Penguin Random House Canada released Ted Nolan’s new book, “Life in Two Worlds: A Coach’s Journey from the Reserve to the NHL and Back,” on October 10, 2023. His memoir brings light to the difficulties he has faced “one pail of water at a time.”
Nolan is a native of Garden River Reserve, where he learned to play on a backyard rink, he made with a hand pump and a pail of water. He went on to play for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds with Wayne Gretzky, the Detroit Red Wings with Steve Yzerman, and the Pittsburgh Penguins with Mario Lemieux. Following his playing days, he entered the coaching ranks eventually finding his way back to the NHL. He won the NHL’s Jack Adams Trophy as the coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success” before a series of events pushed him away from the hockey world.
Nolan’s memoir is, at times, brutally honest about the abuse Nolan faced as a First Nations player and coach.
“When you’re just a boy, it doesn’t matter if you’re Black, Brown, White … it doesn’t really matter,” Nolan told The Carnegie Initiative. “The only thing you really want to do is just play and just be a part of something. But when your race and your color and your economic background interferes with that, something’s wrong with the system. I think every child deserves an equal and fair opportunity to pursue whatever they want to pursue. And the only thing I really wanted to do was just to play hockey.”
Nolan, a member of The CI’s Board of Directors, said many of the moments he describes in the book are “still raw” years after the end of his NHL career. The opening pages of “Life in Two Worlds” details the moment the Jack Adams Trophy arrived at Nolan’s doorstep of his home, a short time after finding himself out of coaching.
Nolan now works alongside his sons Brandon and Jordan with the 3Nolans, a group they formed in 2013 as a way to offer a hockey skills development camp for First Nation youth in First Nation communities across Canada. Like their father, both Brandon and Jordan made it to the NHL as players. Brandon played for the Carolina Hurricanes and Jordan was a member of the Los Angeles Kings, with whom he won two Stanley Cups.
Conversation with Ted
Ted Nolan sat down for an interview with The CI’s Eric Hammerstrom. Here are several excerpts from that conversation.
Order “Life in Two Worlds” through your local bookstore now.
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