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Between the Pipes: A Revealing Look at Hockey's Legendary Goalies
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.
- GenresHockeySportsNonfiction
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
17 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 4, 2014
Interesting. I learned a lot about hockey and that goalies are weird (which is why I love them). However there was a lot of repetition. I could probably have taken an exam on any of the goalies and many of them were in multiple chapters as they played with or against each other.
I get that people's lives overlap, but I don't need to read the exact same story over and over, especially four pages after the first time I read it. I also totally get that the writer is more of a newspaper writer than a novel writer, but an editor would have helped this one.
I get that people's lives overlap, but I don't need to read the exact same story over and over, especially four pages after the first time I read it. I also totally get that the writer is more of a newspaper writer than a novel writer, but an editor would have helped this one.
November 1, 2013
If you love hockey this is the book for you. The ups and downs of the best the game has ever seen.
February 25, 2021
Interesting collection of short biographies of some of the interesting and more well known NHL goalies. Found the chapters on the early goalies very informative and entertaining while the chapters on the later goalies to be less entertaining for some reason.
If you are a hockey fan and looking for a lighter read about NHL goalies very much would recommend this book.
If you are a hockey fan and looking for a lighter read about NHL goalies very much would recommend this book.
October 2, 2021
Great look as few NHL goalie legions.
March 16, 2014
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
Throughout the colorful history of the National Hockey League, goaltenders have always had a special place that forwards and defensemen do not enter. Whether that is superstition, unusual habits or just being “different”, many talented goaltenders have interesting stories behind their legendary careers. Randi Druzin’s book on twelve of the best goalies in NHL history takes a look at their careers, their achievements and yes, their idiosyncrasies as well.
The span of time covered by the book is long. Goalies who had success during the time when the NHL had only 6 teams are portrayed are included as well as recent stars such as Ed Belfour and Martin Brodeur. The stories of these legendary net minders such as Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall made for some of the more interesting passages in the book. Jacque Plante’s knitting hobby may have earned him some ridicule from teammates, but it served him well while becoming a Hall of Fame goalie. Ken Dryden appeared to be deep in thought while the action was on the opposite end of the rink, leaning on his goalie stick. This book puts that myth to rest, as he states that he simply was relaxing in a different manner than most goalies. Passages like these are the best parts of this book.
The style of Druzin’s writing is easy to read, quick paced and well organized. Each goalie’s chapter starts with a personal story or two, his amateur career, his NHL career season by season followed by life after the NHL. None of these sections get too detailed that would drag the book, nor does it skim too much to not be insightful
I have only one quibble with the book – some of the stories or actions by the men being featured were written in a manner that left me wanting to know more about it or wondering why this happened. One example was in the chapter on Dominik Hasek when he retired from the Detroit Red Wings, only to play the next season in the Czech Republic. There is no reason given for his sudden retirement from the NHL, not even that he did it to play in his home nation. That left me wondering just why he wanted to leave the Red Wings. Excerpts like this made me wonder if there is more than what is written in the book. It doesn’t detract from the overall book, but it would have been even better with a full explanation.
Overall, this is a fun book to read that any serious hockey fan, especially those who are fascinated with the position of goaltender, should add to the reading list.
Did I skim?
No. Because each goalie had a unique characteristic about him, I was interested in learning more about their personalities as well as their accomplishments.
Pace of the book:
Very quick. Because Druzin concentrated on each goalie’s personality instead of detailing each man’s childhood or extra analysis of their greatest seasons, each chapter was a quick and easy read for me.
Do I recommend?
Hockey fans in general should enjoy this book. For fans like me, who pay extra attention to the goaltenders as they have a special role in the success of the team and have also gained notoriety as being “different”; this book is very informative and fun to read.
Book Format Read:
e-book (Kindle)
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
Throughout the colorful history of the National Hockey League, goaltenders have always had a special place that forwards and defensemen do not enter. Whether that is superstition, unusual habits or just being “different”, many talented goaltenders have interesting stories behind their legendary careers. Randi Druzin’s book on twelve of the best goalies in NHL history takes a look at their careers, their achievements and yes, their idiosyncrasies as well.
The span of time covered by the book is long. Goalies who had success during the time when the NHL had only 6 teams are portrayed are included as well as recent stars such as Ed Belfour and Martin Brodeur. The stories of these legendary net minders such as Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall made for some of the more interesting passages in the book. Jacque Plante’s knitting hobby may have earned him some ridicule from teammates, but it served him well while becoming a Hall of Fame goalie. Ken Dryden appeared to be deep in thought while the action was on the opposite end of the rink, leaning on his goalie stick. This book puts that myth to rest, as he states that he simply was relaxing in a different manner than most goalies. Passages like these are the best parts of this book.
The style of Druzin’s writing is easy to read, quick paced and well organized. Each goalie’s chapter starts with a personal story or two, his amateur career, his NHL career season by season followed by life after the NHL. None of these sections get too detailed that would drag the book, nor does it skim too much to not be insightful
I have only one quibble with the book – some of the stories or actions by the men being featured were written in a manner that left me wanting to know more about it or wondering why this happened. One example was in the chapter on Dominik Hasek when he retired from the Detroit Red Wings, only to play the next season in the Czech Republic. There is no reason given for his sudden retirement from the NHL, not even that he did it to play in his home nation. That left me wondering just why he wanted to leave the Red Wings. Excerpts like this made me wonder if there is more than what is written in the book. It doesn’t detract from the overall book, but it would have been even better with a full explanation.
