Take Your Eye Off the Puck: How to Watch Hockey by Knowing Where to Look

by Greg Wyshynski, Barry Abrams (Narrator), Jeremy Roenick (Foreword)

A guide for sports fans on how to watch and appreciate the game of hockey. More and more fans are watching the NHL each week, but many of them don't know exactly what they should be watching. How does an offense create shooting lanes for its best sniper? When a center breaks through and splits between two defensemen, which defender is to blame? Why does a goalie look like a Hall of Famer one week and a candidate for the minor leagues the next? This guide for sports fans on how to watch and appreciate the game of hockey takes you inside a coach's mind as he builds a roster or constructs a game plan, to the chaos of the goalie's crease, and deep into the perpetual chess match between offense and defense. Discussing topics such as what to look for when a team goes on the power play and why playing center might be the most grueling job in sports, Take Your Eye Off the Puck shows fans how to get the most out of watching their favorite sport.

Genres: Sports, Hockey, Nonfiction, History

Audio CD

First published November 1, 2015

About the author

Greg Wyshynski is an award-winning writer, blogger and editor, best known for creating Yahoo! Sports' popular hockey blog, Puck Daddy.

He was hired by Yahoo! In April 2008 after nearly a decade as a sports editor with The Connection Newspapers in the Washington, D.C. area. Immediately, Puck Daddy moved to the front of the pack in the hockey blog revolution, blending humor with hard news and features to create a unique voice in sports journalism. Departments like Jersey Fouls became must-reads, while Puck Daddy became the go-to place for instant analysis of breaking news, both serious and frivolous, thanks to a staff of bold, insightful and talented writers.

Wyshynski, a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, became the first blogger ever named to The Hockey News "100 People of Power and Influence" list, making that special issue several more times. He has covered Stanley Cup Finals, NHL All-Star Games, NHL Drafts, Winter Classics, outdoor games and countless other hockey events. He was on site for Yahoo! Sports for the last three Olympics, including as a general columnist for the 2012 London Games.

He also once accidentally got an NHL referee suspended for doing tequila shots with him and tweeting the photo.

For nearly a decade, Wyshynski served as an editor for The Connection Newspapers of Northern Virginia, a chain of 16 weekly publications with a combined circulation of over 125,000 households. The Connection publishes in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudoun counties (Va.), as well as the cities of Alexandria (Va.), Mount Vernon (Va.), and Potomac (Md.). He received over 50 Virginia Press Association awards for writing and editing, including four first-place citations for sports column writing and one Best-In-Show nomination for a feature story about female high-school football players.

While working for The Connection, Wyshynski branched out into other sports writing. He was an editor forSportsFan Magazine, a quarterly sports publication in Washington, D.C., writing cover stories on hockey fighting among other topics. His weekly syndicated sports column, "The Jester's Quart," appeared on SportsFanMagazine.com and several other websites.

In 2006, Wyshynski signed on with AOL Sports' FanHouse as an NHL writer, joining a murder's row of hockey bloggers that included James Mirtle. That led to a stint writing the "NHL Closer" for Deadspin under editor Will Leitch, after which he left that site and The Connection to join Yahoo! Sports.

His work has also appeared in The Hockey News, Playboy.com, The Fourth Period Magazine, Brutus, and countless digital outlets.

In 2010, Wyshynski and co-host Rob Pizzo started Puck Daddy Radio, a daily podcast that ran on The Score in Canada in conjunction with Yahoo! Sports. The show combined the whimsical vibe of the blog with insightful interviews with hockey personalities.

After PDR ended in Oct. 2011, Wyshynski partnered with Jeff Marek of Sportsnet for Marek Vs. Wyshynski, a daily podcast that quickly rocketed to being the top-rated hockey podcast on iTunes. Their banter, witty tangents and news-making interviews made the show and must-listen, gathering a considerable following that led to several live events.

He has appeared on dozens of podcasts as a guest, most notably The Bill Simmons Podcast, Doug Loves Movies, The Stars Wars Minute and NPR's The Weigh In. He's a frequent guest on several radio networks, including ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, XM NHL Network Radio, TSN Radio, CBC Radio and Sportsnet Radio.

