The Five Hole Stories

Each of the six stories in Dave Bidini''s playful, irreverent new book takes a headlong run at the hockey dressing room, and knocks the door down.

In one story, a chronic minor-leaguer discovers the wonders-and the pitfalls-of the game in Europe, both on and off the ice. In another, an NHLer is tight with his teammate, the league''s leading goalscorer, but dreams of getting MUCH tighter. A star on a losing streak turns to a magical salve to turn his game around. A conversation between two friends yields surprising facts about Joan, everyone''s favourite female goalie. A hundred bucks is all that stands between a hockey groupie and eternal happiness in 1950s Detroit. And finally, the eponymous ''Five Hole'' itself speaks-though it never reveals all of its secrets.

Full of sex, drugs and high-sticking, each of The Five Hole Stories runs its proverbial tongue down hockey''s seamy, steamy underbelly and then finds language to tell us what it tastes like. A scintillating look at hockey with its clothes off, in six ambitious poses.

Dave Bidini’s first book, published in 1998, was the popular and critically acclaimed On a Cold Road, about what it’s like to tour Canada in a rock ’n’ roll band. He has since written four more books, Tropic of Hockey (2001), Baseballissimo (2004), For Those About to Rock (2004) and The Best Game You Can Name (2005). When he is not writing or traveling the world, Bidini is rhythm guitarist for the Rheostatics. He also starred in the Gemini Award—winning film The Hockey Nomad. Dave Bidini lives with his wife and two children in Toronto.