Overall, this is a fun book to read that any serious hockey fan, especially those who are fascinated with the position of goaltender, should add to the reading list.
Did I skim?
No. Because each goalie had a unique characteristic about him, I was interested in learning more about their personalities as well as their accomplishments.
Pace of the book:
Very quick. Because Druzin concentrated on each goalie’s personality instead of detailing each man’s childhood or extra analysis of their greatest seasons, each chapter was a quick and easy read for me.
Do I recommend?
Hockey fans in general should enjoy this book. For fans like me, who pay extra attention to the goaltenders as they have a special role in the success of the team and have also gained notoriety as being “different”; this book is very informative and fun to read.
Book Format Read:
e-book (Kindle)
January 11, 2016
As a goalie I was looking forward to reading this book. It was good but not great and didn’t add too much to what I knew about these players save for the older ones. And why did the author not discuss Jacques Plante’s goalie mask business, which was quite the big deal in its day?
My main beef is that the writing is indifferent. For example, Gump Worsely’s fear of flying is explained when the one of the engines of the aircraft he was travelling in caught fire and was put out. It is never explained how this happened. I know that there is a fire-suppression system that the pilot controls from the cockpit; it puts out the fire but you lose the engine. Landing with one engine would have been harrowing. Yet the process is never explained; the writer just states that the pilot put the fire out. How? Was he on the tarmac with a bucket of water? I have to say that this is the quality of writing throughout, which makes reading the book a bit of a chore.
Druzin was asked why she did not include a goalie like Tony Esposito and said in an interview that she couldn’t find anything interesting about him...This is a goalie who had near-invisible fishnet dangling from him to stop pucks that might otherwise have gone in. Shooters were amazed when pucks seemed to stop in mid-air. Eventually the league caught on. Gerry Cheevers definitely should have made the cut; the first money goalie, he drank a beer between periods and refused to shake hands with the winning team in the play-offs; why congratulate those who had beaten you? He had his own code. There is a case for Tretyak as well. “I am a destroyer. The destroyer of the other team’s plans.” At the same time I would have left Belfour out—just never liked that guy.
My main beef is that the writing is indifferent. For example, Gump Worsely’s fear of flying is explained when the one of the engines of the aircraft he was travelling in caught fire and was put out. It is never explained how this happened. I know that there is a fire-suppression system that the pilot controls from the cockpit; it puts out the fire but you lose the engine. Landing with one engine would have been harrowing. Yet the process is never explained; the writer just states that the pilot put the fire out. How? Was he on the tarmac with a bucket of water? I have to say that this is the quality of writing throughout, which makes reading the book a bit of a chore.
Druzin was asked why she did not include a goalie like Tony Esposito and said in an interview that she couldn’t find anything interesting about him...This is a goalie who had near-invisible fishnet dangling from him to stop pucks that might otherwise have gone in. Shooters were amazed when pucks seemed to stop in mid-air. Eventually the league caught on. Gerry Cheevers definitely should have made the cut; the first money goalie, he drank a beer between periods and refused to shake hands with the winning team in the play-offs; why congratulate those who had beaten you? He had his own code. There is a case for Tretyak as well. “I am a destroyer. The destroyer of the other team’s plans.” At the same time I would have left Belfour out—just never liked that guy.
July 25, 2014
I enjoyed this book - it gave insights into hockey history and into the goalies it discusses. The format made it a bit repetitive sometimes, especially where the goalies' careers overlapped (and all of the mini-season recaps got a little tedious after a while). It felt like an article series - and maybe that's what it originally was?
There were a lot of fun little anecdotes, but not always as much context as I would have liked.
The author's voice is great, though - her dry wit added a lot of charm and humor to the book.
There were a lot of fun little anecdotes, but not always as much context as I would have liked.
The author's voice is great, though - her dry wit added a lot of charm and humor to the book.
August 31, 2014
Pretty good read, though nothing new or really ground-breaking in here. If you grew up playing hockey or collected hockey cards or read/watched any form of hockey-related news reporting in the past 20 years, this book is pretty much old news. Not a criticism, as much as it's just a heads-up to any hockey people thinking of grabbing this.
May 16, 2015
Not as good as I hoped. Limited coverage as to why some of these goalies are "legendary." Sometimes disjointed with insert sections that often cover other goalies yet no readily identifiable connection with the goalie being profiled.
October 19, 2015
a nice view inside the goalie's mind.
April 4, 2017
An understandably difficult book to write, considering the scope and subject matter, I felt like there was a lack of focused detail that would allow me to connect with each of the subjects discussed. Much of the book is recapping statistics throughout the playing seasons of each goaltender, with brief anecdotes to justify the moniker each goalie was given (e.g., "The Tortured Soul," "The Enigma," etc.). Early chapters are especially guilty of this since, in several cases, the players profiled are long dead or otherwise unavailable and the reporting from the time period isn't as detailed as it is now. Later chapters are better, but still gloss over personal notes that'd have given the reader a true sense of who these goaltenders are. For example, there is a brief aside on Martin Brodeur about his divorce and how he handled criticism that could have gone a long way toward explaining his personality. Instead, it barely scratches the surface.
It's an interesting enough read for fans of hockey goaltending and the personalities around it, but I'd approach it as more of an introduction to these players than a tell-all.
It's an interesting enough read for fans of hockey goaltending and the personalities around it, but I'd approach it as more of an introduction to these players than a tell-all.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews