ALA Booklist (Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2011)

Filled with exciting action, this slim title in the Record Books series showcases the history of the Preston Rivulettes, a Canadian hockey team of teenage girls who played together for 10 seasons, from 1931 until 1940, without losing a game and at a time when many believed that girls could not play the sport and needed chaperones to make sure they did not get into trouble. The accounts of the games offer moment-by-moment details of the players skating down the ice, pushing through the opposing team, and shooting the puck past the goalie into the net, and Adams deepens the story with the historical background of the Great Depression and the team's struggle to find money. Occasional archival photos and boxed inserts add to the clear, readable account, which does not mince words about women's struggle at the time ack to the ice or back to the kitchen" en as it celebrates the Canadian champions.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

Adams provides a history of Canada's Preston Rivulettes women's ice hockey team. Hailing from a small Ontario town, the future legends formed an all-female hockey squad in 1931. The athletes drew crowds throughout the Great Depression, playing "about a hundred games and [losing] only two of them!" Short chapters, a compact trim size, and archival photographs enhance the accessible, if slim, package. Glos., ind.

Kirkus Reviews

In the 1930s, the Canadian female ice-hockey team called the Rivulettes dominated the ice. During the Great Depression, women's ice-hockey teams across Canada fought an uphill battle to scrape together enough money to play. From 1931-1940, the Preston Rivulettes, led by Hilda Ranscome, overwhelmed all other teams, capturing the national title in the four years that they could afford to travel far enough to compete for it. With the pressure of the war, and because they were no longer capturing fan enthusiasm since they always won, the Rivulettes disbanded in 1942. After the war, the culture had changed, and women's ice hockey nearly disappeared until a recent rebirth. This effort describes in detail many of the key games the team played over that decade and the way that their remarkable record has been largely ignored by the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Though the book effectively captures the scrappy nature of the games (with numerous penalties in each for high sticking and fighting), disappointingly, it lacks any significant biographical information on team members. Only a couple are very briefly sketched. Readers will wonder what made this team so great; more information about the players might have provided key insights. Those with an interest in ice hockey or sports history will enjoy the account, even for though it falls short of excellence. (Nonfiction. 10-14)