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Hammered: The Fight of My Life
The original Broad Street Bully has secrets to reveal.
Before there was Bob Probert, Tie Domi, or Stu Grimson, there was Dave Schultz. The original enforcer changed the face of the NHL for decades to come, and helped bring the Philadephia Flyers their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, by scaring opponents into submission. His name was known and feared around the league—and still is. Schultz still draws long lines for his autograph.
That’s a long way to have come for a kid who grew up on a farm with no indoor plumbing, a gentle kid who hated fighting. He calls himself a “chicken shit,” and admits he got his brother to fight for him until he was twenty.
But none of us leaves the past behind entirely. When the bright lights dimmed and the cheers went quiet, Schultz was left to grapple with the scale of all he’d lost. The money dwindled. Friendships faded. The lifeline of his marriage slipped from his hands. Finally, all that was left was the echo of fame, the booze, and the demons that shaped him into the fearsome fighter he became.
Still, not even haunted fighters like Schultz give up, and they never flinch—no matter how relentlessly life hammers away at them. Unafraid to look his demons in the eye, Schultz knew to keep swinging in the hope of some kind of victory. Maybe not the kind that brings thousands of cheering fans to their feet, but something deeper, braver, and more lasting.
Hammered takes readers to the places some of those demons come from, and reveals challenges no one has ever suspected Schultz has fought through. It does not shy away from his regrets. But it also conjures the epic victories that made his name a synonym for toughness and intimidation, and makes clear that while he was down, the big guy was never out.
Before there was Bob Probert, Tie Domi, or Stu Grimson, there was Dave Schultz. The original enforcer changed the face of the NHL for decades to come, and helped bring the Philadephia Flyers their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, by scaring opponents into submission. His name was known and feared around the league—and still is. Schultz still draws long lines for his autograph.
That’s a long way to have come for a kid who grew up on a farm with no indoor plumbing, a gentle kid who hated fighting. He calls himself a “chicken shit,” and admits he got his brother to fight for him until he was twenty.
But none of us leaves the past behind entirely. When the bright lights dimmed and the cheers went quiet, Schultz was left to grapple with the scale of all he’d lost. The money dwindled. Friendships faded. The lifeline of his marriage slipped from his hands. Finally, all that was left was the echo of fame, the booze, and the demons that shaped him into the fearsome fighter he became.
Still, not even haunted fighters like Schultz give up, and they never flinch—no matter how relentlessly life hammers away at them. Unafraid to look his demons in the eye, Schultz knew to keep swinging in the hope of some kind of victory. Maybe not the kind that brings thousands of cheering fans to their feet, but something deeper, braver, and more lasting.
Hammered takes readers to the places some of those demons come from, and reveals challenges no one has ever suspected Schultz has fought through. It does not shy away from his regrets. But it also conjures the epic victories that made his name a synonym for toughness and intimidation, and makes clear that while he was down, the big guy was never out.
- GenresNonfictionHockeySports
296 pages, Hardcover
Published October 21, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 10, 2025
Hockey fans will recognize the name Dave Schultz, even if they were not around to witness his legendary fights on the ice. He was one of the early “enforcers” in hockey, who would often fight or cause other ruckus on the ice. This was usually done to protect star players or to send a message to the other team that our team will not back down. His record of 472 penalty minutes in the 1974-75 season still stands. He tells his story in this memoir written with Dan Robson.
The book starts off very dark, with Schultz sharing a scenario where he is in a fight – but it is not on the ice. Instead, he talks about provoking a fight with a bartender. That was an attention grabber, and it worked to grab the attention of this reader. It was a good metaphor about his fight against his alcoholism. He would fight (argue and resist, not with fists like the metaphor) those who tried to help him such as ex-teammate Bill Clement. He would fight while in treatment. Once done, he would fight (and still is fighting) to try to stay clean.
There are other fights he talks about, such as trying to suppress the memory of being sexually assaulted when he was a child. He never shared that with family, his wife nor others until recently. He was also fighting off depression over his losses, especially those of his brother and father, as well as his divorce.
