Review
Praise for Jack Falla’s Previous Collection of Essays, Home Ice“literary hot chocolate that will warm your heart.”
The New York Times
“While Home Ice may be a book about hockey and the charm of backyard rinks, it is more than that, too. It is a book about relationships—between fathers and sons, husbands and wives—and how the game can bridge the gaps that commonly occur between generations in a family... It’s a treasure and one that readers will be happy they searched out. Possibly the best hockey book since Ken Dryden’s The Game.”
The Globe & Mail
“Hockey’s foremost writer poses the essential question: ‘Have you ever been unhappy skating?’ That question could be answered with another question: ‘Have you ever been unhappy reading Jack Falla?’ Never. If Falla and his fellow rink-makers belong to the ‘lunatic fringe,’ then count me in. Never has lunacy been so much fun to read about.”
The Hockey News
“What a wonderful shock to open a book and for a fantastical moment think that the writer had you in mind when he created it... I read Home Ice and saw my life come alive on the page...”
Bostonia Magazine
“... a collection of essays that are a mix of the celestial (the poignant family moments) and the terrestrial (the how-to grunt work of actual rink building.)”
Boston Globe
“Falla’s rink (and this book) enlivens the darkness and cold and pays homage to the New England cultural heritage.”
Christian Science Monitor
“A gentle and powerful book.”
Dave Bidini, Author of Tropic of Hockey and The Best Game You Can Name
Praise for Jack Falla’s Hockey Novel, Saved
“Sportswriter Falla knows a lot about hockey, and this novel is a hilarious look at how players, coaches and owners get through a grueling season in their quest for the trophy…. Falla’s graphic portrayal of a violent sport (and its colorful players) and his insider’s view of how hockey is played, coached and officiated is exciting, surefire entertainment.”
From the Publishers Weekly Starred Review
“Falla covered the NHL for Sports Illustrated for many years, and he clearly understands the league, its players, and its idiosyncracies. He also loves hockey. The flashbacks of kids playing on natural ice during frozen New England winters are heartfelt and genuine. Most novels with a sports backdrop seem forced; seldom do the authors get the ‘sports’ part right. To borrow a hockey term, Falla records a hat trick: he scores on character, plot, and setting. This reads as realistically as if it were a memoir.”
From the Booklist Review
From the Inside Flap
A new collection of heartwarming essays from one of North America’s foremost hockey writers.Jack Falla follows up his gem of a book, Home Ice, with this exquisitely crafted collection of essays on hockey as he has seen and experienced it for fifty years. Funny, poignant, joyful, and occasionally melancholy, Open Ice is one man’s witness to fifty years of the game he loves.
Reflections on hockey, its personalities and arenas, and twenty-five years of dedication to his own backyard rink are woven into family memories and other fond remembrances. From the death of Rocket Richard, to skating on the Rideau Canal, contemplating his fantasy hockey team while sitting in the Sistine Chapel, memories of being in all Original Six arenas, and more, Open Ice is a reflective and fond look at hockey for people to whom the sport is more than just a game.
