Uses a question and answer format to explain the basics as well as finer points of this fastest of all team sports.

No sport is as important to Canadians as hockey. Though there may be a great many things that divide the country, the love of hockey is perhaps its single greatest unifier. Before the latest labour unrest in the National Hockey League (NHL), however, it was easy to forget that hockey is also a multi-million dollar business run, not by the athletes or coaches, but by corporate boards and businessmen. "The Lords of the Rinks" documents the early years of hockey's professionalization and commercialization and the emergence of a fledgling NHL, from 1875 to 1936.

As the popularity of hockey grew in Canada in the late nineteenth century, so too did its commercial aspects, and players, club directors, rink owners, fans, and media had developed deep emotional, economic, and ideological interests in the sport. Disagreement came in the ways and means of how organized hockey, especially at the elite level, should be managed. Hence, some coordination, by way of governing bodies, was required to maintain a semblance of order. These early administrative bodies tried to maintain a structure that would help to coordinate the various interests, set up standards of behaviour, and impose mechanisms to detect and punish violators of governance. In 1917, the NHL held its first games and by 1936 had become the dominant governing body in professional hockey.

Having performed extensive research in the NHL archives ? including league meeting minutes, letters, memos, telegrams, as well as gate receipt reports ? John Chi-Kit Wong traces the commercial roots of hockey and argues that, in its organized form, the sport was rarely if ever without some commercial aspects despite labels such as amateur and professional. "The Lords of the Rinks" is the only truly comprehensive and scholarly history of the league and the business of hockey.

The Chicago Blackhawks, one of the NHL’s “Original Six,� have been building their storied legacy for decades. Since their founding in 1926, the Hawks have won six Stanley Cup championships and produced dozens of standout stars, from Hall of Fame goaltender Mike Karakas in the ’30s to Bobby “The Golden Jet� Hull in the ’60s to current team captain Jonathan Toews. And the Chicago Tribune, the team’s hometown newspaper, has been covering it all from the very beginning. Published to coincide with the start of the 2017–18 season, The Chicago Tribune Book of the Chicago Blackhawks is a decade-by-decade look at the city’s 21st-century sports dynasty. Curated by the Chicago Tribune sports department, this book documents every era in the team’s history, from the 1920s to the present day, through the newspaper’s original reporting, in-depth analysis, comprehensive timelines, and archival photos. Each chapter includes profiles on key coaches and players, highlighting the top players from each decade as well as every Stanley Cup championship. Bonus “overtime� material—stats and facts on championships, Hall of Famers, memorable trades, and more—provides a blow-by-blow look at all 90 years of the franchise’s history.

A classic David & Goliath tale, complete with colourful heroes, cold-hearted villains, and nail-biting games—with the hockey rink serving as an arena for a nation’s resistance. During the height of the Cold War, a group of small-town young men would lead their underdog hockey team from the little country of Czechoslovakia against the Soviet Union, the juggernaut in their sport. As they battled on the ice, the young players would keep their people’s quest for freedom alive, and forge a way to fight back against the authoritarian forces that sought to crush them. From the sudden invasion of Czechslovakia by an armada of tanks and 500,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers, to a hockey victory over the Soviets that inspired half a million furious citizens to take to the streets in an attempt to destroy all representations that they could find of their occupiers, Freedom to Win ranges from iconic moments in history to courageous individual stories.  We will witness the fearless escape by three brothers who made up the core of the national team, thrilling world championship games and gold medal matches.  We will watch as a one brave player takes a stand and leads ten thousand people in a tear-filled rendition of the Czechoslovak national anthem amid chants of “freedom!� while a revolution raged in the streets of Prague. At the heart of Freedom to Win is the story of the Holíks, a Czechoslovak family whose resistance to the Communists embodied the deepest desires of the people of their country. Faced with life under the cruel and arbitrary regime that had stolen their family butcher shop, the Holík boys became national hockey icons and inspirations to their people.  Filled with heart-pounding moments on the ice and unforgettable slices of history, Freedom to Win is the ultimate tale of why sports truly matter.