While this sounds like an unhappy book, it really isn’t as bad as this description sounds. It is clear that he is working his way through them. He talks about many happy memories with family and especially while in hockey. His best days in the NHL were with the Philadelphia Flyers and he shares excellent accounts of not only his play, but that of his team when the Flyers won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. What is also notable about this part of the book is how he recalls the Flyers and himself in particular drawing the ire of NHL President Clarence Campbell for the rough style of play that helped the Flyers win.
Schultz did not end his career with the Flyers, as he also played for the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. He did not find the same joy with those teams like he did with the Flyers and like his other battles mentioned above, he was fighting off bouts of anger when playing for those teams. While the book overall is not a happy one nor is it one where Schultz comes off as looking for sympathy or redemption, I found it an interesting read as someone who is realizing what life has thrown at him and his way of addressing it as he enters the latter stages of life. It made for an interesting read.
I wish to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The book starts off very dark, with Schultz sharing a scenario where he is in a fight – but it is not on the ice. Instead, he talks about provoking a fight with a bartender. That was an attention grabber, and it worked to grab the attention of this reader. It was a good metaphor about his fight against his alcoholism. He would fight (argue and resist, not with fists like the metaphor) those who tried to help him such as ex-teammate Bill Clement. He would fight while in treatment. Once done, he would fight (and still is fighting) to try to stay clean.
There are other fights he talks about, such as trying to suppress the memory of being sexually assaulted when he was a child. He never shared that with family, his wife nor others until recently. He was also fighting off depression over his losses, especially those of his brother and father, as well as his divorce.
While this sounds like an unhappy book, it really isn’t as bad as this description sounds. It is clear that he is working his way through them. He talks about many happy memories with family and especially while in hockey. His best days in the NHL were with the Philadelphia Flyers and he shares excellent accounts of not only his play, but that of his team when the Flyers won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. What is also notable about this part of the book is how he recalls the Flyers and himself in particular drawing the ire of NHL President Clarence Campbell for the rough style of play that helped the Flyers win.
Schultz did not end his career with the Flyers, as he also played for the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. He did not find the same joy with those teams like he did with the Flyers and like his other battles mentioned above, he was fighting off bouts of anger when playing for those teams. While the book overall is not a happy one nor is it one where Schultz comes off as looking for sympathy or redemption, I found it an interesting read as someone who is realizing what life has thrown at him and his way of addressing it as he enters the latter stages of life. It made for an interesting read.
I wish to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
September 22, 2025
Sports biographies have a long tradition, written by or about the premier athletes of their era. Occasionally, one of these books rises above the rest to become something of a cultural touchstone. Hammered: The Fight of My Life by former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Dave Schultz is now amongst the greatest hockey memoirs ever written.
Much like the late, great Ken Dryden’s The Game, Schultz’s Hammered goes far beyond the on-ice brawls and bravado of the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s. It peels back the layers of calloused skin, cuts, and bruises, to reveal the vulnerable man behind the orange and black sweater.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schultz finds himself alienated, paranoid, heartbroken, and struggling with alcoholism. A lifeline of support sends him into deep reflection on a career that burned out rather than faded away, a hardscrabble childhood, a broken marriage, and a dark secret of abuse he has carried for nearly his entire life.
Hammered is not just a must-read for hockey fans, it is a story of redemption, resilience, and reckoning. This is the tale of an old gunslinger, hanging up the pistols, staring down his final sunsets and finally coming to terms with the battles that never made the highlight reel.
Much like the late, great Ken Dryden’s The Game, Schultz’s Hammered goes far beyond the on-ice brawls and bravado of the Broad Street Bullies of the 1970s. It peels back the layers of calloused skin, cuts, and bruises, to reveal the vulnerable man behind the orange and black sweater.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Schultz finds himself alienated, paranoid, heartbroken, and struggling with alcoholism. A lifeline of support sends him into deep reflection on a career that burned out rather than faded away, a hardscrabble childhood, a broken marriage, and a dark secret of abuse he has carried for nearly his entire life.
