Can Aiden learn to stand his ground on his new home ice?

Meet Aiden Mallory. He’s trying to find his bearings while coping with the loss of his father — an NHL player who died in a car accident — and moving back to his dad’s hometown of Prairie Field, where he is STILL a big deal.

Aiden loves hockey, but his feelings about moving and his dad’s death cause him to struggle at tryouts. Then the minor hockey association announces a brand-new U13 tournament: the Luke Mallory Memorial. As Aiden tries to find his place on his new team, and among his new teammates, he will do anything he can to live up to his dad’s legacy. But what happens when Aiden’s determination to play well puts everything else at risk?

From Lorna Schultz Nicholson comes a powerful portrayal of a boy’s experiences with anxiety as it relates to sports and friendship and grief.

There are novels that include some ice hockey action, and then there are true ice-hockey novels with nonstop, satisfying hockey action, characters and storyline. Author Lorna Schultz Nicholson, a former hockey player and coach herself, serves up the latter.

Sixth-grader Aiden is not just reeling from having lost his hockey-legend father. He is struggling to adapt to a new town and team, put up with a bullying teammate and live up to his father’s reputation. This novel isn’t about how he plays so much as how he rises above these challenges by finding his inner coach and learning to generate positive energy.