In the days of Roch’s childhood, winters in the village of Ste. Justine were long. Life centered around school, church, and the hockey rink, and every boy’s hero was Montreal Canadiens hockey legend Maurice Richard. Everyone wore Richard’s number 9. They laced their skates like Richard. They even wore their hair like Richard. When Roch outgrows his cherished Canadiens sweater, his mother writes away for a new one. Much to Roch’s horror, he is sent the blue and white sweater of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, dreaded and hated foes to his beloved team. How can Roch face the other kids at the rink?

First published in 1979 in a collection of adult stories and later made into an award-winning animated short film by the National Film Board of Canada, Roch Carrier's The Hockey Sweater is now firmly established as a Canadian classic. Basing the story on his own childhood growing up in St. Justine, Quebec, in the 1940s, Carrier describes the passion that he and his friends had for hockey, and particularly for the exploits of hockey great Maurice "The Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens. Roch and his friends all have red Canadiens sweaters emblazoned with Richard's famous number 9. When Roch outgrows his sweater, his mother orders him a new one from Eaton's in Montreal. The sweater that arrives two weeks later, though, isn't a Canadiens sweater but the blue-and-white sweater of the Toronto Maple Leafs, which Roch can't imagine wearing under any circumstances. But wear the Leafs sweater he must, with hilarious consequences. Sheldon Cohen's warm, rich illustrations are a perfect match for Carrier's exuberant text