With the start of the Stanley Cup finals, I have been in the mood to read hockey books. This one by Ken Reid about players who scored one goal in their NHL careers is a very good collection of stories told by these players. Here is my review of "One to Remember."
Title/Author:
“One to Remember: Stories from 39 Members of the NHL’s One Goal Club” by Ken Reid
Tags:
Ice hockey, professional, short stories, history
Publish date:
September 22, 2020
Length:
240 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
Anyone who has picked up a hockey stick and taken a shot at the net dreams of that shot going into the goal in an NHL game. This book by Ken Reid tells the story of 39 players who accomplished that feat once, then never did so again. It is a follow-up to his previous book about the stories of players who appeared in one NHL game.
Like that book, the stories are entertaining, varied and reflect the personality of the man telling the story. The time frame is wide spread – from the 1960’s to the present and every position is covered. There is a section devoted to goalies who scored a goal (but only one, so Ron Hextall and Martin Brodeur are not included), including the first goalie credited with a goal, Billy Smith of the New York Islanders. Other chapter subjects include first round draft choices and players whose careers were cut short by injury.
One characteristic this book has that is very good is that while reading the stories, they come across as authentic and the reader will feel like he or she is there talking to the man reliving that one goal. Sometimes the goal brings back great memories, sometimes it really doesn’t mean that much to the man. It was interested to learn that several of these players haven’t kept the puck from that first goal. In fact, one of them used the puck unknowingly while playing pond hockey with his son and ended up losing it when it sank to the bottom when an errant shot ended up in a section of the pond that wasn’t frozen.
Something else that one might expect is that none of these players, except possibly for the goalies, are household names. As a result, many of the stories are ones in which they remember their time in juniors, the minor leagues or overseas just as fondly as their time in the NHL and the goal he scored. Sometimes this can be a whirlwind experience, as was the case for Damian Surma, who in just a matter of hours was called up to the NHL, scored a goal, separated his shoulder and was demoted back to the minors. That was one of the better stories in the book to me.
That story is just one example of the type of material one should expect when reading Reid’s collection of interviews of the “one goal club.” As is the case with most collections of stories and interviews, some are much better than others, but they all are told with the memory of an event that these men have in common – that they all scored exactly one goal during their time in the National Hockey League.
I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying Links:
https://ecwpress.com/products/one-to-remember?_pos=1&_sid=ed27c5a4e&_ss=r
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