Category: Young Adult/Teen Publisher: Thunder Horse Press
ISBN-10: 1466216832
Pages: 110
Copyright: October 2011
ISBN-13: 9781466216839
Twin brothers compete on the same high school hockey team in this reprint of the classic family hockey novel.
A re-issue of the hockey classic, originally published when Stacy was a teenager.
Brad’s twin brother T.J. has gotten himself out of the fancy prep school his father picked for him and into the public high school Brad attends. Now T.J. is a shining new star on the hockey team where Brad once held the spotlight. And he’s testing his popularity with Brad’s friends, eyeing Brad’s girl and competing to be captain of the team. The whole school is rooting for a big double-strength win…not knowing that their twin hockey stars are heating up the ice for a winner takes all face-off.
The Hockey Hall of Fame’s Junior Education Program – Recommended reading list for the junior and intermediate levels.
Best Books for Young Teen Readers: Grades 7-10 by John T. Gillespie -Recommended in the sports category.
Excerpt
Dropping on his helmet, Brad skated over to the red face-off circle and took his place to the right of his brother. “Win this face-off if it kills you,” he murmured to T. J., as Glen positioned himself opposite them.
T. J. nodded, his face a mask. As Coach Ryan dropped the puck between Glen and T. J., both centers lashed at it, with T. J. coming out the victor. He tipped the puck back to Brad, who tore across Team B’s blue line like a man possessed. Brad feigned to the right, and then spun around and slid the disk back to T. J., who he somehow knew would be just behind him. T.J. let it brush against his stick’s blade for a second, and then flipped the black rubber disk into the upper left side of the cage, just over Trey’s shoulder.
Brad and his brother combined for five more goals like that, and in ten minutes the score was Team A, 6, Team B, 1; B had scored when the McKendrick line was on the bench. Trey was an excellent goaltender, but he always started off the preseason slowly, and his teammates just weren’t supporting him enough defensively. Brad was almost certain that Reynolds had arranged it so that the better players shot against the better goalie, Trey, and the weaker ones against Sage, a potentially skilled but inexperienced sophomore. Brad felt bad that he and T. J. were getting so many past his old buddy, but he couldn’t help it.
Playing on a line with T. J. was like playing on a line with an NHL superstar. Goalies were a mere triviality. They hadn’t played together in so long that Brad had almost forgotten that feeling.
Professional Reviews
Booklist
“Hockey fans will be attracted by the cover and held by the game descriptions, and those who like realistic fiction will appreciate the complexity of the boys’ home life, with battling parents, hero-worshipping younger siblings and a father who expects too little of one twin and too much of the other. A good read for both proficient and reluctant readers.”
VOYA
“Lots of action and emotional upheaval ensure that this will be a popular book for boys as well as girls. This reviewer’s YA Book Review Group gave it nine points out of a possible ten for ‘Good Read’ status.”
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