A Great Game

A Great Game traces the emergence of professional hockey in Toronto during the early 1900s, focusing on the city's first pro teams and their struggle for legitimacy. The book examines how early clubs like the Toronto Professional Hockey Club and Toronto Blueshirts established themselves despite fierce opposition from amateur hockey organizations. Written over eight years by former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, this historical account documents the transition from amateur to professional hockey in Canada. The text explores various aspects of early 20th-century hockey, including the development of artificial ice rinks and the evolving business of the sport. The book places Toronto's hockey development within the broader context of Canadian sports culture and urban life during a period of rapid social change. Through detailed research and historical records, it reconstructs an important but often overlooked chapter in hockey's evolution from local pastime to professional enterprise. This work serves as both a sports history and a window into early 20th-century Canadian society, examining how class divisions, economic forces, and cultural traditions shaped the development of professional hockey. The narrative highlights the tension between amateur ideals and professional ambitions that characterized this transformative period in sports history.

Readers found the book offers deep historical research about early hockey in Toronto, though many noted it reads more like an academic text than entertainment. The level of detail impressed hockey history enthusiasts. Liked: - Thorough research and primary sources - Focus on amateur-to-professional transition - Inclusion of rare photographs - Clear explanation of early hockey business operations Disliked: - Dense, dry writing style - Too much focus on administrative details - Lack of narrative flow - Limited coverage beyond Toronto Ratings: Goodreads: 3.5/5 (127 ratings) Amazon: 3.9/5 (89 ratings) From reader reviews: "More like a PhD thesis than a sports book" - Amazon reviewer "The business meetings and court proceedings become tedious" - Goodreads user "Perfect for hockey historians but too detailed for casual fans" - LibraryThing review Many readers expressed surprise that a former Prime Minister wrote such an academic take on hockey history.

Lords of the Rinks by John Chi-Kit Wong Documents the rise of professional hockey in Toronto and the business forces that shaped early Canadian hockey organizations.

Joining the Clubs by Stephen Hardy and Andrew C. Holman Examines the development of hockey leagues and organizations in North America from 1875 to 1936.

Putting a Roof on Winter by Michael McKinley Chronicles the birth of professional hockey through the lens of the business interests and power struggles that created the NHL.

Before the NHL by Ross Allison Weaver Traces the origins of professional hockey in Maritime Canada and the monetary forces that drove the sport's early expansion.

Deceptions and Doublecross by Morey Holzman and Joseph Nieforth Details the business machinations and power plays that led to the formation of the NHL and the elimination of competing leagues.

🏒 Stephen J. Harper wrote this book while serving as the Prime Minister of Canada (2006-2015), dedicating early mornings and weekends to the project. 🏟️ The first artificial ice rink in Toronto was installed at Arena Gardens in 1912, revolutionizing the game by allowing reliable year-round play. ⭐ The Ontario Hockey Association, founded in 1890, initially banned any player who received payment for playing, viewing professionalism as a threat to amateur sports' character-building values. 🏆 Toronto's first professional hockey team, the Toronto Professional Hockey Club (1906-1909), helped pave the way for the eventual formation of the NHL in 1917. 📚 The author spent nearly a decade researching original documents, newspapers, and archives from the early 1900s to piece together this previously underdocumented era of hockey history.