Hockey Strong: Stories of Sacrifice from Inside the NHL

For the casual enthusiast and hockey fanatic alike, a collection unlike any other-revealing stories and photographs celebrating the grit and determination of National Hockey League players to withstand injury and hardship to play the sport they love.

Sperstars, muckers, snipers, and enforces alike: the arduous journey of an NHL player is a story of the human body.  It is the cracking left first of the Philadelphia Flyers' Dave Brown and the battering-ram right hand of the Detroit Red Wings' Joe Kocur.  It is the unbreakable hockey heart of Rob McClanahan during "The Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympis in Lake Placid.  It is the smashed face Kris Draper suffered during the bloody rivalry between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings.

It is the playoff carnage endured by Patrice Bergren of the Boston Bruins.  It is Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith losing seven teeth-and missing only one shift.  It is the ravaged knee of Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman and the busted knuckles of beloved Montreal Canadian Chirs Nilan.  It is the stitches, the broken toes, separated shoulders, and all of the painful hardships players old and new overcome on a nightly basis to play this most brutal of sports.

Through in-depth player interviews and inside-the-locker-room reportage, Hockey Strong gives readers a behind-the-pads look at the playing-in-pain ethos that has been woven into the fabric of the game.  What separates a hockey players toughness from other athletes' is the fact that being hockey Strong is more than a single performance or bout or game or series: Hockey Strong is a way of life.