Ice Capades

A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey

By: Sean Avery, Michael McKinley

Narrated by: Sean Avery

Controversial hockey star Sean Avery's no-holds-barred memoir of high living and bad behavior in the NHL - coupled with the behind-the-scenes glitter of celebrity and media nightlife in New York and LA.

As one of the NHL's most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on its head. For 13 seasons Avery played for some of the toughest, most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player that was sometimes loved, often despised, but always controversial.

In Ice Capades, Avery takes his trademark candidness about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton's game-changing Ball Four did for baseball. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of an athlete's life, from what they do with their money and nights off to how they stay sharp and competitive in the league. While playing the talented villain in the NHL, Avery broke far away from his on-ice character in the off-season, and Ice Capades takes the listener inside the other unexpected and unprecedented roles that Avery inhabited - Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restauranteur, gay rights advocate, and many more.

Love him or hate him, Sean Avery changed the way professional hockey is played today. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Ice Capades transcends the "sports book" genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of 21st century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

©2017 Sean Avery (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“[Avery’s] voice is energetic and offbeat and his get-real revelations about drugs, team jealousies, and the lingering damage from a violent sport will hold readers’ attentions.” (Publishers Weekly)

"Ken Dryden's The Game rewritten by Hunter Thompson...This is the NHL you don't get from post-game scrums." (The Globe and Mail)

"An unusually honest celebrity memoir." (CT Post)

Fans of NHLs greatest agitator will love this book

This book was beautifully written in the perspective of Avery, any true hockey fan will love it. It gives you more of an inside look of the day to day of someone in the NHL, and the difficulties and realities they face every day. Loved the book, and it shows a more personal side of Avery. A+

So Great!

Such a hilarious and great story about a great hockey player and his time in the NHL. If The Game is the great book about goal tending, this is the great book about being a hockey player in general. It isn’t your typical story about being a kid playing pond hockey and making it to the NHL with all your hero’s. It’s about celebrity parties, fights, getting the shaft from GMs and all the other realities of playing elite sport. Plus, Sean’s delivery is priceless. A must listen.

An Honest Book from a flawed man

Shocker: athletes are people too. Sean Avery tells the deeply human, and tragically flawed story of the NHL in the pre-and-post lockout years. He pulls no punches, including the ones he throws at himself.

Yes, he has his biases, and probably takes liberties with some of the stories, but the overall tale of a sometimes-arrogant, often insecure kid from small town Canada is fantastic.

It's got everything: rock star stories of excess and decadence, the underdog tale of an undersized kid defying all expectations, tragedy, celebrities, and lots of bad decisions.

Give it a listen, he'll have you hooked from the first page.

great book

great story. surprised me to see a behind the scenes look at a NHL players life

Fun read

Loved the book. It was really neat hearing Avery's point of view, and you get to see Avery the person, as opposed to Avery the player.

Best sports memoir ever written

As a lifelong Philadelphia Flyers and, later, Los Angeles Kings season ticket holder, I remember well when Avery played. He brought an extra spark to the game as an "agitator" unlike any other. I was sitting right behind Rachel Hunter in the stands as a season ticket holder when Avery played for the Kings.

After checking out his podcast, I decided to read (listen) to his book. Wow - what an incredible career he's had. His storytelling is smooth, entertaining, funny, straightforward, and brutally honest. Props to him for remembering so much detail from his early career through his entire time in the NHL.

His reverence for the greats, Chelios, Hull, Shanahan, Yzerman, are respectful and interesting. You learn how much of a team player Sean was and how passionate he was about giving his best every night on the ice.

And he was wise enough to know that life doesn't end with hockey and set himself up perfectly to pursue his passions after hockey and thrive as a former player.

This book walks you through all his relationships with players, coaches, and love interests with a level of honesty and detail I haven't seen before.

Definitely worth a read and a listen with Sean narrating the Audible version flawlessly.

What a great listen!!

Okay so I’m a big hockey fan but started avidly following in 2014 after this book takes place. Sean tells the story of his life with amazing insight, humor and an incredible delivery!

Knowing you were hearing him talk about his own experiences and not someone reading his words really connected me to the story.

Great job!!

The story of an NHL agitator

He makes no bones about it. His job was to be the guy everybody hated and he was one of the best at it. He studied players for weaknesses be it in their personal life or game play and used them to get in the heads of his adversaries. Martin Brodeur is a prime example of this which he covers in detail. He does a good job narrating his story and he kept my attention from start to finish. If you're a hockey fan you'll enjoy this book.

Awesome

Awesome book.If you like hockey you must read. Nice to hear it behind the closed doors.Thanks avs.

Great Book!

Loved hearing the insight into the mind of Sean Avery! Learned a lot of what he thought about his NHL Career