Hockey's Original 6

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An electrifying collection of rarely seen hockey photos highlighting the greatest heroes of the Original 6 era.

The hockey stars of the fifties and sixties -- Rocket Richard, Gordie Howe, Dave Keon, Bobby Hull, Jean BÈliveau, Terry Sawchuk, Tim Horton, and others -- were some of the most passionate players in NHL history. These skilful and often colourful athletes played exhilarating hockey and were national heroes in a time when only six hockey teams and 120 players battled for the Stanley Cup.

Hockey's Original 6 celebrates the most dynamic players and exciting moments of the era in more than 100 photographs from the legendary Harold Barkley Archives, including a number of never -- or rarely -- seen images. From 1942 until the early seventies, Barkley was the Toronto Star's leading sports photographer, pioneering the use of electronic flash to capture stop-action hockey. This book is the most complete collection of pre-expansion-era colour action hockey photos available in print.

Relive the thrill of the era with images capturing the first NHL teams -- The Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Rangersóin their prime.

Two informative essays by Mike Leonetti -- prolific hockey writer and historian -- set Barkley and the photos in context, and short image captions illuminate the players and their feats. Jean BÈliveau -- hockey legend and elder statesman -- provides a personal and insightful foreword. Combining iconic images and hockey lore, Hockey's Original 6 is the perfect gift for sports fans, history buffs, and art collectors.

"Mike Leonetti's informative text is complemented by the action photos of Harold Barkley . . . Flipping through the pages of Hockey's Original 6 and looking at Barkley's wonderful photographs I was taken back to my childhood when hockey photos like these graced the pages of magazines, newspapers and books . . . Fans of hockey during its golden era will enjoy this book." -Simcoe.com

"For all the book-bound Barkley collections, each out of print and available only from secondhand sellers, Hockey's Original 6 is the only one that will take your breath away . . . this Greystone title is by far the most brilliantly printed assembly of Barkley photos. It is a collection that captures players' grimaces, suture tracks, missing teeth and Brylcreem-lacquered hair; their primitive equipment, joy and considerable pain, even the depth of snow beneath their tubular-steel blades, the individual planks of lumber that were the arena boards, and the octagonal orange crests on the Tyer Rubber Co. pucks whose impact has smudged the fire-engine-red goalposts." -Dave Stubbs, The Montreal Gazette

"Hockey historians will appreciate the precision action shots taken of the first cohort of NHL stars by the late Harold Barkley, sports photographer for the Toronto Star from 1942 until the early 1970s. Passionate hockey writer Mike Leonetti captions the black-and-white as well as colour pictures with crisp, rich descriptions. This book is sure to please. It is a record of how hockey has evolved." -Harriet Zaidman, Winnipeg Free Press

"With the holidays fast approaching Hockey's Original 6 would make the perfect gift for hockey fans, history buffs, and art collectors." -Toronto Quarterly

"A worthy opponent to the Hockey Hall of Fame Treasures for most beautiful volume of the season, it features the timeless work of hockey action photo pioneer Harold Barkley, with text by Mike Leonetti. Barkley introduced flash photography to hockey in the 1950s and forever changed the way the game was seen, his lens trained on players before they became shrouded in goalie masks and helmets. His gloriously detailed images of the day's greatest stars make this book a must for fans of pre-expansion hockey." -Vancouver Sun