Book Review: The Third Best Hull
Written by Graeme McGaw
The Third Best Hull is the story of Dennis Hill, a retired NHL player. Hull mostly played for the Chicago Blackhawks and had a small stint with the Detroit Red Wings at the end of his career.
Hull is also known for being the brother of hockey legend Bobby Hull which inspired the humorous title of the book: despite being an excellent player, the limelight was usually stolen from him by his brother Bobby.
The book title is a great example of what to expect within the actual book itself; it has a more lighter, humorous side to it than many autobiographies, and contains a lot of classic stories and tales from the rad.
The Third Best Hull is an updated edition published by ECW Press. It’s about 180 pages in length, and is a very good book, one I would recommend for any hockey fan.
Dennis currently travels doing public speeches, and I’d heard a lot from friends who had seem him about some of the hilarious stories he told. So I was really glad to be able to get a hold of his book, which contains many of the stories he will tell on the road.
I’m really hesitant to spoil any of the stories told within the book because he’s just such a great story teller, but one of my favourite sections of the whole book was the negotiations with general manager Tommy Ivan, who is quite the character. It ultimately results in a coin flip for $250,000.
Dennis’ memory is top-notch as well, so he’s able to liven up all his stories with the little memories which always makes stories better. Like the fact that Phil Esposito gave the Canadian Ambassador to Sweden a hard time due to there being no Canadian beer in Sweden. He felt that there should be because there’s a flight to Sweden every day!
In summary, you will not be disappointed by this book. I’ve read a lot of dry hockey player biographies and this was anything but – Dennis Hull tells his stories and tales from the road in a very entertaining way, and there’s never a dull moment in this book.
Even though I’m a little bit young for the Hull era that wasn’t enough to stop me from thoroughly enjoying the book. Dennis paints a very great picture of what is going on, and I would highly recommend reading it. If you have a hockey fan on the Christmas list then they won’t be disappointed when they receive The Third Best Hull in their stocking.
You can purchase The Third Best Hull at Amazon by clicking here.