Searching for Terry Punchout
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4.2 • 25 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A 2026 Canada Reads Selection
Shortlisted for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award
Shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
Garden State meets King Leary in this slapshot debut novel.
Adam Macallister's sportswriting career is about to end before it begins, but he's got one last shot: a Sports Illustrated profile about hockey's most notorious goon, the reclusive Terry Punchout-who also happens to be Adam's estranged father. Adam returns to Pennington, Nova Scotia, where Terry now lives in the local rink and drives the Zamboni. Going home means drinking with old friends, revisiting neglected relationships, and dealing with lingering feelings about his father and dead mother-and discovering that his friends and family are kinder and more complicated than he ever gave them credit for. Searching for Terry Punchout is a charming and funny tale of hockey, small-town Maritime life, and how, despite our best efforts, we just can't avoid turning into our parents.
"An assured debut, wryly funny."—Literary Review of Canada
"A story of a father, a son and hockey that set[s] heart and mind reeling."—Chris Benjamin, Atlantic Books Today
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We got lost in this friendly, intimate tale of small-town Nova Scotia and the religion of hockey. Aspiring sports journalist Adam Macallister begrudgingly returns home for the sake of a story about a legendary hockey enforcer—who happens to be his estranged dad. As he faces family and old friends for the first time in a decade, Adam realizes that sometimes a man's got to stand tall and fight for what he believes in. Smart, funny, and warmhearted, Tyler Hellard’s debut novel definitely deserves a few stick taps.
Customer Reviews
Searching For Terry Punchout
I don,t know much about hockey but I enjoyed the book very much. It gave me a new slant on the game and it's players. I am the youngest of a large family and grew up in a small town in Ontario. The book reminded me and made me curious about small town dynamics. I have moved over forty times in my life and your book made me realize I have just been trying to find small town Ontario again.