It’s the great Canadian icon: a frozen creek, a backyard rink, a father passing something precious on to his child—the love of a game. There is nothing quite so Canadian as hockey, and nothing quite so evocative in hockey as the relationships between Canadian hockey players and their fathers.
Here are the personal tales of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Marty McSorley, told as the four NHL stars take their fathers on a hockey tour of Europe.
Here are the memories of hockey’s grand families: Gordie, Mark and Travis Howe; Bill, Kevin and Gord Dineen; Murray, Ken and Michael Dryden. Here is Brett Hull’s story of the famous father who was never home.
But The Home Team is about more than famous names. It is the story of the father and son left weeping in the stands at the end of a disappointing draft day. It is the story of a minor league coach and his house league son. This book is about hockey. It is also about where we live and who we are: a book for all fathers and sons in Canada.
“Roy MacGregor is one of our best hockey writers. . . . In The Home Team he weaves a Canadian saga out of the puck-to-stick game that both connects and frays fathers and sons. It is often both moving . . . and illuminating.” —The Globe and Mail
“[A] truly magnificent book—and one that is sure to loom large in the annals of Canadian sports literature.” —Calgary Herald
“[A] considered, eloquent, and understanding ode to hockey. . . . [M]ay be one of the most clear-sighted and powerful pieces of hockey writing on paper.” —Quill & Quire
“[The Home Team] offers readers new insights into what makes many of the game's brightest stars tick. . . . This book doesn't stop in the middle of the road. It gets to the other side.” —Winnipeg Free Press (MB)
“[A] seminal book on the hockey experience.” —Sun (Vancouver)
“MacGregor at his finest.” —Ottawa Citizen
“[A] compelling tale of sorrow and satisfaction.” —Maclean’s
“[The Home Team] rises above sports, just as MacGregor’s novel The Last Season, possibly the best hockey based novel ever written, went beyond the game and into the landscape of family, memory and myth.” —Edmonton Journal
“Roy MacGregor is one of the best, if not the best, hockey writers in Canada.” —Canadian Press
“‘Hockey literature’ is no longer an oxymoron. You need only consult Ken Dryden’s The Game, Roy MacGregor’s The Home Team.” —Canadian Forum
“Author Roy MacGregor captures not just the facts, but the roller coaster of emotions behind the game.” —The Daily Courier
Roy MacGregor is the acclaimed and bestselling author of Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey (shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award); A Life in the Bush (winner of the U.S. Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book and the CAA Award for Biography); and Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People, as well as two novels, Canoe Lake and The Last Season, and the popular Screech Owls mystery series for young readers. A regular columnist at The Globe and Mail since 2002, MacGregor's journalism has garnered four National Magazine Awards and eight National Newspaper Award nominations. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was described in the citation as one of Canada's "most gifted storytellers." He grew up in Huntsville, Ontario, and has kept returning to the Tom Thomson mystery all his writing life. He lives in Kanata.
View titles by Roy MacGregor
It’s the great Canadian icon: a frozen creek, a backyard rink, a father passing something precious on to his child—the love of a game. There is nothing quite so Canadian as hockey, and nothing quite so evocative in hockey as the relationships between Canadian hockey players and their fathers.
Here are the personal tales of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Marty McSorley, told as the four NHL stars take their fathers on a hockey tour of Europe.
Here are the memories of hockey’s grand families: Gordie, Mark and Travis Howe; Bill, Kevin and Gord Dineen; Murray, Ken and Michael Dryden. Here is Brett Hull’s story of the famous father who was never home.
But The Home Team is about more than famous names. It is the story of the father and son left weeping in the stands at the end of a disappointing draft day. It is the story of a minor league coach and his house league son. This book is about hockey. It is also about where we live and who we are: a book for all fathers and sons in Canada.
Reviews
“Roy MacGregor is one of our best hockey writers. . . . In The Home Team he weaves a Canadian saga out of the puck-to-stick game that both connects and frays fathers and sons. It is often both moving . . . and illuminating.” —The Globe and Mail
“[A] truly magnificent book—and one that is sure to loom large in the annals of Canadian sports literature.” —Calgary Herald
“[A] considered, eloquent, and understanding ode to hockey. . . . [M]ay be one of the most clear-sighted and powerful pieces of hockey writing on paper.” —Quill & Quire
“[The Home Team] offers readers new insights into what makes many of the game's brightest stars tick. . . . This book doesn't stop in the middle of the road. It gets to the other side.” —Winnipeg Free Press (MB)
“[A] seminal book on the hockey experience.” —Sun (Vancouver)
“MacGregor at his finest.” —Ottawa Citizen
“[A] compelling tale of sorrow and satisfaction.” —Maclean’s
“[The Home Team] rises above sports, just as MacGregor’s novel The Last Season, possibly the best hockey based novel ever written, went beyond the game and into the landscape of family, memory and myth.” —Edmonton Journal
“Roy MacGregor is one of the best, if not the best, hockey writers in Canada.” —Canadian Press
“‘Hockey literature’ is no longer an oxymoron. You need only consult Ken Dryden’s The Game, Roy MacGregor’s The Home Team.” —Canadian Forum
“Author Roy MacGregor captures not just the facts, but the roller coaster of emotions behind the game.” —The Daily Courier
Roy MacGregor is the acclaimed and bestselling author of Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey (shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award); A Life in the Bush (winner of the U.S. Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book and the CAA Award for Biography); and Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People, as well as two novels, Canoe Lake and The Last Season, and the popular Screech Owls mystery series for young readers. A regular columnist at The Globe and Mail since 2002, MacGregor's journalism has garnered four National Magazine Awards and eight National Newspaper Award nominations. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was described in the citation as one of Canada's "most gifted storytellers." He grew up in Huntsville, Ontario, and has kept returning to the Tom Thomson mystery all his writing life. He lives in Kanata.
View titles by Roy MacGregor
