Here's a book that was right in my sweet spot before I opened a page.
"Portrait of a Hockey Scribe" is the story about how Gare Joyce came into business of writing about hockey. He was the columnist for the Toronto Globe & Mail during much of the 1990s. Meanwhile, I was involved in the NHL in one form or another (public relations and journalism) from the late 1980s through the early 2000s.
I'm sure our paths crossed along the way. Joyce was close friends with Jim Kelley, a friend and co-worker of mine during that era. There were some group beer-drinking sessions in those days, and no doubt we were all included. But I was closer to Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail from that era, so I didn't know Joyce's creation story until now. It comes with some surprises.
Joyce took the long way to his job in Toronto, as he outlines here. He did go to journalism school, and even worked some desk/clerical work at a newspaper while continuing with his studies. But it's not as if he lived and breathed hockey, which no doubt made him a bit of an exception among Canadian young adults in the field. At one point Joyce became a part-time bouncer at a local bar, and certainly wasn't getting enough sleep.
The writer eventually hooked on with an independent sports magazine in the Toronto area. Such publications usually seemed like a good idea at the time in big cities, and this one probably qualified. They didn't seem to last too long. There are always stories from such places about how things went wrong, and the author has plenty of them. It's interesting to read such tales from someone who became nationally known. It's not always easy to succeed in the business.
Joyce's work caught someone's eye at management, as the newspaper ended up hiring him to be the hockey columnist in 1994. It was quite an upset, since Joyce had never even been in the Maple Leaf Gardens press box before. To demonstrate his orientation in the book, almost all of the chapter titles in the book begin with "Don't" - as in "Don't Let an 82-Year-Old Slip Your Tackle" and "Don't Try Too Hard To Do Too Much Too Soon." The exception is a chapter that starts with "Never" - to be more specific, "Never Drop Your Right Hand." In other words, this is real world stuff from the front lines, and everyone in the business has been through it at some point.
The focus changes once Joyce reaches "the big time." There are stories about the problems that come with the job, such as near-fights with the people he covered. But other chapters are more typical of a sportswriter's memoir. If you've ever doubted that Jean Beliveau - who could have played hockey in a tuxedo - was just as elegant off the ice and on, a story about an interview with him will erase those thoughts. Joyce's visits to the final game of some Original Six buildings - in other words, Boston, Montreal and Toronto - are entertaining too. The Boston chapter might have been subtitled, "How I watched the final game in the Boston Garden while sitting next to the organist."
This isn't a short book - about 330 pages - but it's a comfortable read and there are a couple of related surprises at the end. Joyce left his job soon after the Maple Leafs switched arenas in 1999. And basically, the book ends there. If you are counting, that was 27 years ago. So some of the names and events are going to come off on the dated side. What's more, there's not really an update about when he's done in the 21st century.
As a public service, Joyce has been busy. He's written 14 books, some on hockey and some that were novels. Gare has done some freelance writing for a number of outlets over the years on a variety of subjects, and so he's found a way to write and eat. Joyce also did have a knack for looking for non-traditional angles. That may not be a great fit for a hockey columnist, since that job concentrates mostly on the nuts and bolts of a given season. But it's served him well for the last quarter-century.
"Portrait of a Hockey Scribe" is an unusual story of someone who is quite willing to look back at his professional life with a critical eye. That makes it worth your time - even if it may not be quite in your individual sweet spot.
Four stars
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