Mind Over Matter

Hard-Won Battles on the Road to Hope

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Paperback
$17.00 US
On sale Oct 07, 2025 | 208 Pages | 9780735242289

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Following the bestselling success of the inspiring All the Way, pioneering Inuit NHLer Jordin Tootoo begins the process of healing in the wake of the suicide and violence that marks his family, only to discover the source of all that trauma in his father's secret past.

For some hockey players, retirement marks the moment when it’s all over. But Jordin Tootoo is not most hockey players.

Having inspired millions when he first broke into the league, Tootoo continued to influence people throughout his career—not only through his very public triumph over alcoholism, but also his natural charisma. And now, years after hanging up his skates, he is more committed to doing things the right way and speaking about it to others, whether it’s corporate executives or Indigenous youth.

But the news of unmarked graves on the grounds of residential schools brought back to life many of the demons that had haunted his family. In a moment of realization that left him rattled and saddened, Tootoo fit the pieces together. The years that were never spoken of. The heavy drinking. The all too predictable violence. His father was a survivor, marked by what he had survived.

As he travels back to Nunavut to try to speak with his father about what haunts him, he encounters the ghosts of the entire community. Still, as Tootoo says, we are continuously learning and rewriting our story at every step. He has learned from his mistakes and his victories. He has learned from examples of great courage and humility. He has learned from being a father and a husband. And he has learned from his own Inuk traditions, of perseverance and discipline in the face of hardship.

Weaving together life’s biggest themes with observations and experiences, Jordin shares the kind of wisdom he has had to specialize in—the hard-won kind.

JORDIN TOOTOO plays right wing for the NHL New Jersey Devils and has also played for the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators. Of Inuit and Ukrainian descent, he is both the first Inuk player and the first player to grow up in Nunavut to participate in the NHL.

View titles by Jordin Tootoo
© Peter Tym

STEPHEN BRUNT is an award-winning writer and broadcaster for Sportsnet, and the co-host of The FAN 590’s Writers Bloc with Jeff Blair and Richard Deitsch. He is the author of the #1 national bestsell­ing Searching for Bobby Orr and All the Way, with Jordin Tootoo. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and in Win­terhouse Brook, Newfoundland.

View titles by Stephen Brunt

About

Following the bestselling success of the inspiring All the Way, pioneering Inuit NHLer Jordin Tootoo begins the process of healing in the wake of the suicide and violence that marks his family, only to discover the source of all that trauma in his father's secret past.

For some hockey players, retirement marks the moment when it’s all over. But Jordin Tootoo is not most hockey players.

Having inspired millions when he first broke into the league, Tootoo continued to influence people throughout his career—not only through his very public triumph over alcoholism, but also his natural charisma. And now, years after hanging up his skates, he is more committed to doing things the right way and speaking about it to others, whether it’s corporate executives or Indigenous youth.

But the news of unmarked graves on the grounds of residential schools brought back to life many of the demons that had haunted his family. In a moment of realization that left him rattled and saddened, Tootoo fit the pieces together. The years that were never spoken of. The heavy drinking. The all too predictable violence. His father was a survivor, marked by what he had survived.

As he travels back to Nunavut to try to speak with his father about what haunts him, he encounters the ghosts of the entire community. Still, as Tootoo says, we are continuously learning and rewriting our story at every step. He has learned from his mistakes and his victories. He has learned from examples of great courage and humility. He has learned from being a father and a husband. And he has learned from his own Inuk traditions, of perseverance and discipline in the face of hardship.

Weaving together life’s biggest themes with observations and experiences, Jordin shares the kind of wisdom he has had to specialize in—the hard-won kind.

Author

JORDIN TOOTOO plays right wing for the NHL New Jersey Devils and has also played for the Detroit Red Wings and the Nashville Predators. Of Inuit and Ukrainian descent, he is both the first Inuk player and the first player to grow up in Nunavut to participate in the NHL.

View titles by Jordin Tootoo
© Peter Tym

STEPHEN BRUNT is an award-winning writer and broadcaster for Sportsnet, and the co-host of The FAN 590’s Writers Bloc with Jeff Blair and Richard Deitsch. He is the author of the #1 national bestsell­ing Searching for Bobby Orr and All the Way, with Jordin Tootoo. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and in Win­terhouse Brook, Newfoundland.

View titles by Stephen Brunt

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