MAJOR MISCONDUCT: The Human Cost of Fighting in Hockey by Jeremy Allingham, with a foreword by Daniel Carcillo, is released today from Arsenal Pulp Press!
“Major Misconduct is filled with real-life stories that I relate to. This moving and thoughtful book provides further proof that there’s no need for bare-knuckle fighting in the game. There has been too much loss and pain because of it. Hockey will be at its greatest once fighting is gone.” — Jim Thomson, former NHL player and enforcer
“Like many of the damaged warriors portrayed within, Major Misconduct is a hockey book that doesn’t back down. In this integral book that all hockey fans should read, Allingham is brave enough to finally challenge the sacred cow that is fighting in hockey.” — Grant Lawrence, CBC personality and author of The Lonely End of the Rink
Every night in hockey arenas across Canada and the United States, modern-day gladiators drop their gloves and exchange bare-fisted blows to the bloodthirsty roars of the paying public. Tens of millions of people a year, including children, watch and cheer on the fighters. Some players are paid handsomely; others barely a living wage. But either way, these fighters are lauded, valued, and considered to be essential to the game. That is, until their playing days are over. Hockey enforcers spend their lives fighting on ice to protect their teammates and entertain their fans, but when their playing days are over, who’s left to fight for them?
MAJOR MISCONDUCT scrutinizes a highly dangerous and controversial cultural practice. The book dives deep into the lives of three former hockey fighters who, years after their playing days ended, are still struggling with the pain and suffering that comes from bare-knuckle boxing on ice. All of these men believe they may be living with the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. They may have had their shot at pro hockey glory, but none of them is rich or famous, and the game has left them with injuries and trauma. They have experienced estrangement, mental health issues, addiction, and brushes with the law. And they’ve stared death in the face.
The debate surrounding fighting in hockey is hotly contested on both sides. This daring and revelatory book explores the lives of those who bare-knuckle boxed on ice for a living and investigates the human cost we’re willing to tolerate in the name of hockey fighting.
JEREMY ALLINGHAM is an award-winning journalist and musician from Vancouver. He works for the CBC, where some of his most recent and poignant work has included in-depth coverage of the opioid crisis; the Northern Gateway Pipeline; the craft beer industry; local, provincial, and federal politics; and pretty much anything and everything music related.
Jeremy is represented by Samantha Haywood and Rob Firing.