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Each of the six stories in Dave Bidini’s playful, irreverent new book takes
a headlong run at the hockey dressing room, and each knocks the door
down. What’s happening when the door opens next is anyone’s guess.
In one story, a chronic minor-leaguer discovers the wonders—and the
pitfalls—of the game in Europe, both on and off the ice. In another,
an NHLer is tight with his teammate, the league’s leading goalscorer,
but dreams of getting MUCH tighter. A star on a losing streak turns to
a magical salve to turn his game around. A conversation between two
friends yields surprising facts about Joan, everyone’s favourite female
goalie. A hundred bucks is all that stands between a hockey groupie and
eternal happiness in 1950s Detroit. And finally, the eponymous ‘Five
Hole’ itself speaks—though it never reveals all of its secrets.
Full of sex, drugs and high-sticking, each of The Five Hole Stories runs
its proverbial tongue down hockey’s seamy, steamy underbelly and then finds language to tell us what it tastes like.
A scintillating look at hockey with its clothes off, in six ambitious poses.
“Dave Bidini is a heck of a good writer. His prose is almost conversational, creating an effect like a guy sitting at a bar telling you a good story.” — The Globe and Mail
“One of the most unaffected, passionate and relevant commentators on the sport of hockey and it's significance to Canadian culture.”—Barrie Advance
“Anyone who revels in the smell that seeps from a hockey bag or the language that seeps from a locker room will appreciate where [Bidini] is coming from.”—The Toronto Star
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