The book also features forewords by TSN’s James Duthie and Bob McKenzie, but not Darren Dreger. (PHT review: Haven’t read it.)