Night Work by Randall Maggs

In compact, conversational poems, Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems follows the tragic trajectory of the life and work of Terry Sawchuk, dark driven genius of a goalie who survived twenty tough seasons in an era of inadequate upper-body equipment and no player representation. But no summary touches the searching intensity of Maggs’s poems. They range from meditations on ancient/modern heroism to dramatic capsules of actual games, in which the mystery of character meets the mystery of transcendent physical performance. Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems is illustrated with photographs mirroring the text, depicting key moments in the career of Terry Sawchuk, his exploits and his agony.

This 10th anniversary edition of the book marks both the 50th anniversary of the last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup and the 100th anniversary of the Leafs as a team. With rich reflections on the book by novelist Angie Abdou and Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean, as well as excerpts from scores of reviews by the likes of Gord Downie and Dave Bidini, this new edition of Night Work is a must-have for lovers of hockey and poetry alike.

“Through his marvelous, moving poetry, Randall Maggs gets closer than any biographer to the heart of the darkest, most troubled figure in the history of the national game. This may be the truest hockey book ever written. It reaches a level untouched by conventional sports literature… His Sawchuk is real.” — Stephen Brunt, Canada’s premier sportswriter and commentator

Press Coverage:

“Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems seems poised to become a Canadian classic.” – Dave Bidini, The Globe and Mail

“Gary Bettman need look no further if the NHL is in the market for its own poet laureate . . . .” – Barbara Carey, Toronto Star

” . . . as stirring as it is unique in hockey literature . . . .” – Dave Stubbs, Montreal Gazette

” . . . a unique and marvellous literary work . . . .” – Neil Stevens, CP

““To get at [Sawchuk’s]aloneness . . . Maggs assumes a number of voices, and one of the most captivating things about this collection is the grace of its polyphony . . . .” – Laurie Graham, The Malahat Review

“. . . Night Work offers many brilliant clues but no simple answers to the mystery of Terry Sawchuk . . . . a profound meditation on the questions raised by such a successful and tormented player . . . . – Jamie Dopp, The Fiddlehead

“This is one of the most human collections I’ve ever read, eerily funereal but celebratory of a life lost, a man remembered. . . . a detailed, complex Sawchukian masterpiece.” – Nathaniel G. Moore, Broken Pencil Magazine

“. . . Night Work is already a phenomenon in CanLit. – Gregory Betts, Open Book Toronto

“A stirring work . . . . this one demands reading and re-reading. . . . The chord was struck.” –Stu Hackel, New York Times

“Night Work does well to set a new standard for sports writing. An absolute must-read.”– Stephen Clare, Halifax Chronicle Herald

“To learn what, why, and how deeply poetry can mean, put Archibald MacLeish aside for now and read this book.”– Neil Besner, Journal of Canadian Poetry