Randy McKay reads his new book, “Lessons on the Rink” to Kim Harris’ class at South Range Elementary School in South Range. (Photo provided)

HOUGHTON — As he and his wife sit at their dining room table and take in a nice, warm May morning, Randy McKay has a smile on his face. Along with his wife, Amy, Randy, a former Michigan Tech Huskies and NHL hockey player, has written a children’s book that stresses the importance of family titled “Lessons on the Rink.”

The idea was actually one that Amy came up with, thanks to what she does for a living.

“I’m a publisher,” she said. “I have Avery Color Studios, and we normally publish all Great Lakes-oriented books, like (about) the Fitz (Edmund Fitzgerald). I have three authors, Wes (Oleszewski), Fred (Stonehouse), and Wayne Kadar, that do most of my writing. I have like 45 titles.

“We have like two or three new ones every year, same authors. I do have a new author, actually. Two new ones that have been doing well with the Fitz coming out. Well, the Fitz being the 50th anniversary last year, we had Alan Burke from Alpena approach us with a different version of the Fitz, more personal, more of the transcripts, what the guys went through, the family went through.”

After Randy’s son, Riley, had a son of his own, Amy got an idea.

“So, once we had Maverick, our grandson, I always would try to find hockey books for him,” she said. “This past Christmas, I found two really cute ones. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we should do a kids’ hockey book for Mav.’ That’s how it came about, and my nieces and nephews are all in it as well.”

Randy admits that Amy had been poking him about writing a book for quite some time.

“She always used to bug me,” he said. “I played a long time, (but) really, I wasn’t famous enough to write a book, so I’m not writing a book.”

But in the end, Amy won.

Included in the book is Randy himself, but as a father, an uncle, and a grandfather. Along with Riley and his other son, Dawson, are Maverick, and several nieces and nephews of Amy’s.

“Amy’s the youngest of 11 in her family, so she’s close in age to a lot of her actual nieces and nephews,” Randy said. “They’re younger, but we found a vacation with a few of them.”

Amy said the close-knit family became the driving force.

“So, then we decided (to write the book),” she said. “We came up with a storyline, the lessons you learn on the rink. And that’s how it came about, really, working hard, taking care of your teammates.”

The McKays have already been invited into classrooms of their nieces and nephews, and of other family friends, and the book has been overwhelmingly well received.

“We’ve been at, what, five, six, seven schools now,” said Amy. “I didn’t think Randy would go sit in front of a classroom of 8, 9 year olds and read a book like that. It’s not something he really was thinking either, but I was like, ‘That’s your audience.'”

Randy found he has enjoyed the experience.

“I don’t mind going in,” he said. “We’ve done a couple of them, just classes, like 20 or something for two of the kids that are in the book, Kindergarten, Grade One. They’re young, they’re just small classes. Then (we) went to Gladstone, and we did the whole second grade, which was 80 to 100 kids. They all came in the library. I read to them. They asked questions after. Those have gone well.”

Of course, it helps when they have read the book to classes that include the children in the book.

“When we went to the schools that the kids were at, like Jaelyn, who’s in there, all her classmates looked at her when they heard her name,” Amy said.

The book published in May, but, based on the response the McKays are already receiving, they wish they had gotten it out sooner.

“Unfortunately, it released towards the end of May, which, typically, is when I release my new stuff,” Amy said. “In hindsight, I probably would have released it maybe a little sooner, so then we could have gotten into more classrooms. But, I think, going forward, the fall is going to be perfect. Kids are going into hockey.

“Right now they’re all so excited to be, counting down their final days (of school). But, if we could have fit more in, we definitely could have. We did South Range, and that’s the only one local thing that we did.”

The book’s art is in the Pixar style, which Amy felt was the best way to show the emotions on the faces of the children.

“I wanted it to be more not cartoons, but, like a picture kind of style,” she said. “I just like the expressions. The faces, they just kind of bring out the story. You can see that the kids are excited. If you know the kids, it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, that’s perfect.’

“I like that Pixar style, more animated.”

For those interested in checking the book out, Amy has been working with local retailers.

“It is out there in bookstores, and we have an online presence,” she said. “I prefer to push people to my outlets like Copper World, Surplus Outlet, Keweenaw Gem and Gift. I would rather them go to Michigan Made.”

They have plans to expand their footprint locally, as well as to the larger audience. Randy has plans on reaching out to his contacts with the New Jersey Devils to see about helping push the book out to a larger audience of hockey fans throughout North America.

“I haven’t even gotten into trying to distribute the book through my connections in the NHL,” he said. “I’ve got to get it into Jersey, especially Jersey, just because I was there so long.”

“That’s our next step,” said Amy.

Randy McKay discusses his book, “Lessons on the Rink” with a classroom in Gladstone that includes his nephew Cameron. (Photo provided)