Wyshynski writes and hosts several video segments on Yahoo.com, including "The 2-Minute Minor" and "The Wysh List" during the NHL season.He has appeared as an analyst on Sportsnet, NBC Sports Network, CSN Washington and CSN New England.

He's also appeared as a panelist on ESPN, offering a humorous look at sports history on programs such as "Cold Pizza," "5 Reason You Can't Blame" and "The Missing Link."

Reviews

[Phil Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nowhere near as in-depth or insightful as the football edition of the series by Pat Kirwan. Perhaps there is just more strategy and specialization to football than hockey? ::ducks::

This book was chock full of lame jokes, unnecessary personal anecdotes and pop culture references. Even the glossary couldn't have been taken seriously.

I feel like I might know more about how to watch hockey but I expected a lot more.

No real insight on the salary cap era, not much on the developmental road taken to arrive in the NHL, nothing on clock management, no background on in-game adjustments, off-season training, outdoor series, coaching philosophies/styles/trees, not even a reference image for the rink layout.

The author was also particularly lazy in his explanations of the new "fancy stats" by failing to provide the actual calculations, benchmarks, criticisms or limitations to these metrics.

Lots of references to the Washington Capitals (which in hindsight is not surprising as the author worked in the DC area for a long time).

TL,DR: this book really failed to live up to the series and was a major disappointment considering the solid ratings on Goodreads.

[Laura Rasmussen]

Likes: humor, explaining different plays, explaining why lines are put together with certain individuals, etc.

Dislikes: no map of where the different parts of the rink are or what defines them (the slot, etc.); using phrases to describe situations without giving an explanation of the phrases (e.g., "weak side", "strong side").

Conclusion: not appropriate for rank-beginners to the sport. I've been following hockey seriously for a couple of seasons now, and I was hoping for more explanations of those things in my dislikes section above. Sigh, I guess that's what the internet is for.

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

@Wyshynski is a good follow on hockey twitter, with some pretty insightful commentary on games, so I decided to give this book a shot. And overall, it's OK. It sits somewhere between a hockey coaching book and just a general fan-book, with some interesting insights into the game, but there way too much fluff as well. Also, Wyshynski's writing style seems well-suited for his blog, but not so good for a longer-form book in this case; lots of references for the sake of making a reference without adding anything new with the comparison (e.g. Brent Burns is like a wookiee!).

Also, while it ostensibly tries to land in the realm of books that explain/teach hockey, if you're not already following the ins and outs of the league, a lot of the references and comments will make no sense to you, which makes me wonder who this book is for.

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's got some weird, complicated feelings about goalies, but the breakdown of NHL stats and analytics was very helpful.

[Dlmrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, interesting albeit 10 years outdated

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the base strategies of hockey. It was really interesting as someone that never learned any of this while playing hockey when I was younger. It even gets into what the management of the team does and what they are thinking. It's written in a conversational tone that is super approachable but he'll drop references to major things in hockey's history as jokes and whatnot and only explains like 1/2 of them so if you're coming in fresh there'll be a lot that goes over your head.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a good book to explain the basics of hockey - terms, penalties, etc. While I am an experienced hockey watcher, I wanted to know more about my favorite game. This book was a good resource. It was not exactly what I was looking for, but it did provide insight and explanations for the sport. It was sometimes over my head, but OK reading.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative read for any new hockey fan. Goes in depth on the terminalogy of the game and gives insights into the future as well.

[Chris Siler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m going to be honest, this was probably a three star book. But my boy Greg is a big Devils fan, so you know what? Four stars it is. My review, my rules. I think this book was good, just maybe a little bit scatterbrained. It’s a good introduction to hockey, I just think we lose track of the title halfway through. While I enjoyed it, talking about the front office and analytics doesn’t really contribute to “how to watch hockey” in my opinion. (But if we are talking front office, will someone PLEASE explain hockey trades to me? “For future considerations” is the biggest load of nonsense I’ve ever heard of). As I sit here, watching the Hurricanes Rangers game, bitterly cursing what could have been, trying to convince myself that at least I have ONE Hughes brother to cheer on, and what the heck happened to us anyway? We had three good lines, one of the winningest coaches in NHL history, who we fired when we should have been making a playoff push, maybe this is all punishment for McCloud, some sort of karmic handicap for our team, also did we make an actual deal with the devil for Brodeur, maybe that’s the cause of my pain……..

