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Dad, they used to tell Wayne Gretzky that he was to small, and that he would never make the NHL look at him now I replied
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Mike Leonetti (Gretzky's Game (Hockey Heroes Series))
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Not sure the ladies in here can handle Ford Remington, NHL captain, and America’s heartthrob, holding a baby. You’re going to be the cause of many swoons. Possibly even fainting.
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Leah Brunner (Betrothal or Breakaway (D.C. Eagles Hockey, #3))
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Hartwell’s hockey skills are on a different planet, and I think I might be a little bit in love with her. I’ve never seen anyone play like that, and I have no fucking clue how she’s not already on an NHL roster.
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Chelsea Curto (Face Off (D.C. Stars, #1))
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I smile. "Mr. Perfect Beautiful Hockey God?"
"Oh, shut up. You know it's true," she replies in a flat tone. "You should be the face of the NHL. They should put you on billboards in Times Square. You're hot and your charm levels are through the roof.
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Victoria Denault (The Final Move (Hometown Players, #3))
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We were a minor league team that didn't feed into any majors, in a town that loved just about every sport but ours. We were going nowhere and we knew it, so why not have fun? In the forties, when I was playing, we were officially the most violent team in the country, and that means probably the whole world, and by the way, that's why I could skate with no toes. A figure skater, a speed skater, an NHL forward, sure, you need your toes for control, but all that finesse takes a backseat when all you're trying to do is slam somebody into a wall and break all his teeth.
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Dan Wells (Partials (Partials Sequence, #1))
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Brooks wanted to abandon the traditional, linear, dump-and-chase style of hockey that had held sway in North America forever. He wanted to attack the vaunted Russians with their own game, skating with them and weaving with them, stride for high-flying stride. He wanted to play physical, un-yielding hockey to be sure, but he also wanted fast, skilled players who would flourish on the Olympic ice sheet (which is 15 feet wider than NHL rinks) and be able to move and keep possession of the puck and be in such phenomenal condition that they would be the fresher team at the end.
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Wayne Coffey (The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team)
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I’ve wanted this since I was five years old. I’m now twenty-one and time is running out. Of course, looking back, I realize I had lots of time, but in September 2001, all I knew was that playing the game I loved more than anything in the NHL was the only option. There was no Plan B.
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Sean Avery (Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey)
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There’s so much athletic talent that goes unseen because of the economic imbalance. Think what the NHL might look like if money wasn’t an issue. It’d be a lot more fucking colorful, I’ll tell you that much.
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Sloane St. James (In the Game (Lakes Hockey, #3))
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One of the misconceptions in minor hockey is a belief that players have to get on “big city” teams as young as possible to gain exposure when being identified by major junior clubs. For example, the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) has long been considered a strong breeding ground, with three or four elite AAA teams each year producing some of the top players for the OHL draft. However, on the list of players from Ontario since 1975 who have made the NHL, only 16.8 percent of those players came from GTHL programs while the league itself represents approximately 20 percent of the registered players in the province—that means the league has a per capita development rate of about –3 percent. What the research found was that players from other Ontario minor hockey leagues who elevated to the NHL actually had an edge in terms of career advancement on their GTHL counterparts by the age of nineteen. Each year several small-town Ontario parents, some with players as young as age eight, believe it’s necessary to get their kids on a GTHL superclub such as the Marlboros, Red Wings, or Jr. Canadiens. However, just twenty-one GTHL “import” players since 1997 have played a game in the NHL in the last fifteen years. This pretty much indicates that regardless of where he plays his minor hockey from the ages of eight through sixteen, a player eventually develops no matter how strong his team is as a peewee or bantam. An excellent example comes from the Ontario players born in 1990, which featured a powerhouse team in the Markham Waxers of the OMHA’s Eastern AAA League. The Waxers captured the prestigious OHL Cup and lost a grand total of two games in eight years. In 2005–06, when they were in minor midget (age fifteen), they compiled a record of 64-1-2. The Waxers had three future NHL draft picks on their roster in Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay), Michael Del Zotto (New York Rangers), and Cameron Gaunce (Colorado). One Waxers nemesis in the 1990 age group was the Toronto Jr. Canadiens of the GTHL. The Jr. Canadiens were also a perennial powerhouse team and battled the Waxers on a regular basis in major tournaments and provincial championships over a seven-year period. Like the Waxers, the Jr. Canadiens team also had three future NHL draft picks in Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis), Josh Brittain (Anaheim), and Stefan Della Rovere (Washington). In the same 1990 age group, a “middle of the pack” team was the Halton Hills Hurricanes (based west of Toronto in Milton). This club played in the OMHA’s South Central AAA League and periodically competed with some of the top teams. Over a seven-year span, they were marginally over the .500 mark from novice to minor midget. That Halton Hills team produced two future NHL draft picks in Mat Clark (Anaheim) and Jeremy Price (Vancouver). Finally, the worst AAA team in the 1990 group every year was the Chatham-Kent Cyclones—a club that averaged about five wins a season playing in the Pavilion League in Southwestern Ontario. Incredibly, the lowly Cyclones also had two future NHL draft picks in T.J. Brodie (Calgary) and Jason Missiaen (Montreal). It’s a testament that regardless of where they play their minor hockey, talented players will develop at their own pace and eventually rise to the top. You don’t need to be on an 85-5-1 big-city superclub to develop or get noticed.
