The Rookie: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hockey History > Item 193
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The Rookie: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL
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by Shawna Richer and Roy MacGregor
Sales Rank: 392528
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List Price: $24.95
$16.47
At Amazon
on 11-2-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 316 pages
Published by: Triumph Books October 2006
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 1572439181
ISBN 13 Number: 978-1572439184
Book Dimensions:
8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
“…a riveting documentary of a player who transcends his sport.”
— Montreal Gazette
“ an great inside look at Cole Harbour’s hockey sensation during his first year .”
— The Chronicle Herald
"His first NHL season, her first book: Sidney Crosby and Shawna Richer both had splendid years. The Globe and Mail writer captures Crosby's rookie year in Pittsburgh, dripping with narrative and nuance, with the practiced eye of a seasoned foreign correspondent."
— Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated
"Sidney Crosby was never going to be just another hockey player, and The Rookie isn't just another hockey book. Thanks to Shawna Richer's terrific eyes and ears — as well as her deft touch around a keyboard — we're treated to an insider's view not only of one of the game's future stars, but of the game itself. And from here, both look pretty damn good."
— Chris Jones, Esquire Magazine
“The most interesting assignment of the year in sports journalism — wall-to-wall coverage of Penguins rookie phenom Sidney Crosby.”
— Sports Illustrated
“If we really wanted to penetrate the life and times of a great player, and through him understand hockey . . . we had to be there for all those serendipitous moments of meaning.”
— Edward Greenspon, Globe and Mail
"Leave it to two Atlantic Canadians to be the stars of a book: Sidney Crosby the athlete, Shawna Richer the gifted writer. To paraphrase Roy MacGregor's words in the forward which rung true throughout: Shawna has an ability to draw an athlete out to reveal inner thoughts. Something the rest of us can only envy. A wonderful documentation of what happened on the ice and what went on the head of this dedicated player at the rink and away from it."
—Mike Emrick, NHL on NBC
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Sidney Crosby has already been hailed as the NHL's next saviour. Young, bright, photgenic, personable and a media darling, the only question that remained was whether he could handle the big time. From an international advertising deal with Reebok to a season that seems to go from triumph to triumph, Sid the Kid has proven that he alreasdy is the man. In the tradition of A Season on the Brink and Peter Gzowksi's The Game of Our Lives, Shawna Richer has had the exclusive assignment of chronicling Sidney Crosby's incredible rookie season. Beginning with the NHL entry draft that alwmost never was, Richer follows Crosby to Pittsburgh, where he is greeted as the team's saviour and moves in with living legend Mario Lemieux. From there it's onto the ice, where the team's youngest player proves to be its best player day in and day out, staying on pace to se rookie scoring records while the team loses and is forced to first it's coach.
Reader Reviews
An objective review of this book from me is impossible. But a fair one, the book more than deserves. Late in the text, Ms. Richer gives a speech, or at least an anecdote, some advice she was given as she wrote this book, on objectivity in writing: "But objectivity ... is not necessarily a worthy goal. To be objective in the literal sense would be to remove all emotion from the coverage, and sportswriting at its best can only be worthwhile by embracing and exposing emotion and all the things that fuel it. Fairness ... is the tone you want to strive for." So I give Ms. Richer and her book a fair deal, but not an objective one, as I am emotionally attached to the subject matter. I lived in Pittsburgh for over thirty years and am a die-hard Penguin fan. I know the entire cast of characters in this book, what they look and sound like, including the indefatigueable Tom McMillan, Penguins Vice President of Communication, who is a major player in the story. I can hear Mike Lange's voice calling out the plays, and Phil Bourque's commentary, on the air or not. I can picture the Igloo (the Pens' home arena) with snow on it, or the rolling hills of Upper St. Clair (Ryan Malone's home neighborhood). From Molinari to Mario, Sewickley to the Steelhead Grill, whether you are from Pittsburgh or not, you too will settle into this story as if you were hearing it from a friend in your own neighborhood. Shawna Richer gained the enviable assignment of chronicling Sidney Crosby's first year in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a significant season for two reasons - Sidney Crosby is not just another hockey player, and this wasn't just the mere beginning of another hockey season. Crosby, a native of Nova Scotia, was the most anticipated rookie since 1984, when Mario Lemieux was taken first overall (also) by the Penguins, the same draft in which Crosby's father was selected. The NHL was also making a debut of sorts. After an owners' lockout of the players had cancelled the previous season in its entirety, the revamped league was back for business. A new collective bargaining agreement had finally been reached by the owners and the player's union. The owners had conceded to revenue sharing which would allow small market teams to survive financially. The players conceded to a salary cap, which would allow owners to survive financially. The league would benefit from the parity that this arrangement breeds - all 32 teams able to compete with each other, year after year. League executives restructured and reinforced the rule book during the unfortunate lull. Their intent was to free the game from the stifling "clutch and grab" style of defensive hockey and allow for a faster, more skilled, offensive game. Showcase the league's more talented players. Give the old fans something to cheer about, and try to lure new fans to the speed and grace of the game. As a player with "once-in-a-generation" ability, 18 year old Sidney Crosby would be shouldered with the mantle of the "new NHL". From the time before he was even drafted, Crosby had been labeled as "The Next One", and after a full lost season, the league looked to him to win fans, old and new, to the game. Even though he didn't ask for it, the youngster understands his role and carries it out with a gentle passion as fierce as the one he brings to the ice. Ms. Richer tells the story well. The Pittsburgh Penguins, like most of the small market teams in the NHL, had been losing millions of dollars every year. Unable to pay premium salaries, one by one, their star players left or were traded. At the conclusion of the previous season, the Penguins had finished last overall. Under the new arrangements, the Penguins would be able to surround Crosby with veteran talent. And they did so, turning into a contender within a few weeks. The league literally took off and the fast, exciting pace of the games silenced every pre-season criticism of the rule changes. Crosby's season took off too, but had several unimaginable bumps. His coach was fired in December. There was a slight but sustained backlash from some fans and players against Crosby. In one six day span, both of his linemates retired, and the team was put up for sale by the owner, Lemieux. The same Mario Lemieux who was 1984's once-in-a-generation rookie was now, not only the team's owner, but one of the retiring linemates. Richer was there for everything and delivers each high and low in a straight, readable narrative. She quickly (p15) pays homage to Peter Gzowski's exemplary hockey book, The Game of Our Lives. (Anything written on the subject since 1981 should.) The Rookie is given a similar form by the author, announcing the time and venue of significant games, going through the Penguins roster with a short paragraph for each player, and weaving her experiences and inferences into the text. The book falls short of the insider's look and analysis I expected from the subtitle (A Season With Sidney Crosby and the New NHL). It seems like Ms. Richer is barely below the surface of Crosby the individual, the Penguins as a team, the "new" league as a whole, and Canada's reaction to all of the above. I, however, do not know what is acceptable to print about the inner workings of an NHL locker room, so it remains to accept Ms. Richer's coverage and interpretation of events. Even after the Penguins are disappointingly eliminated from playoff contention, Ms. Richer is able to keep the reader's interest with drama appropriate to the tale. How would Crosby handle playing on a loosing team? Would he be voted Rookie of the Year? Would he be able to achieve certain milestones like being named to the Canadian Olympic squad or reaching eighty points on the season? How would Sidney Crosby's first season and the "new" NHL turn out? You'll want to read this book to find out.
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The Rookie: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL
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Price: $16.47
Updated on 11-2-2008.
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