Review of “Take Your Eye Off the Puck”

I’ve been in a hockey mode the last week or so - I attended this year’s college hockey regionals tournament where Michigan advanced to the Frozen Four and will be attending my first NHL game in 6 years later this week. So, hockey books are on tap this week First one is this audiobook that despite the title will be enjoyed by any level of hockey fan. 

Title/Author: “Take Your Eye Off the Puck: How to Watch Hockey by Knowing Where to Look” written by Greg Wyshynski, narrated by Barry Abrams

Rating:  4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  Looking for a decent hockey book, the title of this one caught my eye mainly because of the title. While I have been watching hockey, either live or on TV, for decades, I was hoping to maybe pick up an extra tip or two by listening to this audiobook written by Greg Wyshynski and narrated by Barry Abrams. 

While I really didn’t get tips for watching the game, it did offer insight into various parts of the game. This, in turn will help the fan, especially those new to the game, know where to look at other parts of the rink or players away from the puck. Most of these I already do, such as looking at battles in front of the net. I always love to see that battle between an offensive center, a defensive defenseman and at times the goalie as well. 

Descriptions like this are sprinkled through the first third or so of the books as Whyshynski explains all of the positions and what their main roles are, what it means to be on the first line, fourth line and others in between. The same goes for describing the roles of defensemen and why there are “offensive” and “defensive” defensemen. These chapters still help new fans decipher what they are seeing on the ice.

However, the book then starts talking about coaching, running a team as the general manager and the nuances negotiating the NHL salary cap. While the information is great here, even for long-time fans like me, I wondered what it had to do with watching a game. Here, this is where I was glad I listened to the audio version of this book as Abrams was an excellent narrator. That was especially the case when he was narrating some of the many humorous quips throughout the book. I’ll end this review with this explanation of why marquee matchups of star players like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin rarely result in the two of them on the ice at the same time. 

“Hockey isn't like basketball, where you see stars going head-to-head off the dribble. The Crosby vs. Ovechkin banner headlines on NHL.com are fun and all, but if you tallied up the time the two are actually on the ice together, it's roughly smaller than the Wicked Witch of the East's screen time before Dorothy dropped a house on her.” 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Puck/dp/1629371203/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0