Ice Capades: A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey

I pre-ordered back in April the moment I heard this was being released. I have not been able to put this down. A must for any Rangers fan (I am a season ticket holder), a must for any hockey fan, a must if you love Sean Avery, and even more so if you hate him. This guy got more undeserved grief than anyone I have seen in hockey. This was a guy who produced on the ice, who had a big personality, and never deliberately injured another player or was suspended for a physical altercation. He's a great guy off the ice and actually a very smart business person. We need more of this in the NHL. If you've made it this far in my review, you're considering the purchase. Just buy it. You won't be sorry.

I read it almost straight though and kept hoping it would get better. It did not. It should be titled Avery's Excuses. It could also be called Avery Repeats Himself or Avery's Rose Colored Glasses. With few notable exceptions he blames others and contradicts himself. He admits he acts impulsively but then has an excuse for all of the events. His obsession with appearance is pathetic. Typically those with the lowest self esteem need to wrap themselves in designer clothes and boast about it. Dustin Brown fell in love with his high school sweatheart and Avery mocks him Avery needs a supermodel wife. Lets see how this ends after Avery blows through his money. Shockingly NHL coaches play mind games and are only interested in their own personal success. Sounds like Avery but he thinks it's OK for him but not for the coach. Regardless of how Torts acted to Boogard, trying to blame Torts for Boogard's relaspse after the autopsy showed major brain damage is not a well reasoned thought. I loved watching Avery play hockey. His was a lost art. He never should have written this book and I wish I had not wasted the time to read it.

Hands down- the best sports related autobiography I’ve ever read. Along with the nuances of my favorite sport explained in detail during Avery’s experiences, it’s the life experiences he went through that intrigued me the most. He’s brutally honest. This honesty had me often laughing out loud. Literally. But I also felt a variety of emotions to be honest.Look, I’m ashamed to admit it, but reading books isn’t exactly my #1 hobby. But I couldn’t put this book down. I read all 320 pages in less than a week. And for me, that’s unheard of.I highly recommend this book. Love him (which I do), or hate him, I feel you’ll respect his honesty and find his stream of consciousness quite entertaining

Please who should read this book:1. People who hate Sean Avery (I probably would have too if I knew who he was before I read the book...but this book will give you a new insight into who he is as a player and a man).2. Anyone who wants to read...and LAUGH OUT LOUD...about some of the things that go on behind the scenes of professional sports...especially hockey.3. Hockey Fans (I have only seen two hockey games in my life and couldn't tell you who won).4. Fans of Sean Avery (I had never heard of him until the day I downloaded a sample of his book after hearing him on a radio interview with Andy Cohen...but plan to learn more about him since reading the book).5. Anyone that just wants to read a good book...I couldn't put this book down. Very well written.Hope Sean Avery writes some more!

The Good:Sean Avery's Ice Capades reeks of honesty, a trait that is in short supply in the world of sports journalism given that the ink-stained wretches who cover sports are more marketeers (of the sports/leagues/teams they cover) than they are objective journalists. His honesty is so refreshing, he should be absolved of all his other alleged faults.The Bad:We're treated to stories of Sean hob-knobbing with the (sort of) rich and famous, but he never really explains WHY he is so obsessed with wading into the cesspool of show business (and it's attendant narcissism). Look, I get that Scarlett Johansson is a good-looking dame with a rockin bod. But there are a million identical tomatoes in LA and NYC who have everything ScarJo has except fame. How and why does fame make kissing an actress so much better than kissing the anonymous women with the same looks and figures? No answer will be found in Ice Capades.Former coaches Andy Murray (LA Kings) and John Tortorella (NY Rangers) receive criticism for "not having played hockey." This is a shocking claim, and makes you wonder what incompetent GMs handed those men the keys to NHL benches. Further reading reveals that, in Sean Avery's eyes, the failure to make it to the NHL during one's playing career = "not having played hockey." Yet he doesn't criticize Detroit Red Wing coach Scotty Bowman for anything, let alone his failure to play in the NHL. The truth is that all 3 of those men played from a very young age up through junior or college hockey, but not professionally (or if they did get to the pros, it was a brief stint in the low minors). That's the pedigree for 99.9% of "hockey lifers", and it does not preclude them from being excellent coaches. One wonders what denigrating language Mr. Avery would have painted Ken Hitchcock or Pat Burns with, had he played for them.LA King coach Andy Murray receives additional criticism for living in a motel near the Kings' practice facility (instead of renting or buying something more substantial in LA). But the author of Ice Capades does not provide a trade study of the economics of long-term motel residency in El Segundo vs. the South Bay's house & apartment markets circa 1999-2006 (Murray's tenure with the Kings). Nor does Mr. Avery document the research he did on the details of Mr. Murray's deal with the Kings (i.e., maybe Andy brokered the concession that the Kings would pay for his motel residency and/or road trips back home while he was their coach, given the precariousness of NHL coaching jobs).Yet more criticism of coach Murray arrives when Sean notes that Murray's family never moves to Los Angeles to be with their patriarch. Sean takes no notice of all the bad influences in Southern California, and that raising children in Minnesota is a 1000x better option than raising children in Los Angeles (even if the former means that Dad is a more distant presence in the children's lives). Maybe we can forgive Sean Avery for not knowing this (he was young and didn't have kids at the time), but he can't be forgiven for not having asked Andy Murray about the trade-offs he and his wife made in coming to their long-distance-fathering choice.Sean displays a nauseating smugness about his efforts to film a public service announcement supporting same-sex marriage equality in New York state. He repeatedly claims that he "educated" people about this issue. A PSA (television advert concerning a civic, non-commercial, issue) is not education. At best it's persuasion. A PSA is ~30 seconds in length and it usually boils down to "I'm ___________, famous for __________. Won't you support me in our crusade to pass ______________ legislation and make a better society?" which is an example of The Fallacy of Appeal to (Celebrity) Authority. Education requires facts, logic, debate (what are the purposes of existing institutions & laws? what are the cases for change vs. stasis?). PSAs do none of that (they don't have the time). Only long-form media can. And when Sean Avery organizes his copious thoughts on a topic in such a form, then he can claim to have tried to 'educate' people. Until then, I'm not having it.

I was hoping this would be better. I am a huge Kings fan and loved Sean when he played there. I was hoping for a book about stuff he would say and funny things that happened on the ice and in the locker room. Instead I read a book about an egocentric hockey bad boy who wants to tell everyone how wonderful his life was. Still interesting from an understanding of people perspective but that is about all.

Fab read I was told as brought as a gift

Funny, in depth, abrupt, real, the world needs more Sean Avery’s.

Enjoyed reading it

very good