Buy Used
Used - Acceptable See details
$19.91 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $1.11 Gift Card
Trade in
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Midnight Hockey: All About Beer, the Boys, and the Real Canadian Game
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Midnight Hockey: All About Beer, the Boys, and the Real Canadian Game [Import] [Paperback]

Bill Gaston (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover, Import --  
Paperback, Import --  

Book Description

September 25, 2007
From Giller-nominated author Bill Gaston, proof not only that hockey players can read, but that some of them can even write.

Midnight Hockey tells the story of Gaston’s final season, as he contemplates hanging up his skates, and looks back on the sport that has meant so much to him.

Sometimes lewd and hilarious, sometimes (though not as often) reflective, Midnight Hockey is a portrait of Canada’s fastest-growing athletic phenomenon: beer-league and oldtimers’ hockey. Gaston spills the beans about the rules of the game (written and unwritten), weird beer, team names, and road-trip sex, illustrated with stories of Gaston’s life in the game, from the outdoor rinks of Winnipeg, through junior hockey, varsity, the professional leagues of Europe, to the late-night games and road-trip shenanigans of beer-league.

For all those thousands of guys who drive to the rink late on a snowy night, who know the euphoria of a beer after the game, who think of how good they used to be, who grow nostalgic over a whiff from an unwashed hockey bag – and for anyone who has had to live with such a person – Midnight Hockey is laugh-out-loud funny, true-to-life, and ultimately thoughtful.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Midnight Hockey is a lovely book, which is to say bawdy, beautifully written, fresh, coarse, hilarious, smart, vulgar, joyful and as rank with the realities of putrid hockey bags, diminishing motor skills and impending death as . . . well, let’s just say it’s a lot like the hockey most of us play, those of us who are willing and able past the age of 35. Sidney Crosby wouldn’t get most of it, but I think his dad would.” —The Globe and Mail

“A wonderful homage to beer-leaguers and old-timers . . . who keep lacing them up long after youth has faded. Gaston . . . brings his artist’s eye to this tender, ribald and very funny memoir about grown men chasing pucks with beers at midnight. . . . Seasoned with reflections on beer, road trip sex, hockey in France and China, old guys dropping gloves, the sublimes tolerance of his wife and team names, both good . . . and bad. . . . This is a glorious book, a superlative valentine to the game for anyone who ever played, plays or wanted to play–and for those who love them.” —Vancouver Sun


"Bill Gaston's book stinks like hockey, as all great hockey books should." 
—Dave Bidini, author of Best Game You Can Name, and Tropic of Hockey

Midnight Hockey is a portrait of a game, an aromatic reminder of why the sport is an icon in Canadian life.” — The Sun Times (Owen Sound)

“The definitive ode to the ‘beer leagues.’ . . . A hilarious autobiographical romp through sweaty dressing rooms and drunken tournament weekends. . . . It’s page-turning, read-aloud-to-anyone-within-earshot material.” —TheTyee.ca


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Bill Gaston is the author of five novels and five collections of short fiction. He teaches at the University of Victoria and is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2003 inaugural Timothy Findley Lifetime Achievement Award and the CBC/Canadian Literary Award. Mount Appetite, one of his collections of short stories, was shortlisted for the 2002 Giller Prize, and another, Gargoyles, was shortlisted for the 2006 Governor General’s Award for Fiction.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor Canada (September 25, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385661916
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385661911
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, witty, and very relevant., December 1, 2006
Bill Gaston hits every milestone that beer leaguers and oldtimers go through on their own personal journey through the game. Bill's unique viewpoint as an insider allows rollicking recollections of road trips, lousy goalies, and the general tribal behavior of middle aged men.

THe only shortcoming is that book is written mostly to, and for Canadians; which sometimes leaves the Rest Of the World out in the cold as to inside humor.

Great book, buy it - and share it with your teammates!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars Hockey Hangover, October 12, 2008
This review is from: Midnight Hockey: All About Beer, the Boys, and the Real Canadian Game (Paperback)
Beer is what Gaston says is one of the "seductions that make the return to the rink an annual rite." His book, written in a refreshing steady stream of consciousness, is not only a collection of his hockey memories, like playing in France, China, and Japan, but also a venue for venting his thoughts on hockey. Gaston offers colorful takes on everything from nicknames (Gaston answers to "Thrasher" and "Gasser") to teams' names (one of his favorites is Friends of Jesus). Gasser does so in the context of what may be his last season of oldtimers hockey. The defenseman pops in some goals and pops some tops with his pals, and the reader is left with a fantastic hockey hangover.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:



i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...