If you’re reading this, you probably have a good idea of what the “typical” path to professional hockey looks like for a kid in North America. It starts with adorably small skates, Toronto Maple Leafs bedsheets, an untold amount of sacrifice from supportive or destructive parents, and that crucial moment when it looks like there might be a real future to having fun on the ice. Fast forward to travel teams, hockey camps, the launching pads of high school, Canadian major junior, and/or NCAA DI and an all-encompassing montage that plays during the NHL Draft.
But that’s not the story you’ll find in Ryan Minkoff’s memoir.