In A LEAGUE OF OUR OWN, co-authors Damien Cox and Andrew Podnieks examine the shortened 2021 season – specifically the North Division – as the NHL attempted to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic.

When this book initially hit shelves in April of 2022, I dismissed it as potentially being a thinly-researched cash-grab. Are we really that far enough removed from the season to truly understand the impact? Can there really be enough material to fill two-hundred and ninety-six pages? Especially when you’re only focusing on the seven team north division? Well, I was wrong.

Cox and Podnieks break up the book by having individual chapters focus on one team at a time. Obviously, they shine a light on the 2021 season and how each team handled the challenges imposed by the pandemic, but they also go into each franchise’s long and storied history as well as the history of previous clubs within their respective cities (Vancouver Millionaires, Toronto Arenas, Montreal Maroons, the original Winnipeg Jets, etc). I felt that this was the true strength of the book.

It was good to see a mention of the problems that had arisen in Calgary following the accusations against then head coach Bill Peters and his treatment of former player Akim Aliu back in 2009, an event that ultimately forced his resignation from the Flames. Unfortunately, Peters is back in the news again recently having accepted a job as head coach of the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes (side note: why they’re called the Hurricanes when it’s a team based in Alberta is beyond me).

It’s amazing that many of the cancelled games and depleted rosters had slipped my mind before picking this book up. This is likely due to the fact that the Leafs seemed to escape the worst of it with Vancouver bearing the brunt of it in the North Division. At one point, twenty one active roster members had tested positive causing multiple games to be postponed and rescheduled. Sometimes it is incredible to think the NHL was actually able to pull this off.

The last bit of this book covers the playoffs where the Montreal Canadiens improbably made it to the cup finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately, I had to relive quite possibly my worst nightmare as a Leafs fan as the authors recapped the Leafs first round collapse against the Habs. If you’re a Leafs fan like myself, maybe skip over that. We’ve suffered enough.