Inside the NHL Dream
- Book Review,
by Debbie Elicksen
Art Breeze, NHL Player Agent, Pro-REP Entertainment Group
A must read - tells it like it is. A long penetrating stare at contemporary hockey's grass roots and underpinnings.
Art Breeze, Pro-REP Entertainment, NHL Player Agent, September 2002
"Thorough, thoughtful, insightful. A long penetrating stare at contemporary hockey's grass roots and underpinnings, superbly presented."
Book Description
Inside the NHL Dream touches on the human side of the players and people who work inside the National Hockey League. Its a part of the game most people never get to see unless they work on the inside. What really happens behind the scenes? What kind of commitment do the players actually give? Learn about trades, travel, time commitments, family sacrifices, the physical toll, and what its like to live on the bubble.
From the Publisher
Mark Woodbeck of Calgary designed the book while Wayne Logan of Logan Law perused the contents. Inside photographs were taken by the author throughout the first half of the 2001-2002 season. The cover features Jarome Iginla with the Calgary Flame locker room screened in the background.
From the Author
This book came about after fielding so many questions from my friends and business colleagues about the National Hockey League, what the players were like, the media, and how teams make their decisions. I spent the better part of the 2001/2002 season collecting interviews and taking pictures for the book but in the process, the book evolved into something different. Instead of just taking the reader on a tour of the NHL from behind the scenes, I wanted to show the human side of the game. I wanted to reveal the challenges and sacrifices, that while these individuals are living the great Canadian dream, it didn't come easy and there was a price to pay. It took a life-long commitment that started as young as five years old. I can tell you that I personally benefited from these stories. The perseverance, commitment and drive each of these individuals faced helped me in my own goals and dreams.
Excerpted from Inside the NHL Dream by Debbie Elicksen. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Brendan Shanahan on adjusting to the big leagues: "To me the adjustment was just being 18 years old and learning how to play the NHL game—to get physically stronger and faster. It’s really hard at 18. I didn’t really know how to cook for myself or do the laundry. So you get a crash course in all of that. Buying insurance, all those things. It happens all at once while your true focus is on trying to make the NHL team. That’s the biggest adjustment, having to take care of all these small issues that we take for granted daily. Now we’re just used to it becoming part of our daily routine but when you’re 18, you’ve got so many things on your mind." Mike Modano: "I never really knew what it was going to be like. I didn’t have a clue what the travel was like, what the guys were like. You’re just tossed into the middle of it so you have to survive on your own. There are a lot of great guys who help you along the way, who try to break you in a little bit and get you used to the travel, the cities and the type of game you’re playing. For the most part, you just have to have some patience and give it four or five years before you start getting used to it." Cyclist, Lance Armstrong and NHL center, Saku Koivu pen some of the greatest comeback stories in professional sports. Another athlete, Mario Lemieux, missed most of 1992-93 and the following season after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. Even before that, it wasn’t a secret that Mario skated every single day in pain from his back. He retired after the 1996-97 season, deterred from taking too many hits. After a three-year hiatus, Lemieux wowed his critics in 2000-21, scoring 35 goals for 76 points. At September 2001’s Team Canada Evaluation Camp, Lemieux was reminded of his cancer experience when he learned Saku Koivu was diagnosed with the same. "To learn that you have cancer is devastating. At the time it’s difficult to accept. That, by far, was the toughest day of my life. I think what you have to do from there is to learn as much as you can about what you have, what the outcome might be and what the odds are. In my case, I did a lot of research about it. I talked to a lot of close friends who were doctors in Pittsburgh. Right from the second day, I was very positive about the outcome. That’s how you have to approach it. You approach it that you’re going to beat the disease. There will be some difficult days with all the treatments. If it’s chemotherapy or radiation, it’s tough to go through that, not only physically but mentally. I think the most important thing is to get the support of close friends. I truly believe your mind can cure a lot of disease." How you’re traded can be just as difficult to accept as the trade itself. Unfortunately, when a team makes the decision to move a player, the execution of that trade rarely takes the player’s family or feelings into consideration. It’s not uncommon for players to discover their trade through the media or any other source other than the team itself. Some players will find out in the middle of a game. Grant Fuhr: "I was in Ottawa for the exhibition season and a bunch of us had gone out to play golf. When I came off the course, I found out that Edmonton had traded me to Toronto. I was expected to go straight to Toronto. That’s the biggest shock, when you’re traded and they say, you need to be in this city at such and such a time. You really want to take a couple of day to get organized. You’re in such shock and such a panic. You want to get there and get established as quickly as possible, hoping that it becomes normal. But it takes time. It’s not something that just pops up and becomes normal fast. At that time I was in-between marriages, which made that adjustment a little better."
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