Best Selling Books by Roy Macgregor

In October 1983 Ken Dryden gave us what was called the best non-fiction book ever written about hockey - The Game. In that same month Roy MacGregor published what was hailed as the best novel ever written about hockey - The Last Season. In 1989 these two writers teamed up to write another extraordinary book: inspired by Ken Dryden''s major CBC-TV series on hockey, Home Game takes us all the way from street hockey to the showdowns between Canada and the Soviets. On publication, Home Game shot to the top of the bestseller lists, establishing itself as must reading for every hockey fan. Not only was this lavish book with over 95 full-colour photographs popular among ordinary Canadians: book reviewers loved it.

The Screech Owls find themselves in a difficult situation when they are abducted with their new friend Slava Shadrin, a star hockey player who is wanted by the Russian mob

When the Screech Owls travel to New York City for the Big Apple International Peewee Tournament and a New Year''s Eve party in Times Square, they learn that terrorists plan to disrupt the New Year''s celebration.

Roy MacGregor has been called "the best hockey writer in the country," and we finally have a collection of his very best hockey writing, revised and updated. For nearly 40 years Roy MacGregor has brought hockey, our national sport, alive on the page. From tales of the game''s greats (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne) to today''s stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin), his magazine and newspaper coverage has revealed so much about these and so many other personalities, in moments of promise, victory and defeat. While many of these stories play out on the ice, some of the most compelling take place on the home front (Mario Lemieux''s battle against cancer, the many tribulations of Bob Gainey), and MacGregor''s prose shines especially when focused on the human side of a sport defined by superhuman feats of speed, aggression and power. Wayne Gretzky''s Ghost is a personal book, and also a book of challenging ideas: that Wayne Gretzky, through no fault of his own, was the worst thing to happen to hockey; that CBC''s Hockey Night in Canada has lost sight of what it is; that goaltending has become a position out of all proportion to what was intended. And who could offer a better perspective on the game than a writer who, playing as a youngster, had to face an onrushing phenom from Parry Sound named Bobby Orr, or who spent a year ghostwriting a national newspaper column for the Great One himself? When it comes to hockey, Roy MacGregor has seen (and in some cases, done) it all.

The Screech Owls are in Boston for the Paul Revere Peewee Invitational. Nish decides to drop out of school. If it worked for Ben Franklin, it will work for him. Sarah becomes increasingly concerned about Samantha''s attraction to a group of protesters demanding that the New England Aquarium "Free the Penguins." When the girls learn that the protesters have far more in mind than speeches and waving placards, the Owls have to act fast to save the lives of thousands of sea creatures.

While recovering from a concussion, Travis stumbles upon a polot to steal the Stanley Cup.

9-year-old Gabe (Gabriella) Murray lives and breathes hockey. She''s the youngest player on her new team, she has a nifty move that her teammates call "the Gabe," and she shares a lucky number with her hero, Hayley Wickenheiser: number 22. But when her coach hands out the team jerseys, Gabe is stuck with number 9. Crushed, Gabe wants to give up hockey altogether. How can she play without her lucky number? Gabe''s grandmother soon sets her straight, though--from her own connection to the number 9 in her hockey-playing days to all the greats she cheered for who wore it, she soon convinces Gabe that this new number might not be so bad after all. A lovely intergenerational tale and a history of the storied number 9 in hockey, The Highest Number in the World is a must-have for any hockey fan.

Travis Lindsay, his best friend, Nish, and all their pals on the Screech Owls hockey team, are on their way to New York for an international peewee tournament. Excitement builds in the team van on the way to Lake Placid. First there are the entertaining antics of their trainer, Mr. Dillinger - then there''s the prospect of playing on an Olympic rink, in a huge arena, knowing there will be scouts in the stands. But they have barely arrived when things start to go wrong. Their star center, Sarah, plays badly from lack of sleep. Next Travis gets knocked down in the street. And then someone starts tampering with equipment. It looks as if someone is trying to sabotage the Screech Owls. But who? And why? And can Travis and the others stop the destruction before the decisive game of the tournament?

In town to compete in a hockey tournament, the Screech Owls explore the historic sites of San Antonio between games and investigate when they discover that a secret and nefarious plot is in the works to destroy the Alamo.

Winner of The CAA–Birks Family Foundation Award for Biography The 2000 Ottawa-Carlton Book Award The (U.S.) Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book In 1929, at the age of twenty-two, Duncan MacGregor, the son of a lumberman, great-grandson of a voyageur, and an avid reader and baseball fan, headed off into the largest tract of preserved bush in the world: Ontario’s Algonquin Park. When he got there, he was home for the rest of his life. From the true nature of fishing to the harsh realities of raising a family in the woods, from the role of fear in the bush to the small nuances of family relationships, A Life in the Bush is painted on a canvas both vast and richly detailed. A story that captures the tough physical demands, the rich life of the senses, and the unselfconscious freedom that comes from living apart from town and city. In this beautifully crafted memoir of his father, Roy MacGregor paints an intimate portrait of an unusual man and spins a spellbinding tale of a boy’s complex relationship with his father. He also evokes, perhaps for the first time in Canadian literature, the bush the way bush people see it, an insider''s view of life in the totemic Canadian wilderness.

