" The Penalty Box is a must for any hockey fan seeking a creative look at our favorite sport. O'Connor speaks from the heart and clearly knows the hockey heartland of both the NHL and the junior scene. Readers will find this a genuine look at the game from a fascinating and unique perspective. The writing is A-1 and reads breezier than Sid Crosby crossing the center line. Don't miss this gem! "

-- Stan Fischler,
hockey maven and co-author of
The Great Game of Hockey

Kyle Callendar, like hundreds of thousands of working-class Canadian boys, sees hockey as his one shot at glory. But that elusive glory is not always what it seems.

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Both a gripping father-son narrative and a harsh and searching look at Canada’s national obsession, The Penalty Box tells the story of Kyle, an ex-pro hockey player and official escort to the Stanley Cup. Kyle’s father, a World War II veteran, is a remote man who overvalues the manliness of hockey and sees Kyle’s talent for the game as his life’s work. But in his father’s eyes, Kyle can never measure up - never skate fast enough, hit hard enough, bring home girls beautiful enough. As he grows in his skill and his own love for the game, Kyle discovers he’s unable to find an identity outside of hockey, even when the game is responsible for a painful secret that he can’t bring himself to accept. It is the unravelling of that secret - one that is shared by many hockey players in this taciturn man’s world - that drives Kyle to a breaking point and finally forces him to re-evaluate himself, his relationships, and his complex feelings for the sport that consumes him.

Larry O’Connor is currently an editor with the New York Post. His first book, Tip of the Iceberg (University of Georgia Press/Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc.), was the only memoir short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in 2003.