I'm not a big fan of hockey (I don't follow it but I go to the occasional game) but I do like reading stories about real people and that's why this book caught my eye.

This book is a collection of stories about people connected to hockey and most are Canadians ... players, reporters, coaches, doctors and referees.

The stories include:

* Ben Fanelli, a player who had an on-ice head injury and ended up starting a foundation to help empower others with similar injuries
* Craig Cunningham, a player who suffered an acute cardiac event moments before the opening face-off in a game and ended up having to have his leg amputated (he too established a foundation)
* Hilary Knight, a female hockey player on Team USA who took a stand and demanded the equal rights afforded the male players
* Harnarayan Singh, an East Indian hockey fan who fulfilled his dream of broadcasting and hosting Hockey Night Punjabi
* Brock McGillis, the first professional hockey player to openly come out as gay
* Kevin Brown, a referee whose throat was cut during a fight between two hockey players in a game, which caused a stroke

Though I'd never heard of anyone discussed in this book, I found the stories inspirational. I liked the writing style and found there was just enough enough information. After I read a story, I sometimes Googled the person to find out more information and see where they are today.

Hockey fans will enjoy this book. Non-fans (like me) will also like this book and it deals with real people.

Everyday Hockey Heroes contains a collection of stories from inspiring men and women inside the world of hockey, on and off the ice.

Much like Bob’s previous hockey book, Everyday Hockey Heroes is broken up into individual sections featuring a different subject or personality involved in the game. Each story tells of how the game either helped them or how they used their experience to help others.

There are several feel good stories about players who received unconditional support from their community in the face of hardship allowing them to excel in something they loved. The book also ventures outside of the realm of the player and into the medical field with stories from doctors at the forefront of sports injury and recovery research. It also looks at commentators who broke down barriers to be able to call the action on the ice. There’s a veritable cornucopia of hockey chronicles in this book.

I don’t want to say that I didn’t like this book, but it certainly didn’t do a whole lot for me. The people profiled are both important to the game as well as the fight for inclusion, but because the stories are so short, they lack substance and more or less feel like fluff pieces.

Being released in October likely means the publisher is marketing the book as a great Christmas gift for hockey fans. Unfortunately, there are other better books out there to stuff in a stocking.