TBC: Certified Beauties

It has been a pleasure to have had the opportunities to read some great books over the last week that has allowed us to interview great authors on The Hockey Show. While I'm completely aware of the need for these authors to promote their books to help sales, it's been a better experience getting to know the people writing these books through our conversations. That holds true for today's book review as Teebz's Book Club is proud to review Certified Beauties: More of Hockey's Greatest Untold Stories, written by James Duthie and published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. If you were a fan of James Duthie's book, Beauties, this is the second book that he's written that deals with all the stories that hockey players trade behind the scenes about their craziest experiences and often hard-to-believe moments off the ice. If you need a good hockey story, Certified Beauties has a pile of them from the players themselves!

You already know James Duthie from his hockey work on TSN, but there's a lot more to James Duthie than just his TV work. James is an eight-time Canadian Screen Award winner, he has co-hosted Olympic Daytime coverage, he'll be heading to Milano-Cortina for men’s hockey coverage at another Olympic Games, he is an Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame inductee, he holds the key to city in Ottawa, he hosts TSN's coverage of The Masters and the CFL, he appeared in Goon 2 as some character named "James Duthie", he's a Carleton University grad, and he's the author of of a number of books including two that I have reviewed here on HBIC in The Guy on the Left and Beauties, and a third book today. James and his family live in Aurora, Ontario.

For everyone that has sat through a hockey interview where the same clichés and statements have been made by countless players, you know it gets a little repetitive. That's where Certified Beauties comes in because I'm quite certain the stories told by the players in this book haven't been heard by fans anywhere. Some may be known, but there are so many entertaining, funny, and heartfelt stories in Certified Beauties that you'll likely find yourself wanting to read the next one as soon as you finish a story! That happened to me!

The players who contributed stories are many with the likes of Kevin Bieksa, Darcy Hordichuk, Blake Coleman, Sam Gagner, Emma Maltais, Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Ray Whitney to name a few, but there were some amazing chapters about Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and Gardiner MacDougall and the UNB Reds that truly illustrate how good the game of hockey can be when great people set their minds on making the world a better place. For all the laughs that are contained within the covers of Certified Beauties, the chapters that tugged on the heart strings will remain with you.

I do want to make a special mention of the chapter that is entirely devoted to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau because it's their family and friends who contribute the stories about them to Certified Beauties. From these stories, you can tell that these two men were special in their own ways. It's hard to know that these two incredible men who cherished their time away from the game with the people they loved more the game of hockey were taken from us at such a young age, but the words used to describe them by their families and friends will give you new persepctive on these two wonderful men.

You might be wondering what kind of stories are found in Certified Beauties, and I'm here to say that the stories you'll read range from funny to "that couldn't possibly have happened". For example, Duthie has a funny story from current Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving about his time playing in the now-defunct Western Professional Hockey League for the Waco Wizards. He writes,

"The lights go out for the opening night introductions. Dramatic music plays. High above the rink, the wizard is hooked up to a wire and descends dramatically toward ice. He's waving his wand, pumping up the crowd. And then, 20 feet above centre ice, he passes out."

Can you imagine seeing a mascot descending from the rafters, pumping the crowd up, and then he just passes out? And the show must go on, so the opening night ceremony just continues until they finally realize that the wizard, lying at centre ice, has suddenly stopped being a willing participant! What did Brad do? What did his teammates do? Thankfully, there's a happy ending to Treliving's story, but Certified Beauties is packed with fun stories like this!

Overall, Certified Beauties can be rated as a beauty as the chapters are short with funny and heartfelt stories, so it makes it easy to put the book down if one needs a break. Duthie doesn't editorialize in the book often if at all, allowing the players' stories to shine through as though they were telling them to readers themselves. As such, it's an enjoyable read with some chuckles and the occasional tug at the heart strings, and, for these reasons, it's easy to award Certified Beauties with the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Certified Beauties was released on October 21, 2025, so you can find it on bookstore shelves and library shelves right now, assuming that there are copies remaining. This book would be a perfect Christmas gift for your older hockey fan as it does contain some strong language at times. Due to this, Certified Beauties is strongly recommended for older teens and adult hockey fans. However, the book is an excellent read with great stories, and Certified Beauties by James Duthie is highly recommended for your hockey fans and your bookshelf!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!