The story of Canada’s other game from its invention by a Canadian to its current struggle for popularity. Basketball, the only major world sport undeniably invented by a Canadian, has ironically failed to win Canadians’ hearts more than a century after its creation. James Naismith’s brainchild is a popular recreational pastime in his homeland, but players with bigger dreams had better take their talents south of the border. Canadian hoops has languished in the seemingly eternal shadow of hockey, with its cannibalization of air time, advertising dollars, and corporate capital. Faced with limited opportunities at home, as many as 50 teenagers flock to U.S. prep schools and colleges every year to chase their dreams of college stardom and, much less likely, a shot at glory in the NBA. Against all odds, a skinny kid from Victoria named Steve Nash managed to reach the pinnacle of the sport, with a whirling-dervish style that earned him two MVP awards in the world’s greatest league. Today, a new generation of Canadians stand poised to follow in Nash’s path. But will their success spark a renaissance back home? This book chronicles basketball’s struggle to overcome its history as a poor cousin in a hockey-mad nation.

Record numbers of Canadian youths are taking up basketball, but the sport languishes in the shadow of hockey. From the sport's beginning to the era of Steve Nash, this book chronicles basketball's struggle to overcome its history as the poor cousin of Canadian sports.

Contributors include Julian Ammirante (Laurentian University at Georgian), Jason Blake (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Robert Dennis (Queen's University), Jamie Dopp (University of Victoria), Russell Field (University of Manitoba), Greg Gillespie (Brock University), Richard Harrison (Mount Royal College), Craig Hyatt (Brock University), Brian Kennedy (Pasadena City College), Karen E.H. Skinazi (University of Alberta), and Julie Stevens (Brock University).

In October 1983 Ken Dryden gave us what was called the best non-fiction book ever written about hockey: The Game. In that same month Roy MacGregor published what was hailed as the best novel ever written about hockey: The Last Season. These two writers teamed up to write another extraordinary book. Inspired by Ken Dryden’s major CBC-TV series on hockey, Home Game delves into hockey in all its incarnations, from life in a small hockey community and the dreams of amateurs determined to reach the NHL to the reminiscences of players involved in the 1972 Canada-Soviet series. By exploring hockey’s significance to our nation, Dryden and MacGregor help to define what it means to be Canadian. On publication, Home Game shot to the top of the bestseller lists, establishing itself as a must-read for every hockey fan. The lavish book, with nearly 100 full-colour photographs, continues to win over Canadians.

Lacrosse has been a central element of Indigenous cultures for centuries, but once non-Indigenous players entered the sport, it became a site of appropriation – then reclamation – of Indigenous identities. The Creator’s Game focuses on the history of lacrosse in Indigenous communities from the 1860s to the 1990s, exploring Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations and Indigenous identity formation. While the game was being appropriated in the process of constructing a new identity for the nation-state of Canada, it was also being used by Indigenous peoples to resist residential school experiences, initiate pan-Indigenous political mobilization, and articulate Indigenous sovereignty. This engaging and innovative book provides a unique view of Indigenous self-determination and nationhood in the face of settler-colonialism.

The first book written about ice hockey. Arthur "Art" Farrell (February 8, 1877 - February 7, 1909) was a Canadian ice hockey player, author and businessman. Farrell played for St. Mary's College in the 1890s and later the Montreal Shamrocks in the Amateur Hockey Association of Canada (AHAC) and Canadian Amateur Hockey League (CAHL). Born in Montreal, Quebec, Farrell helped lead the Shamrocks to Stanley Cup victories in 1899 and 1900. He wrote the first ever book on ice hockey, Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game, published in 1899 and of which only four remaining copies are known to exist in the world. He went on to write two "how-to" books on hockey: Ice hockey and ice polo guide of 1901-1904 and How to play Ice Hockey, published in 1907.

A debut middle grade novel about throwing things out -- and letting people in. Family Game Night tackles a tough issue with a light, accessible touch and writing that sparkles with heart. Annabelle has a secret . . . a secret so big she won't allow friends within five miles of her home. Her mom collects things. Their house is overflowing with stuff. It gives Annabelle's sister nightmares, her brother spends as much time as he can at friends' houses, and her dad buries himself in his work.So when a stack of newspapers falls on Annabelle's sister, it sparks a catastrophic fight between their parents--one that might tear them all apart--and Annabelle starts to think that things at home finally need to change. Is it possible for her to clean up the family's mess? Or are they really, truly broken?Mary E. Lambert's moving and heart-breakingly funny debut novel about the things we hold dear--and the things we let go--will resonate with anyone whose life has ever felt just a little too messy.