The Game [Deluxe Edition] [Hardcover]

Ken Dryden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2003

Widely acknowledged as the best hockey book ever written and lauded by Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 10 Sports Books of All Time, The Game is a reflective and thought-provoking look at a life in hockey. Intelligent and insightful, former Montreal Canadiens goalie and former President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ken Dryden captures the essence of the sport and what it means to all hockey fans. He gives us vivid and affectionate portraits of the characters — Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, and coach Scotty Bowman among them — that made the Canadiens of the 1970s one of the greatest hockey teams in history. But beyond that, Dryden reflects on life on the road, in the spotlight, and on the ice, offering up a rare inside look at the game of hockey and an incredible personal memoir. This commemorative edition marks the 20th anniversary of The Game's original publication. It includes black and white photography from the Hockey Hall of Fame and a new chapter from the author. Take a journey to the heart and soul of the game with this timeless hockey classic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The sports book of the year, or maybe the decade, or maybe the century."

—The Globe and Mail

"A work of art that defines and represents our game."

—Hockey News

"[Dryden] has written a very special book, possibly the best [hockey book] I have ever read. His affectionate yet realistic portrait of the players is unrivalled in hockey writing."

—Mordecai Richler

The Game has lost none of its luster since its original publication in 1983, and remains the one book every hockey fan must know….This backstage look at one of hockey’s greatest teams remains one of the best books ever published on any sport."

—David Gowdey

"An enduring classic, Ken Dryden's The Game has lost none of its luster since its original publication in 1983, and remains the one book every hockey fan must know...This backstage look at one of the best books ever published on any sport."

—David Gowdey

Sports Illustrated: One of "The Top 100 Best Sports Books of All Time" (number nine).

· Top hockey book.

· Top Canadian sports book.

· Top book written solely by an athlete.

University of Toronto Review: One of "The Top 100 English-Canadian Books of the 20^th Century."

Named by Sports Illustrated in 2002 as one of the Top Ten in "The Top 100 Best Sports Books of All Time." It was the number-one hockey book on the list.

#9: "Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden was always different. A Cornell grad, he led Montreal to six Stanley Cups, then at 26 sat out a year to prepare for the bar exam. His book is different too: a well-crafted account of his career combined with a meditation on hockey’s special place in Canadian culture."

"The best hockey book ever written."

—Quill & Quire

"If you haven’t seen hockey through Dryden’s eyes, you should."

—The Toronto Sun

"A [hockey] book so rare that there is actually nothing to compare it to."

—Scott Young

"A first-rate discussion of hockey by one of hockey’s first-rate players and first-rate minds….Essential reading for anyone serious about hockey as an important part of Canadian life."

—Hamilton Spectator

"The Game is a beautifully written, insightful, perceptive, revealing look at hockey."

—Toronto Star

"A book about Ken Dryden, about Quebec, about the rest of Canada, and most of all, a loving book about a special sport."

—New York Times

"We always wondered what he was thinking about whenever the play stopped and he struck his characteristic pose resting his chin on his goal stick. Now we know. He was composing one of the best hockey books ever written….There is a ‘you are there’ quality to the prose as the author-goalie lets you see everything through his eyes, spicing his vivid descriptions with personal reflections and observations….The Game succeeds both as an inside look at hockey and a portrait of an articulate athlete who knew when to quit."

—Winnipeg Free Press

"The Game is a brilliant adventure into ourselves. It makes all other books about the sport look preliminary."

—Calgary Herald

"The best Canadian sports book in years."

—Calgary Sun

"An incredible memoir, a poetic journey through the life of Les Canadiens. It rises above being just a book about hockey. It’s a book about people, the fragile, delicate moments on the edge of fame and glory, failure and disillusionment. Dryden’s The Game is the complete hockey book."

—Windsor Star

"As Dryden reminisces, we are presented with a portrait, in broad and vivid strokes, of the players who comprised the best team in professional hockey….All the ingredients of a winner."

—Victoria Times-Colonist

"No one has ever delivered an account of our national sport as deep as this. On a scale of 1 to 10, give the guy his sweater number—29."

