Original Six: True Stories from Hockey's Classic Era

by Paul Quarrington (Editor)

Excellent Book

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Hockey

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Paul Quarrington was a novelist and musician, an award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, and an acclaimed non-fiction writer. His last novel The Ravine was published in March 2008. His previous novel Galveston was nominated for the Giller; Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Medal for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. As a musician, he played in the band PorkBelly Futures; their self-titled second CD was released in April 2008; the first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received. His screenplays and story editing have won many awards, most recently the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV, and he was in high demand as a story editor for feature films and television. Paul ’s filmmaking talents as writer / director were evident in his BookShorts short film, Pavane, which he adapted from The Ravine and was featured in the Moving Stories Film Festival September - November 2008. His non-fiction writing included books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music. He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines. Paul lived and worked in Toronto, where he taught writing at Humber College and University of Toronto, and sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival. Quarrington was also an (extremely) amateur magician and a would-be mariner.

Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in May of 2009. He died at home, with his family.

Reviews

[Books Ring Mah Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever been to the zoo and seen the caged animals just pacing, pacing, pacing? They look as if they have been driven insane by boredom. That was me the other day, pacing the house, like a bored lion, pacing, pacing, pacing. Waiting for anything to break the monotony of the day.

You see, I'd run out of things to read. (HORRORS!)
Back of the cereal box? Read multiple times.
Books on the shelves? Not in the mood for a re-read.
Magazines in the bathroom? DONE DONE DONE!

Pacing pacing pacing.

Then, as if a zookeeper flung a bloody piece of meat to the lion, I hit the JACKPOT: Original Six: True Stories from Hockey's Classic Era.

Perfect! I pounced on it.

I have to admit, I'm prejudiced. I love hockey. I love ORIGINAL SIX hockey, which may seem odd, because I wasn't around for it, but that era is magic to me.

Only a few pages into the introduction, Paul Quarrington won me over with these simple lines:

I'm not mourning the passing of the good old days. I'm lamenting the lack of good days, period."

Yes. Indeed. AMEN, brother Paul!

After the intro, there are six brief stories, each one about a stellar player from each of the Original Six teams.

The first is on the Blackhawks goalie, Charlie Gardiner, who died weeks after winning the Stanley Cup. When most men would be chillin' on their deathbed, ol' Charlie was on the ice, playing playoff hockey.

My favorite team (the Red Wings) had the spotlight on my favorite Red Wing, Gordie Howe. Gordie Howe was badass and pure class all rolled into one. An athlete and a gentleman. (try finding one of those these days!)

If you want to know about who the other four teams profiled, you'll have to pick up the book. It's a great piece of hockey history.

This book was very satisfying.
Like meat to a lion satisfying.

I want more.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a slim volume of 6 stories. Each story is about about 1 of the original 6 NHL teams. Each stor is told by a different person.

I found it quite interesting and I'm not even much of a sports fan.

[John A · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not think the book was over good. The stories I thought were poorly written and hard to follow.