Translated from the French by John Glassco Award winner Casey Roberts, Power Forward is Sylvain Hotte’s compact second instalment in the Break Away series, yet it works well as a standalone tale of the crucible thousands of Canadian teen boys face at the end of every summer as hockey training camps ramp up.

Narrator Alex McKenzie is a hotshot 16-year-old hockey player from Quebec’s Lower North Shore about to attend his first major junior rookie camp with the hope of cracking the team’s roster and one day making it to the pros. But rookie camp in Quebec City is a far cry from the relative innocence of midget hockey in his hometown, where his hobbies include fishing and ripping up back roads on an ATV.

In the city, the wilderness-loving Alex already feels like a fish out of water when he accidentally witnesses his teammate and buddy Tommy being injected with a syringe in the basement of a dingy gym. On the ice, Tommy is increasingly belligerent and showing all the signs of steroid-induced rage. Meanwhile, the behaviour of Alex’s long-time coach, Larry, is becoming erratic as he faces a life of unfulfilled expectations and separation from his young daughter.

Set against the backdrop of the highly charged world of competitive junior hockey, Power Forward captures the often random combinations of naïveté and smarts, impulsiveness and calculation, and compassion and cruelty experienced by young people on the verge of adulthood.