The Red Deer Rebels are in a rebuilding year. But their rookie head coach, Luke Nestor, is not accustomed to losing. As a player, he has led numerous teams to championships in junior and minor pro leagues. But this year his challenge is a big one. Relying on the talents of his prodigious but reluctant superstar, Will Topplehorn, and his short-fused Russian goaltender, Vanek Vilisi, Nestor will attempt to lead an unproven but determined group of fledgling junior players to the ultimate junior hockey prize: the Memorial Cup.
But as is true of real life, each player brings with him his own baggage: his own history, issues, values, aspirations, and demons. Memorial follows the lives of Coach Nestor and seven of his players as they attempt to figure out their own lives and their place in the turbulent elite hockey world. The stories of eight main characters converge into one in this fast-paced emotional roller coaster that delves into friendship, trust, acceptance, betrayal, and forgiveness, while illuminating all the adrenaline and vividness of junior hockey. This true-to-life story spares the reader none of the hard realities of this world and its participants.