Hammered is not just a must-read for hockey fans, it is a story of redemption, resilience, and reckoning. This is the tale of an old gunslinger, hanging up the pistols, staring down his final sunsets and finally coming to terms with the battles that never made the highlight reel.
September 17, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of Hammered: The Fight of My Life by Dave Schultz (with Dan Robson). This book is to be published on October 21, 2025.
The book is written by alternating between the present day happenings, starting during the days of Covid, and the past as he regales us with stories from his upbringing, and playing days as a member of the Broad Street Bullies. He clearly enjoyed reliving the glory days as a two-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Philadelphia Flyers.
This was a raw, emotional read but an important one considering how many enforcers have passed over the years due to drugs, alcoholism and suicide. When you look at the enforcer of any given team in professional hockey, they’re always the fan favourite and very involved in the community.
Dave grew up in an era where you were told to walk it off. Suck it up. Suppress it. Be a man! Such a toxic mindset from that generation. They’ve never learned how to regulate their emotions and rather masked it with drugs and alcohol. When you grow up in that environment, you either continue what you learned from others, or were so tired of that environment, that you changed it for yourself.
This was also a story of hope. One can lose so much in life that you have to ask yourself if that’s how you want to continue. Is it worth it? It’s not. There was an honesty there that Dave eventually took to heart to change his future. All it took was the love of others in his life to make that change happen and it is hard to look within and take that help. Personally, we all need that. You either have to accept that help or be brave enough, man enough, to ask for that help. Dave eventually was.
If you or someone you know is struggling, there is help out there for you:
Alcoholics Anonymous: https://www.aa.org
Narcotics Anonymous: https://na.org
Suicide Hotline: Call 988
The book is written by alternating between the present day happenings, starting during the days of Covid, and the past as he regales us with stories from his upbringing, and playing days as a member of the Broad Street Bullies. He clearly enjoyed reliving the glory days as a two-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Philadelphia Flyers.
This was a raw, emotional read but an important one considering how many enforcers have passed over the years due to drugs, alcoholism and suicide. When you look at the enforcer of any given team in professional hockey, they’re always the fan favourite and very involved in the community.
Dave grew up in an era where you were told to walk it off. Suck it up. Suppress it. Be a man! Such a toxic mindset from that generation. They’ve never learned how to regulate their emotions and rather masked it with drugs and alcohol. When you grow up in that environment, you either continue what you learned from others, or were so tired of that environment, that you changed it for yourself.
This was also a story of hope. One can lose so much in life that you have to ask yourself if that’s how you want to continue. Is it worth it? It’s not. There was an honesty there that Dave eventually took to heart to change his future. All it took was the love of others in his life to make that change happen and it is hard to look within and take that help. Personally, we all need that. You either have to accept that help or be brave enough, man enough, to ask for that help. Dave eventually was.
If you or someone you know is struggling, there is help out there for you:
Alcoholics Anonymous: https://www.aa.org
Narcotics Anonymous: https://na.org
Suicide Hotline: Call 988
October 24, 2025
Dave Schultz’s Hammered isn’t just another memoir from a former NHL enforcer—it’s a life story told with bruising honesty, sharp humor, and the hard-won clarity of somebody who’s survived both the fights on the ice and the ones that happened in the dark. Schultz revisits his years with the Broad Street Bullies—the chaos, the pride, the Stanley Cup glory—and makes those legendary Flyers teams feel alive again. The stories are thrilling, but they also carry weight; he’s not reliving the highlights so much as examining what they cost.
What makes this book such a standout is the emotional openness. Schultz writes candidly about alcoholism, regret, family strain, and grief, and those chapters hit even harder than the scraps with O’Reilly or the battles at the Spectrum. The book moves with real grace between the rink, the barstool, and the quiet aftermath—yet it never loses the grit, the working-class humor, and the Philly edge that made fans love him in the first place.
