From pucks to sticks to teams to players, everything about hockey had to start somewhere. This book lets you in on the history behind the more quirky aspects of Canada's favourite pastime.

When Rocky Wirtz took over the Wirtz Corporation in 2007, including management of the Chicago Blackhawks, the fiercely beloved hockey team had fallen to a humiliating nadir. As chronic losers playing to a deserted stadium, they were worse than bad-they were irrelevant. ESPN named the franchise the worst in all of sports. Rocky's resurrection of the team's fortunes was-publicly, at least-a feel-good tale of shrewd acumen. Behind the scenes, however, it would trigger a father, son, and brother-against-brother drama of Shakespearean proportions. The Breakaway reveals that untold story. Arthur Wirtz founded the family's business empire during the Depression. From roots in real estate, "King Arthur" soon expanded into liquor and banking, running his operations with an iron hand and a devotion to profit that earned him the nickname Baron of the Bottom Line. His son Bill further expanded the conglomerate, taking the helm of the Blackhawks in 1966. "Dollar Bill" Wirtz demanded unflinching adherence to Arthur's traditions and was notorious for an equally fierce temperament. Yet when Rocky took the reins of the business after Bill's death, it was an organization out of step with the times and financially adrift. The Hawks weren't only failing on the ice-the parlous state of the team's finances imperiled every facet of the Wirtz empire. To save the team and the company, Rocky launched a radical turnaround campaign. Yet his modest proposal to televise the Hawks' home games provoked fierce opposition from Wirtz family insiders, who considered any deviation from Arthur and Bill's doctrines to be heresy. Rocky's break with the edicts of his grandfather and father led to a reversal for the ages-three Stanley Cup championships in six years, a feat Fortune magazine called "the greatest turnaround in sports business history." But this resurrection came at a price, a fracturing of Rocky's relationships with his brother and other siblings. In riveting prose that recounts a story spanning three generations, The Breakaway reveals an insider's view of a brilliant but difficult Chicago business and sports dynasty and the inspiring story of perseverance and courage in the face of intense family pressures.

The Fife Flyers have played ice hockey for over ten decades and are the oldest team currently playing at the highest level of the game in Britain. During that time the sport has witnessed radical change which has resulted in periods of boom and bust, from fully professional status to strictly amateur and combinations in between. But for almost 85 years the team from the Gallatown Rink in Kirkcaldy, Fife, has endured. Such longevity is a naturally rich source of stories and memories for those who have either played for, supported or indeed been in opposition to the Fife Flyers. Or simply for hockey fans in general. The stories come from the diligent reporting by local journalists, without whom much of the detail of the game would have been lost. Ice Hockey is not a sport that enjoys an extensive archive of data. Much of the history of the Fife Flyers has never been documented, and this book is not a full history. What it does aims to do is to give an insight into both the different eras of hockey and the fortunes and misfortunes of one Club along the way.

Take the challenge and see how you do when you tackle the hundreds of questions in this book about the facts, stats, stories and sheer trivia about the game of hockey.