Between the Pipes: A Revealing Look at Hockey's Legendary Goalies

by Randi Druzin

Overview

A Canadian sportswriter profiles twelve legendary NHL goaltenders in a book that “reveals the changing face of professional hockey in the last half century” (Publishers Weekly).
 
Some NHL goalies are great and others are intriguing characters, but a select few are legends because they're both. Such is the case with the dozen players featured here. In Between the Pipes, veteran hocky writer Randi Druzin profiles these athletes, revealing the traits that make each one unique.
 
Gump Worsley defied the laws of biomechanics by being nimble despite having a cabbage-shaped body. He was also one of the funniest men ever to start in goal. Glenn Hall used to wrestle with a trainer in the dressing room before games and Jacques Plante refused to stay at a particular Toronto hotel. Despite their quirks, these twelve goalies are among the best the game has ever seen. With wit and verve, Druzin paints unforgettable portraits of these masked mavericks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771000154
Publisher:	Greystone Books
Publication date:	12/08/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	322
Sales rank:	448,354
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Randi Druzin is an author and journalist. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Time magazine, and the Globe and Mail. Randi is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Women in Sports, a book that traces the history of women's sports from antiquity to the present.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Foreword Roy MacGregor x

1 The Tortured Soul Terry Sawchuk 1

2 The Trooper Glenn Hall 23

3 The Maverick Jacques Plante 43

4 The Joker Gump Worsley 69

5 The Gentleman Johnny Bower 91

6 The Bon Vivant Bernie Parent 117

7 The Scholar Ken Dryden 139

8 The Warrior Ron Hextall 165

9 The Cock of the Walk Patrick Roy 187

10 The Fanatic Ed Belfour 213

11 The Engima Dominik Hasek 237

12 The Cool Customer Martin Brodeur 265

Notes 289

Acknowledgments 305

Photo Credits 307

Editorial Reviews

10/07/2013
Veteran sportswriter Druzin turns an eye on hockey, in particular on its great goalies. Singled out for examination are a dozen of hockey’s best, ranging from Terry Sawchuk to Martin Brodeur. Aside from their position on the team and their exemplary levels of skill, the goalies have little in common. For every depressive like Sawchuk, there is an ebullient Gump Worsley; for every lifer like Ron Hextall, there is someone who, like goalie turned lawyer turned MP Ken Dryden, follows a path away from hockey; and for every obsessive fan like Patrick Roy, there are goalies like Dominik Hasek, whose relationship with pro hockey was ambivalent at best. Druzin details each net-minder’s origin and career, and in so doing reveals the changing face of professional hockey in the last half century. Oddly for someone with as much experience as Druzin, the writing is sometimes uneven, and the choice of details to highlight is idiosyncratic and often baffling. That said, goalies’ short biographies establish them as individuals; those unfamiliar with these grand figures will find this an engrossing read. Agent: Hilary McMahon, Westwood Creative Artists. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Druzin details each net-minder's origin and career, and in so doing reveals the changing face of professional hockey in the last half century. ...Those unfamiliar with these grand figures will find this an engrossing read."—Publishers Weekly

"This is a storyteller’s book, and as such it is also a reader’s book. You don’t have to be a goaltender to enjoy it; you just have to be a reader who loves words, loves sports and appreciates the sorts of insights that will never be found in 140 characters or less."—Roy MacGregor

“Between The Pipes makes for an entertaining read that will leave even the most knowledgeable fan learning something new.” —Joe Pelletier, Hockey Books Reviews

"What this selection of goalies show is a wide range of personalities, from the super nice to the seemingly psychotic, but what they have in common is a love of the game, something that they obviously share with author Randi Druzin, who has written a great book about their lives. She has picked twelve of the best, and each profile is as winning as the player it portrays. You will wish there were more.” — Todd Simmons, SILive.com

From the Publisher