A Breed Apart: An Illustrated History of Goaltending

The only job in sports that seems crazier than hockey goalie is hockey goalie in the era before masks. That time is examined in A Breed Apart, an exuberant, photo-rich tribute to the game's last line of defense and most interesting personalities. The great goalies--from Vezina and Worters to Dryden and Roy--are profiled in detail, and there are smart era-by-era analyses of how the position's equipment and style of play have changed, and how each relates to the other. Ultimately, the players beneath the padding emerge as the unique sporting characters implied by the title. As Gerry Cheevers, famed for decorating his mask with the stitches it saved him from, observes, "We goaltenders, alone and unloved, tend to be very proud bastards." In A Breed Apart, they make the most of their chance to preen.