Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm [Hardcover]

Gare Joyce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2005

In 2003, Wayne Gretzky was asked if there was one player out there who might one day break his records. He responded "Yes, Sidney Crosby. He's the best player I've seen since Mario (Lemieux)." Sidney Crosby is the most heralded junior hockey player since the great Mario Lemieux, and one of the most talked about athletes in the history of hockey. He's shattered seemingly timeless scoring titles and won countless awards, including an unprecedented Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season. At age 16, he became the youngest Canadian player to ever score in the World Junior Hockey Championships. In 2005, and not yet 18, he landed a multi-million dollar contract with Reebok, placing him in the same athletic stratosphere as Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods. Yet Sidney Crosby has yet to play one game in the NHL. In fact, he hasn't even been drafted. He sits in limbo, poised on the brink of becoming North America's next great hockey superstar -- or maybe, an innocent victim of NHL greed and obstinacy. Award-winning sports writer Gare Joyce follows Sidney Crosby on his on-ice ascent to national stardom, from his days as a Peewee sensation in Halifax and his international debut at the World Under-18 Tournament in Breclav, Czech Republic -- through his incredible 168-point, 62-game record breaking 2004-2005 season and his Rimouski team's whirlwind pursuit of the Memorial Cup. From arena to arena, city to city, this in-depth story of hockey brings to life a young man who's stirred the imagination of sports writers, hockey fans, scouts and hockey executives from coast to coast, and brought new hope to a beleaguered sport that teeters on the verge of utter collapse.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The definitive work on the most anticipated hockey player since Wayne Gretzky. A superb read." --Jim Kelly, ESPN.com. Sportsnet.The Fan 590, and Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame

"Gare Joyce has fashioned a smart and knowing biography that reads like a thriller. Through the prism of Sidney Crosby s precociousness, Joyce tells us everything we need to know about how stars are made in the 21st century." --Jeremy Schaap, Emmy Award-winning reporter with ESPN and author of Cinderella Man: James Braddock, Max Baer and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History

"Gare Joyce has done it, finding fresh new stories about a young man poised to dominate his sport for years to come." --Elliotte Friedman, Hockey Night In Canada --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description

THIS NATIONAL BESTSELLER IS NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK! UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE 2005-2006 SEASON! --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Fitzhenry and Whiteside; 1 edition (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550412531
• ISBN-13: 978-1550412536
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,649 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A bit painful, March 17, 2006

By 

David E. Lee (CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm (Hardcover)

OK, any time a new star pops up there is an author wanting to make a quick buck. I knew better than to jump on the first unofficial biography but did anyways. Like any book of this genre, the entire thing comes off as "I talked to someone who talked to someone who once knew Sidney and based on that we can deduce this...". It was clear from the author's account that they stalked the Crosby family for a period of time and despite that effort failed to gain any deep insights from Sidney or his family. This entire book could have been written after reading newspaper clippings and perhaps a 30 minute interview with Sidney. My recommendation - wait until Sidney lives up to the hype (and I suspect he will!) and then read his official biography.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not For Everyone, April 11, 2006

By 

W.A.T. (MSU) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm (Hardcover)

If you are a huge hockey fan, with knowledge about players and teams, new and old, throughout Canada and at all age levels, you are the right person for this book. Reading about places, people, and teams that I didn't know anything about was very frustrating and made it hard to keep reading. A good portion of the book was just comparing Gretzky and Crosby. That was interesting, in moderation. I was looking for a book to tell all about Sidney Crosby and his trip to the NHL. This book has that, but it came along with a lot of extra stuff that was unnecessary.

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Biography, August 12, 2010

By 

Jarick Losey (Twin Cities, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm (Paperback)

This is a pretty quick read although I'm not sure how interesting it would be to most hockey fans.

It basically recaps Gretzky's trip to the NHL and then Crosby's entire life in hockey leading up to the NHL draft. The good parts are the insights into scouting and comments from his peers and coaches on Crosby's abilities and work ethic. It is of course well-written and many great hockey minds are quoted.

But I get the feeling that Joyce spends a bit too much time praising and defending Crosby against criticism, which really doesn't need to be done in my opinion. In addition, Crosby's road to the NHL was pretty standard without a lot of detours or excitement. There's mostly a pattern of anticipation and hype going into each league and then him fulfilling expectations, then moving on to the next level.

There's no real insight into Crosby's (in my opinion, mysterious) personality. Either Crosby literally has no personality outside of wanting to play hockey and win, or this book didn't find any. And for an autobiography written about an 18 year old (at the time) who had a fairly straightforward journey through his amateur career, it gets pretty stale.