Both hockey fans and parents alike are in the brutal home stretch.
Hockey fans have a little over a month to go before NHL training camps open, and the weeks until then will be filled with news about as exciting as curling reruns from 1978. At least July is full of big name singings (did you see how much the New York Rangers signed Artemi Panarin for?), trades of all sizes (what sort of Voodoo magic did Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland have to work to move Milan Lucic?) and other tidbits that feed their hockey fix. But August is usually about as exciting as dental surgery in January. August is hockey’s dead month, and for hockey fans it drags on forever.
And let’s be honest parents, the vast majority of you have been dying for the arrival of September ever since the kids got out of school last June. Parents celebrating the first day back to school is a time honoured tradition and you typically look forward to it with more excitement than your kids waiting for Christmas Eve. But you’re still stuck with your kids for another month yet (remember when you were a kid how long that last week before Christmas felt?), so you still have to find ways to entertain them.
But what do you do when your kids are also hockey fans, desperately awaiting the start of a promising new season while also dreading the other side of Labour Day?
Try your local book store.
For the past few years, Ottawa father-daughter writing team Roy and Kerry MacGregor have been publishing a series of hockey books aimed at young reader called The Ice Chips. The first book, The Ice Chips And the Magical Rink, was released in February of 2018 with book two, The Ice Chips and the Haunted Hurricane, hitting book shelves the following September. The Ice Chips and the Invisible Puck (the third book in the series) came out last April while the next instalment (The Ice Chips and The Stolen Cup) is currently scheduled to be released next February.
The books star The Riverton Ice Chips; primarily Edge, Swift and Lucas. Each book sees the trio use their magical ice rink to travel back in time and meet pivotal figures in the history of hockey. They met Gordie Howe during their first adventure and a young Sidney Crosby in book two (you read that right, a young Sidney Crosby before he was drafted over fourteen years ago). Book three saw them travel back to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, where they would team up with a young Hayley Wickenheiser before she became a Canadian hockey icon.
The stories of time travel and legendary meet ups is pretty window dressing for stories teaching teamwork, trust, perseverance and determination. The three heroes learn valuable lessons about the game and life along the way. And they may even influence some future greats while they’re at it.
If the MacGregor name sounds familiar, it should be. Roy MacGregor was a long time writer for the Ottawa Citizen, is a current columnist for The Globe and Mail, MacGregor has published over 40 books (including the Screech Owls book series, also for younger hockey fans). He has a lengthy list of writing and lifetime achievement awards, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2005 he was made an officer in the Order of Canada in 2005 and in 2012 he was presented with the Elmer Ferguson Award while being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His nomination into the Hall was back by none other than the Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.
Fitting since MacGragor has been dubbed the Wayne Gretzky of hickey writing.
Kerry MacGregor is no slouch in the writing department either, having worked for the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen and the The Globe and Mail. She also boasts an extensive resume in radio and television, including work for the CBC.
Every book in the series is illustrated by famed children’s artist Kim Smith (whose resume is too long and too impressive to list so just click on the link) and every book in the series has been a bestseller. They’re a perfect way to keep the budding young reader or hockey fan in the family busy until the school buses start rolling again in September.
