From Giller-nominated author Bill Gaston, proof not only that hockey players can read, but that some of them can even write.Midnight Hockey tells the story of Gastons final season, as he contemplates hanging up his skates, and looks back on the sport that has meant so much to him. Sometimes lewd and hilarious, sometimes (though not as often) reflective, Midnight Hockey is a portrait of Canadas fastest-growing athletic phenomenon: beer-league and oldtimers hockey. Gaston spills the beans about the rules of the game (written and unwritten), weird beer, team names, and road-trip sex, illustrated with stories of Gastons life in the game, from the outdoor rinks of Winnipeg, through junior hockey, varsity, the professional leagues of Europe, to the late-night games and road-trip shenanigans of beer-league. For all those thousands of guys who drive to the rink late on a snowy night, who know the euphoria of a beer after the game, who think of how good they used to be, who grow nostalgic over a whiff from an unwashed hockey bag and for anyone who has had to live with such a person Midnight Hockey is laugh-out-loud funny, true-to-life, and ultimately thoughtful.From the Hardcover edition.