{"product_id":"we-breed-lions-rick-westhead-9781039012936","title":"We Breed Lions: Confronting Canada's Troubled Hockey Culture","description":"\u003cb\u003eA hard-hitting and powerful look at hockey's moment of reckoning in Canada, and the ways in which a game that is so universally loved has been rocked in recent years by court cases involving sexual assault and shocking incidents of hazing and abuse throughout junior hockey.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe allegations read like a scene out of a horror movie. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFive National Hockey League players, all of them 18-year-old Canada World Juniors at the time, are alleged to have sexually assaulted a young woman in a London, ON hotel room in June 2018 over several hours. When the players learned that the alleged victim had reported the incident to the police, they allegedly threatened her to drop the complaint. Hockey Canada kept the details of the case out of the spotlight and came to a confidential financial settlement with the plaintiff, paid out of a secret slush fund worth millions of dollars that the organization kept on hand to settle such complaints quietly. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn May 26, 2022, TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead broke the story surrounding the Team Canada junior players and Hockey Canada's handling of the case, immediately sending shock waves throughout all levels of the hockey world. Once the story went live on the TSN website, Westhead's inbox on X filled with messages from people who wanted to share their personal stories on how they had been impacted by hockey's toxic culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWe Breed Lions\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Rick Westhead does a deep-dive into the state of hockey in Canada today. He gives voice to those who have been sexually assaulted by hockey players, revealing the struggles they've had with local police officials in their efforts to seek justice. He also goes inside the dressing room to find out how attitudes of misogyny and homophobia continue to flourish, and speaks to former players who were forced to perform degrading acts of initiation in order to join the team. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLooming large in Westhead's extraordinary reporting are the gatekeepers of the game--league officials, team owners and members of the sport's governing bodies--who are reluctant to impose change from the outside and willing to sacrifice the well-being of their players and the community for profit. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWesthead offers hope for hockey's future, profiling those individuals and organizations who are committed to educating players around issues of consent, putting an end to hazing and redefining what it means to be a man on and off the ice. Featuring a Foreword by bestselling author Stephen Brunt, \u003ci\u003eWe Breed Lions\u003c\/i\u003e will surely generate an enormous amount of debate and discussion among parents, players and all of those who love the game of hockey and want to see it get to a better place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rick Westhead\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1039012930\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781039012936\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Canada\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/04\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs","brand":"Rick Westhead","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46825942122751,"sku":"9781039012936","price":28.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_2dd470ca-85d0-4d93-9533-8463d2f45c20.jpg?v=1746074092","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/we-breed-lions-rick-westhead-9781039012936","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}