Don't Call Me Goon: Hockey's Greatest Enforcers, Gunslingers, and Bad Boys (Hockey’s Greatest, 1)

This book is about hockey enforcers and their fights. It goes back to the early years of the early twentieth century and highlights many, many players. Let me tell you, for those of you who think fighting is still prevalent in today’s hockey game, it isn’t. They actually brought people up on murder charges back then! Hockey would break out at fights. It was crazy!The authors cover early fighters such as Joe Hall, Red Horner, and Sprague Cleghorn before moving on to heavyweights from the original six era. It was fascinating to read about. Things really got bad, though, during the expansion era, circa 1967. When the Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, and other teams came into existence, doors opened for players who previously couldn’t get on with the original six teams. A lot of these were fighters. And so Philly’s Broadstreet Bullies were born, and they terrorized the NHL throughout the ‘70s. I was disappointed the authors didn’t cover someone I consider to be perhaps the most famous enforcer of all time, Dave “The Hammer” Schulz, nor did they cover Bob “The Battleship” Kelly, other than just brief mentions. Still, the fights were tremendous. And tremendous to read about.The authors then go into pairings of fighters, such as the infamous Bob Probert and Joey Concur, as well as Tiger Williams and Dan Maloney, among others. They then go on to highlight fighters who could score and defend too. They try to cover issues like concussions, but I don’t think they go quite far enough with that. It’s a growing concern and one that shouldn’t be swept under the rug.It was interesting to read the former enforcer’s take on the current state of the game. They think it’s been ruined by a newish interference rule that has resulted in cheap shots and gone a long way to eliminating the role of enforcer. They think enforcers policed the game and the refs shouldn’t be the ones having to do it themselves and aren’t in a position to do it right either. They think today’s game is watered down with pansy players skating around doing whatever they want. As noted big time enforcer Tiger Williams said in the book, “Some snot-nosed little [punk] that isn’t going to break a nail is going to score 50 goals and he’s never driven to the net in his life. He’s never stood in front of the net with Moose Dupont giving him 89 cross-checks in the back of his head,…. To have today’s play’s players score 400 goals in a no-punch pond hockey league is garbage. Getting in another guy’s face is part of the character of the game.” Well said, Tiger, well said.

Full disclosure, I am a product of the 80's and 90's so I will not pretend to have any expertise on the enforcers pre-80's....I thought the book had some very interesting anecdotes, and for someone who wants to learn how the fight game has evolved, I would recommend this book. I am not sure if there was any methodology used in putting this book together, because the book read like hundreds of individual short stories. Bottom line, you don't have to read this book in any type of order, you can just look at the table of contents, and pick and choose who you want to read about.I am curious how the author came up with who he was going to write about in the book? How can you devote time to Arron Asham, Derek Dorsett and Steve MacIntyre, but not to Craig Berube, Rob Ray, Marty McSorely, Sandy McCarthy, Chris Simon, Gino Odjick, Donald Brashear, Peter Worrell etc? I would have also looked at the fighters whose careers were short-lived in the NHL like Link Gaetz, Brantt Myhhres, Ken Belanger, etc....I did thoroughly enjoy the many quotes that the players had about each other. The author quoted many different players throughout the book, and it helped paint the pictures of the Enforcers.....I would read this in conjunction with other books like Bob Probert's "Tough Guy" and Duff's book "The Bruise Brothers."

working my way thru it. Is quite interesting thus far.Amazing the amount of abuse players took in years gone by

This is a study on the how's and whys of fighting in hockey. I stands quite well but could use an update.

Celebrating the tough guy and lamenting the diminishing role of the enforcer, the book gives you a look into what the intricacies of standing up for your teammates. You should read "The Code" as well, for the background of "the dance"

Interesting anecdotes. Seems to be a compilation drawn from several different sources because the type styles differ throughout the book. If you love hockey, you might enjoy some of the behind-the-scenes stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book on ice hockey enforcers, also known as 'goons'. The author quotes and tells the stories of many hockey greats and supplements the text with some nice photographs.

if a person who loves hockey wants to read about the enforcers this book goes back to the start of hockey get it thanks thomas a

This was bought as a present for a friend. He is into Ice Hockey and enjoyed the book. a a

Felt like a real letdown especially after the reviews I read about it.

Great read for all hockey fans, if you love hockey you will love this book. I also bought Bobby Orr my story.

Bought this as a Christmas present for my ice hockey loving husband and he loved it

Great book