Safety Stars: Players Who Fought to Make the Hard-Hitting Game of Professional Hockey Safer

Professional hockey fans will appreciate the blend of history and action in this collection of profiles of players whose injuries and personal experiences have led to changes in the game’s equipment and rules. Irwin concisely demonstrates how players have bucked criticism and taken a stand to help the sport evolve and become safer, including the stories of the Montreal Canadiens’ Jacques Plante, the first goalie to wear a mask in 1959; contemporary superstars Marc Staal, Patrice Bergeron, and Sidney Crosby; and a Canadian boy with the goal of making AEDs (automated external defibrillators) available in hockey rinks and other public places. An addition to the Recordbooks series, Irwin’s account, written at a fourth-grade reading level, offers intriguing facts and back-story on a perennially important topic. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)