Saved

Veteran Boston goaltender Jean Pierre Savard sees stardom and the money it brings as fate’s make-up call for a life in which he lost his father, his wife, and most of his self confidence for anything not involving saves or sex.

Now late in his career, Savard and his teammate and best friend, Cam Carter, are trying to fulfill their boyhood dreams of winning a Stanley Cup before they retire. A surprise late-season trade pits the friends against each other in a playoff series both could lose but only one can win.

Saved takes the reader into the rinks, dressing rooms, planes, buses, and hotels that are the backdrop to the long grind of an NHL season. That grind is made bearable by the likes of players such as Bruno Govoni, whose cell phone ring tone is the orgasmic moaning of a porn star Loretta (Lash) LaRue; of Phil “Flipside” Palmer, the only person besides the Kingsmen who knows all the words to “Louie Louie” or that “Child of the Moon” was the flipside of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”; and team enforcer Kevin Quigley, who claims all his fights are retaliations, “but sometimes I retaliate first.”

Most sports novels bring the game to the reader. Saved brings the reader to the game.

Praise for Jack Falla

“Falla’s graphic portrayal of a violent sport (and its colorful players) and his insider’s view of how hockey is played, coached, and officiated is exciting, surefire entertainment.”

— Publishers Weekly on Saved

“Literary hot chocolate that will warm your heart.”

—-Robert Lipsyte, The New York Times, on Home Ice

“The best hockey book ever.”

—-John Buccigross, ESPN sportscaster, on Home Ice

“Possibly the best hockey book since Ken Dryden’s The Game.”

—-Toronto Globe and Mail, on Home Ice

Jack Falla is the author of five books, most notably Home Ice, an essay collection. He covered the NHL for Sports Illustrated for many years, and during that time wrote two cover stories on Wayne Gretzky. His work has also been published in USA Today, Boston Magazine, and USA Hockey.