So yeah I think the book started off strong but sort of lost the thread halfway through. I still enjoyed it, but I’m not sure how much more I learned about watching the game.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of hockey for just about a decade now (I was raised on football but later saw the light), and I think the best bit of praise you could give Take Your Eye Off the Puck is that I sincerely wish this book would’ve been out when I first came to the sport. Hockey is tough to learn the ins and outs of, especially if coming from America’s most popular sport as your only real touchstone when it comes to athletics. There are walls, and a dozen dudes on skates all banging into each other, wielding sticks, and a frozen piece of rubber being flung around like a bullet.

I didn’t know why some plays were offsides and others weren’t; I didn’t know why sometimes the face-offs were delayed and why sometimes centers were tossed out; I didn’t understand icing. It took awhile to learn these things, primarily just through catching good broadcasters offering clear explanations of things. But this book is much more than a rulebook for dummies - it really breaks down every aspect of hockey in clear, concise, and entertaining language.

Personally, I think a primer like this could do with a few more pictures and charts, but that’s my only real complaint. That and the fact that it wasn’t out back when I was learning all about hockey!

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of the author's work on Yahoo, so I was excited about this book. I liked the premise, and Wysh is usually good about supporting his corny blogger one-liners with facts and perspectives. The book sticks with that formula, so yay!

However, I don't see this book appealing to people who don't already read the blog. It's very uneven in that the reader is expected to know a bunch already, but is also treated as a bandwagon Ducks fan. For example, Wysh does a great job of explaining the penalty kill, but never explains how a team can get a delayed penalty. It's not Watching Hockey for Dummies, but it's a fun read.

[Parashar B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book is good for beginners, but I didn't get much out of it having watched the sport for almost 25 years. I also expected more from the writing since I read the Puck Daddy blog daily. Although it does come off as a bunch of blog posts in book form, so maybe I shouldn't have expected more?

[Raphael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little book to learn a bit more about the game. But don't read this if you've only seen a few games, because it assumes quite a bit of prior knowledge. There were some nice jokes also sprinkled all over the place, I laughed a few times. Can't really say I learned where to look, but I learned a bit more about how the game is played.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough rating. First and foremost: Take Your Eye Off the Puck does not live up to the great Take Your Eye Off the Ball, which concerns American football. What's unfortunate is that it's unforced errors that make this a relatively underwhelming read.

Rather than sticking to the delivery of information that any reader is seeking if they're reading this book to begin with, author Greg Wyshynski is relentless with his attempts at humor and schtick. That's fine for his Twitter feed, but here it's just grating. I eventually learned to skip the next 1-3 paragraphs upon seeing the start of a joke, because I knew that I would miss nothing in doing so and could sooner get back to reading about ice hockey.

Speaking of hockey, the reason I give this book a decent review despite my complaints is that it does do a fair job of summarizing a lot of information about the game. I'm a fan with a decent understanding of hockey, but I didn't grow up playing or even watching the game, so there's some nuance and context here that I appreciated reading up on.

It could have been a great read if Wyshynski had delved further into that context. Diagram some zone-entry plays, break down more techniques of individual players, explain more of the game's shifts in coaching strategies over the years. But no, have to save space for the 50th lame joke. The glossary is particularly affected, with nearly every entry being saddled with another forced attempt at humor. It's like your friend's dad who can't stop reminding everyone of how zany he is.

Recommended very specifically for hockey fans who want to learn more about the game and haven't spent a lifetime collecting information on it, but be aware that it doesn't quite live up to its football predecessor.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I knew quite a lot about hockey until I picked up this book. When I started reading, I figured I would know most of the information and just learn a few new things per chapter. However, every single page I was discovering something new I hadn't known before. Wyshynski gives an insight not only into how to watch a hockey game to get more out of it but also into the behind-the-scenes action. I think I always took it for granted that my favourite team was the way it was, and that's all there was to it; I never considered how much thought and planning goes into every single thing that the team does, both on and off the ice.

