Without Fear: Hockey's 50 Greatest Goaltenders

Sports fans love to argue. About which strategy should be used. About whose team is better. About which coach is the best. But nothing revs the motor of a sports fan more than a debate about who are the greatest players of all time.

This book attempts to settle at least one of these debates: Who are the greatest hockey goalies of all time. And it does so with an all-star lineup of experts just as impressive as the 50 men selected as the best goalies of the 20th Century. Indeed, Gladiators may just end the debate once and for all.

Kevin Allen, the esteemed hockey writer for USA Today, and Bob Duff, respected columnist for the Hockey Weekly, team with Hall of Fame goalie and super scout Johnny Bower and dozens of NHL greats who played outside the net to provide a provocative—and sharply persuasive—list of the best goalies ever. Bower’s critical eye, he provides incisive evaluations of each goalie, and the commentary by such luminaries as Gordie Howe, Bill Gadsby, Dino Ciccarelli, Brett Hull, Marcel Proust, and others, who provide the equally compelling perspective of those who tried to score against them, give Gladiators an unprecedented credibility. Allen and Duff give it an unprecedented polish.

Not only do the authors list the 50 greatest, they rank them one through fifty. The well-rounded list includes such old-timers as Terry Sawchuk, Ken Dryden, and Georges Vezina and the stars of today, such as Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, and Curtis Joseph. Bracing descriptions of each goalie as a player and a person accompany Bower’s technical analysis and the insights of the scorers.