Book Description There are few sports that are faster or more physically punishing than professional hockey. There are also few sports that can claim to have produced such a rugged， fearless brand of athlete. While great stick-handling skills and play-making ability have always had their place on the ice， it is important to remember that hockey is a team sport， and a physical one at that. The winning team is always the physically dominant team--or， to personalize the issue: Mark Messier has won more Stanley Cups than Wayne Gretzky or Pavel Bure.Call them character players， grinders， power-forwards--whatever term you wish--today's hockey has produced an unparalleled group of strong， tough and talented players. Athletes such as Brendan Shanahan， Eric Lindros， Keith Tkachuk and of course Mark Messier play the game in a demanding， physical way. All are talented goal scorers， all can skate as well as any player in the league， all deliver punishing body checks and take an enormous amount of punishment. These players aren't goons (although they have no difficulty going toe to toe with any of the league's premier fighters)--no， their job is to play the game as hard and tough as possible.Fearless examines these athletes in a way never done before. Stunning photography from Dan Hamilton--one of the great shutter bugs to cover the sport--is expertly mixed with detailed player histories and bone-crunching anecdotes. The result is a book as fast-paced and colorful as the sport itself. Fearless delivers in a way that only the players it portrays can approximate. About the Author Murray Townsend is a regular contributor to The Hockey News and the Toronto Sun. He writes a weekly on-line column for the Hockey News website at thn.com. In addition， Townsend works for the world renowned crew of Hockey Night in Canada providing research and on-demand statistical information during broadcasts. For the last seven NHL seasons Townsend has written The Hockey Annual， a well-respected insider's guide to the upcoming season. For the past 15 years， Dan Hamilton has extensively photographed all levels of hockey. He has covered the NHL extensively for the Hockey News for the past 13 seasons， traveling to venues across the continent. Hamilton's photos have regularly appeared in Sports Illustrated， ESPN Magazine， NHL Licensed hockey trading cards and in the Hockey Year calendar. Among the most in-demand chroniclers of the sport， Hamilton's images are famous for their clarity and capturing of the sport's action and immediacy.