—Regina Leader-Post

From the Inside Flap

The Game is acknowledged as the best hockey book ever written, and as one of the best sports books of all time. More than just a hockey book, it has become an enduring classic???a reflective and provocative look at a life in hockey and at the game itself.

Ken Dryden, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, is recognized as one of the greatest goalies ever to play the game. More than that, he is one of hockey???s most intelligent and insightful commentators. In The Game, Dryden captures the essence of the sport and what it means to all hockey fans.

He gives us vivid and affectionate portraits of the characters???Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, and coach Scotty Bowman among them???that made the Canadiens of the 1970s one of the greatest hockey teams in history. But beyond that, Dryden reflects on life on the road, in the spotlight, and on the ice, offering up a rare inside look at the game of hockey, and a profoundly personal memoir.

This commemorative edition marks the 20th anniversary of The Game???s original publication, and features a new chapter from Ken Dryden, reflecting on the past two decades in hockey.

Take a journey back to the heart and soul of the game with this timeless hockey classic.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 20th Anniversary Edition edition (September 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470833556
• ISBN-13: 978-0470833551
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hockey

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary look at the game, August 13, 2000

By 

Shelley Mckibbon (Halifax, NS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Game (Paperback)

Calling this "the best book ever written about hockey" somehow does not do this work justice. Ken Dryden was one of the best goalies of his time, on one of the greatest teams of all time, and yet this portrayal of a year in the life of that team is much more than "team wins hockey games, gets Stanley Cup." In fact, unless you know what happened in 1979 you may miss that fact. What Dryden aims to do with this book is far more ambitious than to simply describe his last year in the NHL. He wants to discuss the meaning of hockey in the context of his own life as well as that of his country. If this seems a little ambitious, well it is. But Dryden is certainly up to the task.

Written in what amounts to a modified stream-of-consciousness, there are many digressions as Dryden wanders away from descriptions of game days to talk about his early career, the origins of the game, and what it means to Canadians. It's not hard to follow this, but you do have to pay attention. The thing that struck me most was that, while Dryden the author is articulate, thoughtful, and clearly smarter than the average bear, he describes "Ken Dryden the goalie" as a bit of a goof, the last to get locker room jokes, the guy who falls for pranks, who makes himself the target of other, quicker minds. Dryden clearly feels no need to make himself look good to the reading public and when he dissects his playing ability you get the impression that he's being totally honest: he's a Hall of Fame goalie who wishes he could have been just a little better.

(On the other hand, while I agree that popular culture creates images of athletes that they often cannot live up to, I balk at Dryden's insistence that "people think I am smarter than I am, because of this image." When you dissect the NHL's policy on fighting by referencing three psychological theories of human behaviour as well as Monty Python's "Holy Grail" -- well, don't expect me to think you're really Big Bobby Clobber, all right?)

Among the most attractive parts of this book are his descriptions of his teammates. I was a very young hockey fan in the 1970's and we were Habs fans -- absolutely. The names in this book are magical ones to me, and my reaction to reading about them is proof enough of Dryden's remark that "things are never as good as in the old days -- and they never were." In other words, the players you admired as a child are ALWAYS the best. Ken Dryden in the 1970's was never as good as the players he admired in the 1950's, and don't try selling him any silly statistics to prove otherwise. (It's when Dryden writes as a fan that he's especially charming.)

Anyway, the pen-portraits he gives of his teammates alone make the book worth reading. Who knew Guy Lapointe was an incorrigible locker-room prankster? Still, written as it was at the twilight of Dryden's own career, "The Game" has a certain melancholy air in places. Guy Lafleur is clearly not going to be at the top of the league forever -- and then what? Rejean Houle is depicted as someone who has come to terms with himself and will be fine, but I have to admit that even twenty years later I was a little disturbed by the portrait of Larry Robinson. Dryden describes the beloved defenseman as self-doubting and possibly afraid that if he was too good at being the tough guy he would one day wake up and find himself slotted into being a goon instead of a player. He also indicates that in his efforts to remake himself into a more complete player, Robinson may have ended up selling himself short. It's not every day that you imagine Larry Robinson as a tragic figure but after reading this bit I really had to remind myself that at this point he probably does not need my sympathy! (On the other hand, considering that early in his head coaching career Robinson's major problem seems to have been being a little over-sensitive and almost pathologically conscientious, it's interesting to see that he was the same way as a player.)

