A moving story of family, loss, love, and hope.

Noah Nicholson has a gift. He is blessed with extraordinary hand-eye coordination. This gift has helped him build a successful career as a minor-league hockey player. But Noah is damaged. His parents died in a car accident when he was twelve, and he has dealt with mental health issues ever since. It's only after Noah loses his gift in a career-ending injury that he is able to begin the healing process.

Readers will meet indelible characters: Noah's mother, cerebral and mentally tough; his good-natured, even-keeled father; his crusty grandmother, who has a soft spot for Boston's sports teams; his effervescent, talented, Russian-born teammate, who becomes Noah's mentee; an orange cat whose meow doesn't have an 'm'; an eleven-year-old girl who looks like Pippi Longstocking; and the pediatric dentist with a sense of humor and a crooked smile who makes her way past Noah's defenses and captures his heart. Then, of course, there is Noah himself. Smart, selfless, and silently struggling. We cheer for Noah, but unlike the fans who come to watch him play, it is not in appreciation of his singular, one-of-a-kind gift. Instead, we cheer for Noah because he is plainly, ordinarily human.

Thanks to all who attended the 4/11 signing event -- we sold out all copies! We are holding another signing event prior to the Lightning's Game Four of their Round 1 series with the Panthers on Saturday, April 27. Fans can purchase paperback copies of the novel on Ford Thunder Alley just outside the entrance to the Lightning team store. Dave will also sign copies for fans who have already purchased the book!

Once the new shipment arrives, there will be copies available for purchase in the Lightning's plaza retail store.

Dave Mishkin will donate a portion of book sales to Tampa Bay Thrives.

Tampa Bay Thrives is a coalition of community leaders committed to improving mental health and substance use disorder issues in our region. Their goal is to strengthen behavioral health outcomes by mobilizing communities, improving early intervention, and guiding access to professionals.

For more information, click here.

In the late 2000s, Dave Mishkin had an idea for a novel.

A minor-league hockey player, whose parents died in a car accident when he was a boy, struggles with his mental health. The player possesses uncanny hand-eye coordination, but after being hit with a puck in the eye, he is forced to retire. Then, the player begins his recovery.

Excited by the premise, Dave started writing. Before long, however, he became stuck, unable to advance the story. Frustrated, he left the fledging manuscript on his computer’s hard drive, thinking he'd return to it at some point. Or not.

The years passed. In the spring of 2022, the Lightning were on the brink of elimination in a first-round playoff series. Facing the prospect of a longer offseason, one in which Dave had no projects planned, he wondered how he might occupy his time. His wife, Dulcie, suggested he revisit the novel.

Over the next several weeks, the story came together in Dave's mind. As it turned out, the Lightning survived their first-round series and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. At that point, he was ready to restart. Keeping only a small portion of what he had produced earlier, he began again. He wrote the entire novel in three and a half months.