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Derek Sanderson: Crossing The Line

September 4, 2012 Hockey Blogs No Comments


Kevin Shea is back, this time writing the autobiography of none other than Derek Sanderson. Derek Sanderson: Crossing the Line is due out in October.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

Derek Sanderson had it all – fame, fortune and adulation. Sadly he lost it all too.

Sanderson made quite the impression on the Bruins faithful before he actually played with the Bs. In 1966 with the Bruins mired in cellar of the NHL, Bruin management held an exhibition match between their top 2 Junior teams, the Niagara Falls Flyers, led by Derek Sanderson, and the Oshawa Generals led by Bobby Orr. The game was to give Bruins fans a look at the future in Orr, but Sanderson had his own agenda. He was determined to get into a fight with Orr in that game. He was just making sure the fans would remember the name Derek Sanderson as much as they remembered Orr’s. Despite his attack on the “franchise,” Sanderson actually gained a lot of respect from fans and management for his style of play that game. Sanderson would go on to be a quintessential Boston Bruin.

At one point the highest-paid athlete in the world, Sanderson played with and against the era’s legends, winning two Stanley Cups and assisting on Bobby Orr’s famous diving goal in 1970. Off the ice, “Turk” was one of a kind. He drove a burgundy Rolls-Royce, wore a fox coat and, when asked what winning the Stanley Cup meant to him said, “The difference in the money is whether I take a college chick to Cape Cod or a Playmate to France.” But behind the glory, Sanderson was an alcoholic and an addict. He bottomed out, losing it all, and ended up sleeping under bridges. At one point he was so sick, he had to use crutches to walk.

Crossing the Line is about Sanderson’s crazy days as a player but also about his road back to health. Sanderson has spoken to hundreds of thousands of young people about the dangers of his former lifestyle and now helps young athletes and others to avoid the pitfalls of instant fame. Sanderson does not hold back in this highly entertaining and truly inspirational book.

Buy The Book: Amazon.ca – Chapters – Amazon.com

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