A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs [Hardcover] Andrew (ed.) Podnieks

Product Description The ultimate Leafs' tribute in a bestselling "Day in the Life" format The date: December 8, 2001 The place: The Air Canada Centre, Toronto The teams: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers Our team: 12 top-notch photographers, one award-winning hockey writer, Our equipment: 450 rolls of Kodak film, dozens of cameras and lenses, boundless hockey knowledge and experience A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs is the ultimate coffee table book for any Maple Leafs fan. This magnificent collectable showcases the Leafs as they go about their daily routine on Game Day. Superb color photography will put fans en route to the game with Mats Sundin, in a coaches' conference with Pat Quinn, in a seat at the Air Canada Centre at game time, and in the dressing room afterwards. The Leafs granted the photographers total access to the team inside the Air Canada Centre, individual players at home, and even the opposition Rangers allowed photographs on and off the ice. Every aspect of game day preparation is documented to give the Leafs fan a total picture of what goes on behind the scenes as the team gears up for a game. Twelve of Canada's best sports photographers, including Graig Abel, Dave Sandford, and Rob Skeoch, shot 450 rolls of film to ensure everyone and everything-from the hot dog sellers to the ushers, from the directors' lounge to the dressing rooms-were recorded. A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs is edited by prominent hockey writer and über-fan Andrew Podnieks. Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada, one of the country's best-known hockey personalities, contributes the foreword in his own inimitable style. Sundin, Domi, Joseph, Yushkevich and Quinn-they're all here, in full-color, every step of their game day. This is inside access like you've never seen it before! From Amazon A Day in the Life of the Maple Leafs is as accurate a pictorial record of a hockey game as we're likely to get. Twelve photographers set out to make a morning-to-midnight document of a single gameday--Saturday, December 8, 2001--when the New York Rangers visited Toronto. Four hundred and fifty rolls of film later this book is the result. Early pages are devoted to players' homes and families, but the day really begins when the teams arrive at the arena for the morning skate--at which point the book becomes a day in the life of Air Canada Centre, the Leafs' state-of-the-art facility, and the teams' hundreds of employees, from cake-makers and icescapers to executives and players. Leafs' alumni abound, from Daryl Sittler to Wendel Clark, and commentary by Andrew Podnieks keeps the book moving as momentum builds toward the game. By the opening faceoff we're right there at the arena, feeling the moment when the day stands still just before the puck is dropped. The Saturday Hockey Night in Canada broadcast has always defined the Leafs, and although a labour disruption before the game kept regular broadcasters and crews from entering the arena the book includes the essential HNIC presence. Commentator Ron Maclean contributes a foreword; photos reveal switchers and camera positions; and between periods we find Shayne Corson in a corner of the dressing room checking out Don Cherry and Coach's Corner. Air Canada Centre was built with camera angles in mind, and the detail of the action photos is extraordinary: Bryan McCabe drooping like a rag doll after bouncing off Eric Lindros, Curtis Joseph focusing intently up ice, an overhead angle of Mats Sundin, cleanly beating Petr Nedved to the draw. Anyone who's attended a Leafs' game, or wants to know what it feels like, will get a charge out of A Day in the Life. --David Gowdey About the Author ANDREW PODNIEKS is the author of The NHL All-Star Game: Fifty Years of the Great Tradition; The Great One: The Life and Times of Wayne Gretzky; Portraits of the Game: Classic Photographs from the Turofsky Collection at the Hockey Hall of Fame; Canada's Olympic Hockey Teams: The Complete History 1920-1998; T