Customer Reviews

Tropic of Hockey: My Search for the Game in Unlikely Places

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Anyone who can't resist the chance to spend their free time packing a giant bag of stinking equipment and heading to a hockey rink at hours other people reserve for sleeping or partying can understand.
Dave Bidini finds the same love for hockey in China, Dubai, and Romania, from the beginners to the town favorites. I play hockey in Yokohama, and having travelled with the navy I've found myself hunting rinks in places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, and Dubai. His descriptions of the ex-pats, the passionate beginners and intermediate players, the social interactions, and the contrasts and similarities and ups and downs is right on. Not only that, it's a funny, honest book.

Highly recommended for anyone who has forgotten the pure joy of learning the game, not to mention the value of basic facilities, equipment, and opportunity many take for granted.

This book ranks with Ken Dryden's books, The Game and Home Game, and Jack Falla's Home Ice as being among the best hockey books I've read, and I've read a ton. Tropic of Hockey is equal parts travel journal (with visits to China, the United Arab Emirates, and Romania), hockey manifesto (weighing in on topics as diverse as the Hungarian invention of the blocker and Wendel Clark), and bawdy anecdote collection (particular highlights are Chinese bathrooms and hockey equipment adjustment). Dave Bidini manages to do all expertly and interchangeably, creating a book that's difficult to put down. The cover of my edition has a quote from Roy MacGregor, a dean of Canadian hockey writing, that calls Bidini, "The Bill Bryson of hockey writing," which is not only a good comparison, but a deserved compliment. Highly recommended for both hockey fans and people who enjoy entertaining non-fiction.

I was like Dave that got bored of hockey, his book was interesting and entertaining.
His writing style is probably not for all, but I enjoy it.
This is a man that truly admires the game, and although his hockey skills are not the top of the class, he certainly knows how to have people understand what he is looking for on his travels and the joys he gets from meeting people that also love the great game on ice.