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Ken Campbell (Selling the Dream: How Hockey Parents And Their Kids Are Paying The Price For Our N)
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Sidney Crosby is the best player in the NHL
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Jaden Parker
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It seemed that if it weren't for bad luck, the NHL would have no luck at all. And yet they persevered.
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Bob Duff (The First Season: 1917-18 and the Birth of the NHL)
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Other studies reveal that when we
wear black, aggression increases...and that
feels powerful. Researchers examined the
statistics of more than 52,000 National Hockey League games and discovered that teams were penalized 10.2% more for aggression when wearing their black uniforms.
In hockey, teams usually have two colors of jerseys and switch them for home and away games. When the teams wore a different color other than black, their penalties dropped overall.
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Cary G. Weldy (The Power of Tattoos: Twelve Hidden Energy Secrets of Body Art Every Tattoo Enthusiast Should Know)
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When I was little, I figured I'd play in the NHL someday. It wasn't because I was the best player, but because I improved every single season. Some guys stayed the same or even got worse, so I imagined that I'd get better until I was the best. Stupid kid-thinking.
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Melanie Ting (Hockey Is My Boyfriend (Part One))
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Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been. —WAYNE GRETZKY, NHL hockey player and Hall of Famer
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Tiffani Bova (Growth IQ: Get Smarter About the Choices that Will Make or Break Your Business)
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became a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins,
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Bill Redban (Alex Ovechkin: The Inspirational Story of Hockey Superstar Alex Ovechkin (Alex Ovechkin Unauthorized Biography, Washington, D.C. Capitals, Russia, NHL Books))
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The Great One” Wayne Gretzky.
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Bill Redban (Sidney Crosby: The Inspirational Story of Hockey Superstar Sidney Crosby (Sidney Crosby Unauthorized Biography, Pittsburgh Penguins, Canada, Nova Scotia, NHL Books))
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As I do a few laps around the ice, I picture it in my mind’s eye: playing for the Chicago Falcons. Not only are they one of the biggest junior league hockey teams in all of North America, their players are also a favorite of NHL scouts.
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Leah Rooper (Just One of the Boys (The Chicago Falcons, #1))
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As she rounded the corner and started down the aisle of the Primrose Courtyard, her heartbeat picked up. Playing hockey and dancing half-naked at NHL games never fazed her. Having all of Miranda and Ben’s friends and family stare at her as she walked at a snail’s pace in a pageant gown made her mouth go dry and her heart try to shuffle off to Buffalo.
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Katie Kenyhercz (Vegas Girl (Lady Sinners, #2))
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Blue wasn't exactly a rookie, not any longer anyway. He'd had a phenomenal season the previous year that had him nin the upper echelon of NHL stat charts: 60 goals, 30 assists and a gritty, tough-as-shit work ethic.
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Elise Faber (Backhand (Gold Hockey, #2))
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My mom was always there for me and my sisters. Every day she was the perfect example for us, showing us how to appreciate everything we had and how to treat others with respect and compassion. These were important lessons for me because the hockey world wasn't always the kindest.
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Max Domi (No Days Off: My Life with Type 1 Diabetes and Journey to the NHL)
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Juniper Falls, Minnesota might be a small town, but we've produced 18 NHL players, 5 NCAA All-Americans and three Olympians, including a member of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team. Hockey is almost everyone's blood and NHL games are only for people like us; the Olympics are only once every four years. Juniper Falls High School Hockey is a town event. No, it's the town event which is why, outside of the team and our coach, we're all treated like royality.
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Julie Cross (On Thin Ice (Juniper Falls #3))
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Being a hockey coach and ex-NHL player, I have dealt with a lot of overgrown, testosterone-filled man children in my life. It takes some epic levels of assholism to piss me off.
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Eden Finley (Puck Drills & Quick Thrills (CU Hockey, #5))
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He would wear the ornery, stick-wielding Penguin on his chest and carry the expectations for saving hockey on his shoulders.
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Shawna Richer (The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL)
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in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, home of the Baby Penguins, their American Hockey League farm team.
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Shawna Richer (The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL)
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He grew up never letting his mother wash his hockey equipment, preferring instead to air it outdoors, because he loved the smell so much.
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Shawna Richer (The Kid: A Season with Sidney Crosby and the New NHL)