Not only was this book extremely informative and insightful, but it was also hilarious. There are very few books that actually make me laugh out loud, but with quips such as "The NHL: Home of the Interchangeable Pants," it's hard not to laugh. Wyshynski manages to find the perfect balance between fact and humour to make this a surprisingly engaging read.

The only issue I had was the constant comparisons to the NFL in order to explain things. I don't know a single thing about American football, so I had no hope of understanding these analogies. I think Wyshynski could have used non-sports related analogies when possible so that a wider range of people would be able to understand them.

Overall, a brilliant book. I would recommend this to anybody who wants to increase their hockey knowledge.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

not sure what i expected from this book and i was still disappointed. as an avid hockey fan i expected this to give me some more insight into HOW players play the game. my biggest gripe with this book is the lack of explanation for difficult concepts, but over explanation for simple concepts. there was an entire page on the offside rule (which is present in most sports, so one would think most people have this concept down) but then barely any real explanation of forechecking, backchecking, trapping, etc. If we are going to assume the audience doesn't even know what offside is, then why are we not explaining more about HOW each play is run (more than showing a picture with X's and O's and then going into detail about why coaches and GMs hate how the play is run).

this one is personal, but the book is outdated. i should have expected that a book from 2012 has references to famous hockey players of the 2010s, but i did not realize how big of a crutch it would be used as. like okay we get it wayne gretzky is the goat, alright alright. also ovechkin broke wayne gretzky's goal scoring record in the year 2025 - this book says that ovechkin would be lucky to break into the top 5............... alright.....

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Take your eyes off the puck" is a book aimed at people who are quite new to ice hockey, though you'll need a bit of knowledge under your belt. It doesn't start you of presuming you've never watched a game. Rather, this book is for people who have a passing knowledge of hockey and want to develop a better appreciation of the way plays are set up and a better sense of what's actually happening on the ice instead of just knowing to cheer when the puck goes in the net.

It's a pretty good book, for that. It takes a casual tone and intersperses current player examples with more analytical stuff which is nice as you can then apply it directly what what you're seeing in the game today. I can't help but think this would be better as a visual thing than a book, though. You want the author to be pointing at a play to you and detailing how it's being put together. You want video. At times, the written word just doesn't give you a clear enough idea of what he's talking about.

Still a valuable book to read if you're new and want to get more out of watching the game.

[Chris Heim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was lent to me by a hockey-fanatic friend who knew I had a rudimentary understanding of the game and some interesting in improving upon it. It's very reader-friendly due to its author's sense of humor and his explicit intention to enlighten hockey ignoramuses like myself. Mission accomplished. However, two points of criticism remain. First, it would have been helpful to have a section at the beginning of the book explaining the rules of the game before delving into the related strategies. Second, the "chapter" that is a glossary is a wasted one (It's not even the final chapter, but rather the penultimate one.) It would have been far more valuable to define the terms throughout the book as they were introduced to the reader. Those critiques aside, if you have an interest in hockey but don't know much about what you're seeing transpire on TV or at the arena, this book will teach you some interesting things.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book about my favorite sport, ice hockey. I admit I’m prejudiced, as I have been one of those rabid fanatics since the 1970’s. Note: most of my friends don’t get it, which is fine by me.

This book will probably not be for the intense committed fan who knows the game well, but I found a lot of interesting perspectives, anecdotes, and insights into the game. The author, Greg Wyshynsi, as a senior hockey analyst for ESPN, has covered ice hockey in all forms, from hockey clubs for young girls, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Olympics. He is the founder of the enjoyable, and insightful blog, Puck Daddy and and can also be seen often on the NHL channel.

The book features an interesting forward by Jeremy Roenick. Roenick was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in 1988, and played in the NHL for 20 years. He is an intense and knowledgeable analyst of the game.

[Stefan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not nearly as well-written and informative as Pat Kirwan‘s ‘Take Your Eye Off The Ball’.
In Take Your Eye Off The Puck’ the author spends so much time trying to be funny — and humor is a tricky thing, isn’t it ? — it becomes annoying very quickly.