Hammered is heartfelt, raw, and deeply human. A must-read for hockey fans, yes—but also for anyone who appreciates a story of falling apart and the strength needed in fighting your way back. Triumphant, raw, and unforgettable.
Lace up your skates and slam into the boards at Read @ Joe's for the full book review.
What makes this book such a standout is the emotional openness. Schultz writes candidly about alcoholism, regret, family strain, and grief, and those chapters hit even harder than the scraps with O’Reilly or the battles at the Spectrum. The book moves with real grace between the rink, the barstool, and the quiet aftermath—yet it never loses the grit, the working-class humor, and the Philly edge that made fans love him in the first place.
Hammered is heartfelt, raw, and deeply human. A must-read for hockey fans, yes—but also for anyone who appreciates a story of falling apart and the strength needed in fighting your way back. Triumphant, raw, and unforgettable.
Lace up your skates and slam into the boards at Read @ Joe's for the full book review.
January 11, 2026
I am sixty years old, I was born in Snow Lake, Manitoba which is about two hundred kilometers north of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Flin Flon is the hometown of Bob Clarke, the captain and leader of the Philadelphia Flyers during the Broad Street Bullies era that Dave Schultz was a huge part of. The way they played hockey shaped the way I played and watched hockey. I loved the fights as much or more than anyone up until the summer of 2011. That was the summer NHL players Rick Rypien, Derek Boogard and Wade Belak all died much too young. All three were known as “Enforcers”. Mental health issues played a major role in all three deaths.
The physical and mental strain filling the “enforcer”position causes, is what Dave Schultz spends the majority of his time talking about in this autobiography. The book goes to some dark places which makes it a much more interesting read than the average sports jock book.
The physical and mental strain filling the “enforcer”position causes, is what Dave Schultz spends the majority of his time talking about in this autobiography. The book goes to some dark places which makes it a much more interesting read than the average sports jock book.
December 23, 2025
There are many subplots here:
The talented hockey player who becomes an enforcer because that is what he thinks he needs to do.
The enforcer who questions his legacy after the fact.
This is not a hockey player from an affluent house. This is a poor family from farm towns who made it....that is truly Canadian.
Alcohol in his family, alcoholism for him.
Regrets of how the life he lead affected his marriage and family.
If you can look past the hockey fighter story, there is much more here. But, maybe just for me.
The talented hockey player who becomes an enforcer because that is what he thinks he needs to do.
The enforcer who questions his legacy after the fact.
This is not a hockey player from an affluent house. This is a poor family from farm towns who made it....that is truly Canadian.
Alcohol in his family, alcoholism for him.
Regrets of how the life he lead affected his marriage and family.
If you can look past the hockey fighter story, there is much more here. But, maybe just for me.
November 7, 2025
I am in my late sixties and have read hundreds of hockey books (and sports books) over the years. This is one of the BEST I have read. Raw, intense, honest, and hopeful. It is a real world look into Dave's successes and struggles amidst a backdrop of fame and aging. One of the best enforcers in hockey history has written one of the best books in hockey history. I truly hope Dave finds solace in his life.
Read
July 21, 2025An interesting look at a hockey life lived.
This is better than most of these hockey memoirs, but still, ultimately, it gets bogged down in the minutiae of detail that would only appeal to a true hard core hockey fan.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
DNF
This is better than most of these hockey memoirs, but still, ultimately, it gets bogged down in the minutiae of detail that would only appeal to a true hard core hockey fan.
Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for granting me access to an early digital review copy.
DNF
January 17, 2026
Another great hockey biography of a Flyers legend. In Dave’s book like the other hockey bios I read the narrative makes you feel you are there in person listening to the author tell their stories. 5.0 Bookworms
December 12, 2025
A story straight from the heart of Dave Schulz. Dan Robson brings it vividly to life. I’ll read everything he writes.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews