What is Tropic of Hockey? It's a travelogue of a hockey fan. It's not just any travelogue. Bidini set out to see places not traditionally known for their hockey-ness. Even though Bidini travelled with the Rheostatics, he hated it, because it meant he couldn't play hockey. His wife had travelled around the world with out her man, so he wouldn't have to miss hockey. When Bidini discovered that he could play hockey and travel, that's when he decided that he could visit places not known for their hockey and write about it. Thus Tropic of Hockey was born.
The book takes place in three parts, each representing one leg of his search. He begins is China, then to the United Arab Emerites, and finally to Romania. Each area had something different to offer and each history was different, though the passion was equal in each area. Bidini didn't just go to play pick-up hockey either. He was able to hook up with some teams and play in tournaments, except in Romania.
China was the first stop, and it had the most interesting tournament. Bidini took part in the HK Five, a yearly tournament that'd been active for more than a decade. Teams came from al over the world, mostly asian areas. Teams were of a healthy mix, one team from UAE others made up of Canadians and Europeans living in Hong Kong and surrounding areas. Once the tournament was done, Bidini stayed in China but went north to Harbin, a city that had exposure from the Soviets and their hockey culture. Here Bidini hooked up with a team traveling from the U.S., a group of well-to-do folks. While he found playing with them fun, he was disappointed in the way the group looked down on the chinese. They took some cheap-shots during games and would trade stuff with the chinese, deals that were usually strongly in favor of the Americans.
In UAE, Bidini was exposed to an area very new to hockey. He met up with the same UAE team he'd met in Hong Kong and had the chance to actually play in a game with the team. The rink is UAE was quite nice and resembled a Muslim temple in many respects. Some Expatriates who'd gotten in good with some of the local rich folks and sold them on the game. The entire trip took place in Dubai, know for it's efforts to adopt winter sports to the climate by building massive indoor facilities (Ski Dubai is possibly the most famous). UAE provided the nicest facility by far of the trip.
The final stop was a small Romanian city called Miercurea Ciuc, Ciuc for short, located in Transylvania. Bidini was in town for the start of the Romanian hockey season and a game between the local team from Ciuc and Bucharest. One thing of note is the Cuic area is comprised of ethnic Hungarians who are not particularly popular with the rest of the country. It's reflected in the fact that the Bucharest team was well staffed and equipped via the government, while the Cuic team was left to fend largely for itself. They did not experience much success, but they had a deep hockey history in the town and a deep passion for the game.
Overall, I found Tropic of Hockey to quite engaging. Bidini is a good storyteller and does a great job of understanding the people he's talking about. Rarely to they come across as one-dimensional. Bidini seems to capture multiple sides of their personalities. That's quite good considering the short time he spent with most of them. While this is a book dedicated to hockey, Bidini does justice to the places he visits. He gives very vivid descriptions of each city and of the people. Not only that, but even connects what's happening to his past and his personal history with hockey. He even has some fun exchanges with people he meets where they name off players they know from the NHL. It's like a little game or an international hockey language.
The main issue I had with the book is rather minor. At times, Bidini over described things. Sometimes it seemed like I was reading the opening to A Tale of Two Cities. I can take a nice vivid description, but there comes a point when it's too much, and that happened on occasion. It didn't ruin the book by any means, but it was distracting at times.
Tropic of Hockey is a hockey book, but it's not just for hockey fans. I think anybody that has a passion about anything, whether a sport, traveling, or art could enjoy the book rather well. I think the approach Bidini takes makes it easy for a non-hockey person pick up the book and understand what Bidini is trying to say. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take my own Tropic of Hockey trip, maybe just get to watch hockey in different places. We'll see how my employer accommodates that desire with a healthy raise sometime.
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