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Facts & Stats 2008-09

In the storied history of the NHL, many players stand out, and a few become synonymous with their numbers. There are some whose skates are so hard to fill and whose stars shine so bright that their numbers are retired to annals of legend.In Retired Numbers bestselling hockey author Andrew Podnieks documents 116 players whose numbers have been raised to great heights in arenas across the league. From Toronto Maple Leaf Ace Baily (1934) to New York Ranger Andy Bathgate (2009), Retired Numbers spans the league’s history. From players who made their mark with one team (Paul Coffey with the Edmonton Oilers) to those who starred in many (Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers, the New York Rangers, and the Los Angeles Kings), fans will learn just what made these players so memorable.Packed with photos, stats, stories, and lists, Retired Numbers will delight fans young and old, sparking nostalgia about games gone by and speculation about who will the NHL’s next honoured legends.

Revered by the greatest golfers in the game for his flawless swing, Canada's Moe Norman was a genius on the golf course and an enigma off it.World famous, he hated the limelight. A perfect striker of the ball, he hated putting. He slept in his car instead of hotels, buried money in secret locations on golf courses, used a six-inch tee in tournaments just for fun. The Legend of Moe Norman offers a glimpse into his idiosyncratic world through dozens of stories both funny and insightful. "Only two players have ever truly owned their swings- Moe Norman and Ben Hogan." TIGER WOODS

The NHL may have suspended operations for the 2004-05 season, but that didnt mean the game itself ceased to exist. No, indeed, hockey flourished outside the pro ranks of the worlds greatest league. Some NHLers went to Europe to play for both famous and little-known teams; others stayed in North America and joined the minor pros. Still others stayed close to home, practiced with friends, ran clinics, performed charity work. In general, hockey continued at all levels, and hockey players remained active in the game they love. Starting with the World Cup of Hockey in September 2004 and ending with the 69th World Championship in Austria in May 2005, the hockey season was busy and full of event. In between, Canadas juniors dominated in winning gold for the first time in seven years, while elsewhere a group of friends in Edmonton played hockey for 240 hours straight to set a world record. In February 2005, the World Pond Hockey Championships was competed for by some 96 teams in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick. The Lost Season is in part about the dismal performance by the NHL in 2004-05, but it is more about the perpetuation of the stick and puck game in spite of a season without Lord Stanley.

What happens if your golf ball becomes lodged in a tree and you can't get it down? What are your options if a ball lands behind a boulder or you want to try to play your ball out of a water hazard? What if you knock the ball off the tee while making a practise swing? For every situation in golf, there's a rule, and for every rule there's a bizarre case of occurrence or misunderstanding. Bizarre Rules of Golf examines more than 60 rules and situations-and their ramifications for golfers both famous and obscure. From Tiger Woods putting for birdie and ending up in the water to Brad Faxon hitting a nice approach shot only to watch a bird lift his ball off the green and plop it in the water, the game's many rulings and interpretations of the rules book are probed and described in entertaining detail. Including the story of poor Pete Oakley. Competing at the 2012 Senior British Open, he was penalized two strokes for losing his caddy. That's right-his caddy! (who also happens to be his wife) It's all here in Bizarre Rules of Golf!

Remember the glory days of the Maple Leafs? Imlach, Keon, Mahovlich, Bower? But after their Stanley Cup victories in the 1960s, the Leafs fell quickly and became a laughing-stock for hockey fans. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the Leafs were an awful hockey team. But then Harold Ballard died, Cliff Fletcher became the new president, and with the addition of Pat Burns and Doug Gilmour the 1990s Leafs re-emerged to their former glory. The fall and rise of the Toronto Maple Leafs is chronicled by Andrew Podnieks, supported by rarely seen photos and unusual statistical data. A great book for every Leaf fan.

If Martin Brodeur isnt the greatest goalie who ever played in the NHL, then who is? He has won three Stanley Cups, played every game of his career for the same team, and is certain to break the three most important records a goalie can possessmost career shutouts, most wins, and most games played. Martin Brodeur is unbeatable and, without question, stating that he is the best that the game has ever seen would be impossible to argue. In addition to his NHL silverware, Marty adds an Olympic gold medal to his credit. Brodeurs rise to the top of the NHL was swift. His dominance was enduring, and his level of play year after year has been without equal. Looking at his New Jersey Devils goals against column says it allyear after year they have the lowest number of goals against and, while this is a result of a solid team both offensively and defensively, it is obvious that the man guarding their net plays a pivotal role in their success and denies todays greatest offensive players access to the net he guards so well. The Unbeatable Martin Brodeur chronicles his career from his early childhood playing amateur hockey in Montreal to his NHL debut in New Jersey, his Stanley Cup performances, and his Olympic glory. From his first shutout along his record-breaking route through the first 15 years of his extraordinary life in hockey, The Unbeatable Martin Brodeur is an exciting and informative look at one of the most admired players to ever lace up skates.

Golf's Greatest Collapses recounts the agony-and sometimes humour-of the worst moments of a golfer's career, the moment when he can't do anything right. Golfers collapses are borne of the weight of the moment, the gaze of thousands of fans, the click of photographers' cameras, the underlying awareness that millions of people around the world are watching. Some golfers never recover from a collapse; others use it to learn, and when the situation recurs, they are wiser and better able to handle the pressure of the moment. Collapses can be good in the long run, or they can be forever devastating.