"Roy MacGregor, a popular columnist for The Ottawa Citizen has been waging a one-man campaign to bring a little sanity to the number-one fad of the nineties: what he calls power parenting. There can’t be a Modern Parent out there who won’t feel the sting of recognition in reading this book, whether it’s over the cost of loot bags or the insanity of adults sweating over a Grade Three “project.”In a world where “experts” instruct parents on taking toddlers out to eat at exquisite restaurants, where neighbourhood library shelves are lined with such titles as Tim Learns about Mutual Funds, and where minor hockey has become too organized to be play, Roy MacGregor is the “expert” for real parents of real children. His own four real children and their real friends figure largely in his writing, having made him a participant, a victim, and ultimately a critic of contemporary family life. In an age when we are told that in parenthood as in all else, “you can have it all” and nothing short of perfection will do, Quantity Time is a beacon for the underachievers – for those whose children would rather daydream than become piano virtuosos, or prefer building tree forts to playing little league baseball." --

The Screech Owls are invited to compete in a four-day skills competition in Detroit. Along with another team, they will be participating in a reality show called Goals & Dreams. They''re staying at a fancy hotel, being showered with hockey swag, given Hollywood nicknames, and posing for the film crew -- Hockeytown doesn''t look bad at all! That''s until they meet the other team and start noticing how differently they''re being treated. Are the producers engineering certain tensions and situations to pump up the show? The Screech Owls don''t like to be manipulated . . .

The Screech Owls have come to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, to play in the world’s biggest minor league hockey tournament — more than 500 teams gathering from all over the world! Little does Nish realize, as he befriends the hilarious, daring mascot, that he is about to embark on the most terrifying adventure of his lifetime.

Felix Batterinski grew up tough in Northern Ontario. After enjoying brief fame as an "enforcer" for the NHL''s Philadelphia Flyers, he finds himself eking out a living as a player-coach in Finland. But a controversial play spells the end of his comeback bid, and Felix begins a tragic descent into disillusion and despair.

Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award “A truly magnificent book.” —Calgary Herald It’s the great Canadian icon: a frozen creek, a backyard rink, a father passing something precious on to his child—the love of a game. There is nothing quite so Canadian as hockey, and nothing quite so evocative in hockey as the relationships between Canadian hockey players and their fathers. Here are the personal tales of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Marty McSorley, told as the four NHL stars take their fathers on a hockey tour of Europe. Here are the memories of hockey’s grand families: Gordie, Mark and Travis Howe; Bill, Kevin and Gord Dineen; Murray, Ken and Michael Dryden. Here is Brett Hull’s story of the famous father who was never home. But The Home Team is about more than famous names. It is the story of the father and son left weeping in the stands at the end of a disappointing draft day. It is the story of a minor league coach and his house league son. This book is about hockey. It is also about where we live and who we are: a book for all fathers and sons in Canada.

From Canada’s beloved award-winning journalist and bestselling author comes a collection of essays, new and previously published, on man’s best friend. In the course of 20 years of column writing about everything from politics to hockey and everything in between, Roy MacGregor has learned firsthand that the columns with the greatest reader impact have been those about the family dog. Roy has collected these columns and written many more on everything from puppy love to the sorrow of losing a pet, as experienced by Roy and the dogs he’s known and loved.

Who are we? In Canadians, one of Canada’s most intelligent and beloved writers maps our national psyche in a wonderful and ambitious work. Canadians is an entertaining portrait of this country and its people, through its history, popular culture, literature, sport, landscape, and weather. In his pursuit of the Canadian national identity, MacGregor has travelled far and wide, taking our pulse, telling our stories. A sparkling blend of historical, anecdotal, and reflective writing converges in a narrative that is extraordinarily learned in its perceptions and light in its delivery—all trademarks of this remarkable writer’s work.

When the Screech Owls take a spring break in Florida, they wind up uncovering a plot to terrorize all of America

Someone is out to steal the Stanley Cup - and only the Screech Owls stand between the thieves and their prize! Travis, Nish, and the rest of the Screech Owls have come to Toronto for the biggest hockey tournament of their lives - only to find themselves in the biggest mess of their lives. First Nish sprains his ankle falling down the stairs at the CN Tower. Later, key members of the team get caught shoplifting. And during a tour of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Travis overhears two men plotting to swipe the priceless Stanley Cup and hold it for ransom! Can the Screech Owls do anything to save the most revered trophy in the land? And can the team also rise to the challenge on the ice and play their best hockey ever?