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Penguin to publish Selling the Dream: Paying the NHL price…on and off the ice

Toronto — January 20, 2011 — It's not a free ride to the NHL

Veteran journalist Ken Campbell and hockey industry insider Jim Parcels expose the high cost of pursuing Canada's national dream in a new book Selling the Dream: Paying the NHL price…on and off the ice, acquired for publication in fall 2010 by Penguin Senior Editor Nick Garrison from literary agent Arnold Gosewich.

Both Ken Campbell and Jim Parcels have been involved in the game at different levels for the better part of two decades.

Selling the Dream takes a hard look at Canada's national pastime and exposes the real issues faced by parents today; the realities of advancing to hockey's highest level in an elite system, the increasing costs of playing minor hockey, the expected career duration in each league, and the odds of playing in the NHL.

Costs now prohibit a huge number of potential players from advancing to the NHL. Drawing on research and experience, the authors expose some of the misconceptions around playing junior, college and professional hockey, telling the stories of the extremes some parents go to advance their children in the game.

The investment, say the authors, is much more than just money. Elite hockey players intent on making the NHL chase the dream, often at the expense of education, social development and other opportunities. The investment is just as much emotional as it is financial.

Two summers ago, Ken Campbell did a story on the cost of producing an NHL player and used Calder Trophy winner Patrick Kane as a prime example. After sitting down and crunching the numbers with his parents, they came to the conclusion that the total cost of Kane's NHL career was about $250,000. Considering that Kane will earn $6.5 million next season and an average of $6.3 million over the next five as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, this looks like a very wise investment.

But when you consider that the odds are thousands-to-one against playing so much as a shift in the NHL, that money might just as easily been seen as a very expensive lottery ticket. Hundreds of players (and their parents) make the sacrifice and have nothing to show for it.

Campbell and Parcels showcase the successes and failures of Canadian players who have passed through the system, and tell the stories of the parents who have gone to the extreme to elevation the profile of their hockey playing progeny.

Is the Canadian junior hockey system equivalent to child slavery? Who are the money makers? Has commercialization killed the dream? Campbell and Parcels identify those who are making money off the dream at all levels of hockey: from arena operators, minor hockey team owners, personal coaches and scouting services.

Selling the Dream is a must-read for parents and players before they make the decision to pursue a hockey career. It's a book for all Canadians who love the game.

About the Authors

Ken Campbell has been a hockey writer for 25 years and is recognized as one of the most prominent writers in the hockey industry. He is currently a senior writer/columnist with The Hockey News and is a frequent guest on The Fan 590 CBC radio and television, Off The Record on TSN and numerous radio stations in hockey markets around North America. He is the author of Habs Heroes: The Top 100 Montreal Canadiens of All-Time and co-authored The Top 60 Since 1967.

A graduate of the School of Journalism at Carleton University, Campbell's first job was at the Timmins Daily Press, where he covered the exploits of a spectacularly talented 10-year old named Steve Sullivan, who would go on to star in the NHL.

Since then, he has covered and chronicled every level of hockey. His string of 13 straight NHL drafts was broken last summer (because of a family commitment) and covering the hockey tournament at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver was a highlight of his career. He has covered numerous Memorial Cups, nine World Junior Hockey Championships and eight Stanley Cup finals.

Ken also covered the Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL beat for The Toronto Star for eight years. He has an impressive network of contacts at every level of the game, including general managers, coaches, NHL league executives and scouts. He is also an assistant coach for his 11-year-old son's house league team in the Ted Reeve Hockey Association.

Jim Parcels is one of the most connected and experienced minor hockey people in Ontario. He has been an employee of both minor and junior hockey since 1989 with the Peterborough Petes, Guelph Storm, Ontario Minor Hockey Association and the City of Vaughan Hockey Association.

In 1999, he released a wildly popular study entitled "Straight Facts About Making It in Pro Hockey" - a much referenced and discussed document that broke down the exact chances of minor hockey players making a career in the game. The study has been utilized for over ten years by minor hockey associations world-wide to educate and provide perspective on playing amateur hockey.

He has also been a volunteer trainer/manager for small town and big city teams from the Norwood Hornets to the AAA Vaughan Kings, Toronto Jr. Canadians and Don Mills Flyers GTHL teams.

Jim has had a variety of roles as a trainer, administrator and marketing manager as well as several years experience in the boardrooms of minor hockey.

He has witnessed first-hand the trials and tribulations of several minor hockey families and players who have passed through the minor junior and U.S. college ranks to the -pros and has personal connections with over 250 former NHL, OHL and minor hockey players.

Among the former players he has been associated with at the team level include notable NHLers Mike Ricci, Jason Dawe, Jeff O'Neill, Todd Bertuzzi, Steven Stamkos, Michael Del Zotto, Alex Pietrangelo, Cody Hodgson over his 20-plus years in the business.

Some stats and facts covered in the book:

• Only 25 of 35,000 players, 1-in-1,500, played one NHL season. Of those players, only six, or 1-in-5,000, played more than 400 NHL games.
• At the recent World Hockey Summit, Hockey Canada executive Scott Smith shocked those in attendance with a telling statistic. Just 9.1 percent of boys between the ages of five and 18 play minor hockey in Canada. Internal documents from Hockey Canada project a 20 per cent drop in participation between 2011 and 2016. Participation is trending downward in North America.
• Players who perform in the Canadian Hockey League — which is the umbrella organization for the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League — are among the best teenage hockey players on the planet, but when you break down the money they make on a per-hour basis, a kid flipping burgers at McDonald's makes more money. In return for that money, a player can be cut or traded across the province at any time and are often forced to leave home when they're 16.
• The Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) is the largest minor hockey league in the world. It is also a multi-million dollar organization in which players are required to put out somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10,000 a season in order to play.
• From paid coaches to personal trainers and 1-on-1 hockey instructors, there are a number of people making a considerable living selling the dream.
• Most hockey scholarships are partial and can be revoked for a variety of reasons, including athletic performance. There are also a lot of costs associated with a scholarship that people don't consider.
• Pursuing an NHL career isn't limited to Canadians. There are a growing number of American players entering the NHL ranks, and many of them are coming from non-hockey climes such as California and Florida. If you think Canadians go to great lengths for their hockey careers, wait until you see what some of these players do.