Mark is a young Winnipeg goalie whose life unfolds between hockey periods. He idolizes his older brother Jack, a tattooed Adonis with perfection in his blood, and together they idolize the Winnipeg Jets. After the team abandons Winnipeg, the disillusioned brothers leave Canada for England so that Mark can try out for the minor-league Cardiff Devils.
Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian novelist, who was educated and trained as both an archaeologist and anthropologist. His best-known work is the series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Bizarre and hilarious. Entirely different from Erikson's more famous Malazan series. Much, MUCH shorter for one. Concerned by the state of modern ice hockey, a non-existent sport in the Malazan universe for another. But as different as it is it's also quintessentially Erikson and a thoroughly entertaining read for that.