I always seem to have a hard time finding a new book to read. Besides a handful of favourite authors, I tend to scroll through Goodreads or my local library and see if anything catches my eye. In this case, my library app suggested Against All Odds: The Untold Story of Canada’s Unlikely Hockey Heroes. It seemed to be right up my alley. I enjoy history books, especially war history, I enjoy hockey and I enjoy true stories.
This book follows the Royal Canadian Air Force attempt to put together a national hockey team to represent Canada in the first Winter Olympics after World War II, which would be hosted by St. Moritz, Switzerland. The player selection process introduced us to veterans of the war who lived and breathed hockey. Some even brought their ice skates overseas in case they had time to hit the ice.
An interesting aspect of this book was some of the war activities of the players. This includes air raids, escaping POW camps, joining resistance groups and many other feats of bravery. These same men came together to represent Canada on the ice to try and capture Gold in the Olympics. The Canadian team was not favoured to get a medal. They faced many obstacles, European hockey rinks, awful (outdoor) ice conditions, questionable referees and more. But they overcame and brought the Gold back to Canada. (This is not a spoiler, the book synopsis mentions this in the first line.)
Overall, this was a really enjoyable book for both history and sports fans. I would highly recommend it. As a sidenote, the movie “Miracle on Ice” does not deserve that title at all. These fine gentlemen overcame a lot more to win. They didn’t do it for money or personal glory. They did it for Canada.
