Harper jokes he settled for PM job when his NHL dreams didn’t pan out

TORONTO – Stephen Harper may have written a book about hockey, but he says his knowledge of the sport didn’t translate that well on the ice.

While promoting his new book “A Great Game: The Forgotten Leafs & The Rise of Professional Hockey” on Toronto’s CityTV, Harper said he had to “settle” for being prime minister instead of playing professional hockey.

Harper played for the Leaside Lions, a Toronto team, in his youth but says he scored only three goals in three years and wasn’t “the great player people remember.”

The prime minister says he started working on the book nine years ago as a way to escape the pressures of politics.

And while he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of writing another book, Harper says he’s picked up another hobby for now: music.

He performed a seven-song set Sunday night at a Toronto fundraising dinner in his honour organized by the Jewish National Association.

“Right now I need a bit of a break (from writing),” he told the morning talk show Breakfast Television.

“Hitting the deadlines in the last year or so was a bit of pressure on top of the job so I’m spending my spare time now doing a bit of music instead.”