The team as a group entity is remarkably likable: there is a certain innocence in their silly pranks and teasing. The Habs of the 70's were said to be a remarkably united team and Dryden offers no argument there: in the midst of the rise of the Parti Quebecois Dryden's claim that there was no "French-English problem" on the team rings true when he depicts even the anglophone players as cursing almost entirely in French (and it's oddly endearing.) Guys like "Shutty" and "Flower" and "Pointu" and "Bird" were Canadiens first, everything else after. Even the legendarily unpleasant Scotty Bowman is made a sympathetic character, which I am told is a feat in itself.

Once again, this is not simply a remarkable book about hockey. It's a remarkable book by a remarkable guy who happened to be a remarkable player on a team that was... well, you know the rest.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars thoughtful words spoken by a childhood hero, April 17, 2005

By 

Richard W Little "I am a maple leaf on the wind." (Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Game (Hardcover)

Ken Dryden: lawyer, father, Cornell and McGill graduate, former President of the Toronto Maples Leafs, Canadian MP and Minister of Social Development, former member of the Montreal Canadiens, winner of six Stanley Cups, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and author. I had the pleasure of watching his last run through the playoffs, winning the Cup one last time, as my introduction to hockey...he became my childhood idol, and was the reason I went into goaltending myself.

I just finished reading his book, The Game, which was a gift from my fiancee.

I don't think I've read many books as good as this. The writing style is conversational, and it relates a snapshot view of Dryden's latter half of his last season, once he had decided to retire from hockey. There are many excellent portraits of team-mates, friends, coaches, family, and even opponents, and even himself; no punches are pulled, but nothing is mean-spirited, and you can tell he had a fondness for his team-mates, even though he felt somewhat separated from them due to his position as goalie. About himself, he relates his introduction to hockey, his self-doubts, his game-time superstitions, and his happy memories.

Interspersed with this are thoughts on the business of hockey: the grind of going from city to city to play night after night, how trades affect the team's spirit, injuries and illness and retirement, how a player's ego and the skill level of his team-mates affect his play, the NHLPA, and the effects of TV and expansion and the WHA on the NHL and the game. He also talks about the historical development of the game, how rules developed (including the development of the red line, and the forward pass) and how the game play and rules have produced a not-inevitable environment for fighting, the Soviets and how they showed us that there's more than one style of game that works, and how Gretzky changed the style of game play.

It's a very discerning, and piercing look at the game. Yet, it's told with love, and in a style that took me right back into the 1970s, a time in my own life which I barely remember.

I have a memory of Ken Dryden coming out to drop an opening puck at one of the Canada Cup games, in Hamilton Ontario...he received a 10 minute standing ovation from the fans in the arena. He is well-loved throughout Canada, in memory of his skill, and for his intelligent love of the sport of hockey. This book betrays that love, and have to heartily recommend it to fans of the sport.

Now, I just have to convince my fiancee to take the time to read it, or at least try...

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very special book..., October 20, 2005

By 

Goalie 35 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Game (Paperback)

The combination of a person who is both highly educated and a 6 time Stanley Cup Winner can only produce an extraordinary book that goes beyond other sports biographies. Here we deal with a person who is consciously making an end to a very successful career and upon doing so reflects on his personal past, but also the experience of being part of a team and playing hockey in a legendary hockey town, that is unique in its own political and linguistic division. He then proceeds to review the history of the game, explaining the difference between European style hockey and Canadian and ultimately in the new edition comparing his perspective at the time to the current state of the international and expanded NHL. Particularly with regard to the recent lockout this new epilogue is extremely interesting. This is a really unique book, but what makes it most attractive is that any hockey player will recognize the description of locker room and team behavior, no matter what level you play at. Canadiens fans will love the stories about his legendary team mates and goalies will recognize his views on being a goalie. This is a very special book...