Summary of John Branch's Boy on Ice

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The ice was covered with five-year-old boys. The goalies were immobilized with padded equipment, weighted like firs under heavy snowfall. The others, like Derek, glided in slow-motion packs, cautiously and unsteadily following the puck.
#2 In 1981, Joanne, a tall woman with sad eyes, was married to Len Boogaard, a sturdy and stern policeman. They had met at a Regina bar on New Year’s Day, 1981. Len was a cadet at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Depot Division, the training academy for the national police force.
#3 Len Boogaard was a police officer in Canada, and he was posted to Vancouver. He met and fell in love with Joanne, a bar worker at Checkers, and they had a shotgun romance. He would be out of training by summer and was posted anywhere across the country.
#4 Len and Joanne were married in a small, dark chapel at the RCMP Depot in June 1977. The couple had Derek in June 1982, and he was 9 pounds 5½ ounces. He was the heaviest of the oncoming wave of Boogaard babies.

Sujets

• Sports d'hiver
• Sports d'hiver
• Sports d'hiver
• Winter Sports
• Sports
• Winter sport
• Recreation
• Sport d'hiver
• Hockey

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669394594
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on John Branch's Boy on Ice
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The ice was covered with five-year-old boys. The goalies were immobilized with padded equipment, weighted like firs under heavy snowfall. The others, like Derek, glided in slow-motion packs, cautiously and unsteadily following the puck.

#2

In 1981, Joanne, a tall woman with sad eyes, was married to Len Boogaard, a sturdy and stern policeman. They had met at a Regina bar on New Year’s Day, 1981. Len was a cadet at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Depot Division, the training academy for the national police force.

#3

Len Boogaard was a police officer in Canada, and he was posted to Vancouver. He met and fell in love with Joanne, a bar worker at Checkers, and they had a shotgun romance. He would be out of training by summer and was posted anywhere across the country.

#4

Len and Joanne were married in a small, dark chapel at the RCMP Depot in June 1977. The couple had Derek in June 1982, and he was 9 pounds 5½ ounces. He was the heaviest of the oncoming wave of Boogaard babies.

#5

Saskatchewan is a vertical rectangle about twice as tall as it is wide, the shape a child might make when asked to draw a big building. It stretches about 750 miles north from the American border and is narrower near the top, along the 60th parallel, because the curve of the Earth bends the longitudinal lines together as they extend toward the poles.

#6

Hockey is a huge part in Canadian culture, and it is no surprise that Saskatchewan produces the most NHL players. It also produces the most tough players, which is why Len and Joanne were so excited to have their son join the local hockey program.

#7

The detachment, with six officers, was responsible for a vast area measuring roughly 1,000 square miles. It was the first place that Len saw tumbleweeds, which he thought existed only in John Wayne movies.

#8

The RCMP recruits recruits, and then sends them out to cities and small towns all over Canada. The fear is that police officers will become too familiar with the people they serve, and their objectivity will be compromised.

#9

The Boogaards moved to Herbert, a small town in southern Saskatchewan, in 1988. Herbert was founded after the Canadian government, in 1903, opened up much of its land to settlement. Many of those who rushed into the Herbert area were Mennonites, particularly Russian-German Mennonites.

#10

Among the four Boogaard children, assimilation problems were most severe for Derek. He was the biggest student in his class, and people often mistook him for a much older boy. He was easily distracted and occasionally disruptive, and when trouble arose in the classroom or the playground, children were quick to point to big, clumsy Derek.

#11

The family moved to Melfort, a small town in Saskatchewan, in 1993. Derek’s first nemesis there was a boy named Evan Folden, who took an instant dislike to him. There were a few mocking taunts, and a snowball fight got ugly when Derek drilled Folden in the face from close range.

#12

Derek was seen as a test of toughness for the other boys, particularly the older ones. He was nicknamed Stupidgaard by some because of his size. He was never the best player on his team, but he was always the biggest.

#13

Len was a police officer, and he was often away on duty, which made it difficult for him to discipline his children. But he had a dark sense of humor, and he told stories that made his son want to become a police officer as well.

#14

In minor hockey, size mattered. The smallest kids had to prove that they belonged, while the biggest kids had to show that they did not. Derek was never the most talented player on his teams, but he was usually the largest.

#15

When Derek was young, he was constantly being bullied and pushed around because of his size. He spent most of his time on the ice playing defense, as that was what was required of him. He dreamed of one day playing in the NHL with Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour.

#16

In 1997, the Western Hockey League’s 18 franchises took turns stocking their future teams. Derek was not one of the 195 boys chosen in the draft. But Floyd Halcro, the coach of the Melfort Bantam AA team, thought his size was a benefit, not a curse.

#17

Until the age of 16, fighting was punishable by a suspension. But body-to-body checking was a part of the game at the bantam level, and Derek could serve as a deterrent to opponents who wanted to charge the star players.

#18

The Melfort Mustangs were a minor-league hockey team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, and Derek’s team. They had won the league championship in 1992 and 1996.

#19

Derek’s father, who had just arrived at the game, was arrested when he rushed the opposing team’s bench and began fighting. The scouts were stunned. They had never seen Derek behave so uncontrollably.