The Hockey Hero Next Door: Stories of Hometown Legends from Coast to Coast

FromSportsnet Centralhost and broadcaster Ken Reid comes an inspiring and entertaining new collection of hockey stories about local legends who define the game and its values.

In many communities across Canada, hockey lives in the nearby arenas and leagues that forge both decades-long rivalries and unbreakable friendships. Fans show up to cheer not for distant NHL superstars, but for the homegrown heroes who define their town. These players don’t always make it to the big leagues, but they inevitably become legends.

In this entertaining collection, Canadian broadcaster and Sportsnet Central host Ken Reid tells their uplifting stories, from Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Kimberley, British Columbia--and everywhere in between.

There’s Robbie Forbes, who arrived in Newfoundland in the mid-eighties still dreaming of the pros and ended up giving the town a dream of its own when he led the Corner Brook Royals to a Canadian Senior Hockey title. He also happens to be Sidney Crosby’s uncle. In a legendary Ontario community, the name Paul Polillo is spoken in the same reverential breath as Wayne Gretzky in their shared hometown of Brantford. There’s also the tragic story of George Pelawa, who may have been the inspiration for Tom Cochrane & Red Rider’s famous song ＂Big League.＂ And Tyson Wuttunee, an Indigenous player in Saskatchewan who, through hockey, found the family and home he’d always longed for.

Featuring heartwarming stories of grit, leadership, and lifelong bonds, Ken Reid’s Hometown Hockey Heroes celebrates how hockey, and the values the game teaches, can shape our communities for the better.

Ken Reid has been adding his unique brand of humour and style to Sportsnet Central since joining Sportsnet in 2011. Throughout his more than twenty years in sportscasting, he has covered the Olympics, the Stanley Cup Finals, Grey Cups, and the Super Bowl. He is the bestselling author of Hockey Card Stories: True Tales from Your Favourite Players, as well as five other books. A proud native of Pictou, Nova Scotia, Ken now lives in Toronto, Ontario, with his family.