Sometimes you have to search for the relevant information of a chapter because they are buried in rather random anecdotes deemed interesting by Wyshynski. This fairly thin volume could be even thinner. If you extract the relevant information, you are left with a nice brochure.

There is a glossary towards the end of the book. If you are new to hockey: read that. Or even better, don’t but the book to read a glossary: just find one online.

[Tamila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrible, terrible jokes. Awful puns. An unstoppable deluge of bad pop culture references disguised as metaphors.

This was fun to read when I didn’t want to punch the guy for making such horrible jokes on every page. I mean, “expecto puckronum??” Unforgivable.

The biggest value of this book to me was that it forced me to look up hockey terms in order to follow what he was talking about. I don’t think I knew, while watching games, that “the point” was an actual hockey term. I also found it interesting to read about the reasoning behind pulling a goalie in the last two minutes. The bad jokes aside, I suppose it was quite informative at times.

[Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating non-fiction is always hard, so my rating is subject to change but all in all, I really enjoyed this book and it was pretty much what I expected and needed.
I've been watching hockey for about three seasons now and I constantly felt like there was stuff I was missing or that I (ironically) didn't know where to look while watching a game. While an experienced hockey fan probably won't get much out of this book other than some anecdotes and jokes, as someone who didn't really know what icing was (other than something that happened sometimes when trying to get an empty netter), I got a lot out of this book.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure who this is for. The descriptions of hockey rules and strategies are pretty good for a relative novice but there really isn’t much of that, far less than the title implies. The discussion about how the business side of hockey works is painfully obvious to anyone who is even generally aware of sports in general (There are minor leagues, and a draft, etc.) Then there are ton of inside jokes about hockey players that wouldn’t make sense to anyone who isn’t already a hockey fan. Finally, the whole thing is filled with jokes and pop culture references that are painfully unfunny and forced.

[Nana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book to try to help deepen my understanding of strategy in hockey… however the strategy part of this book, aka the main draw, is not written in a way that is very clear. It relies on jargon and historical examples that are either barely explained or not at all. The author loves his quips and quotes (many are interesting, but superfluous) but seems to miss the mark on explanatory writing. A shame. That being said, the second half of this book, dealing with equipment/NHL culture/team economics etc, is much clearer, and fun to read.

[Lewis M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what level of hockey fan this book was aimed at. Now I know. The book is pretty basic and describes the positions, players, systems of play and the general knowledge required to be a hockey fan watching the NHL. The book was written a few years ago and is part of my annual Christmas wander through books that have been on my shelf for a while.

For a more serious fan there are far better books and that's not a knock on this one, just that it has its place in the hockey story world.

[Meg 🌞]

This book was pretty enjoyable and useful as someone who knows a decent amount about hockey in the sense of current players and the state of the league, but less so about the actual mechanics of the game. That being said it is for sure a decade out of date, which also means a lot of the tone and jokes didn’t land.
Also, at one point the author comes across as making the baffling take that what is ruining scoring and watchability in the nhl is *checks notes* goaltenders?
Anyway I miss hockey the offseason is too long :((

[Apsalz08 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. The first part goes over hockey strategy and basic information in a humorous way. As someone who follows hockey but never really knew much about the intricacies of the game, this was a good primer. Before reading this, I'd recommend reading the Puck Daddy blog on Yahoo! to see if you like Greg's humor and tone. If so, you'll enjoy this as a breezy read. If not, then you won't like it very much, even if you want to learn more about hockey.

[Matt Glaviano · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

I don't know what I'd expected,but this didn't do it. A little too much info I already knew. That said, the book had a good sense of humor, and some insightful moments. I enjoyed the day in the life of a player chapter, and found some of the material illuminating. But I'd hope for more new knowledge. Not the book's fault -- I think it's pretty good at what it does -- it just didn't do it for me.

[Daniel Eastman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book as a gift after attending a few hockey games, which all kicked ass. I thought it might be nice to learn a bit more about a high-speed game that involves dudes weaponizing themselves in pursuit of a little black cake. This book did not help. There is so much prerequisite knowledge required to understand what’s in here that it was foolish to even try. For a cover that promised teaching the reader the sport of hockey, the interior completely falls short.