In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Sudden Death Overtime can be murder. This trivia challenge really is.

“Sudden Death Overtime: the Great Canadian Hockey Media Mystery Trivia Challenge” is a contest where slashing is more than a two-minute penalty.Two teams face-off on Facebook for this social media trivia challenge that gives everyone a taste of the spine-chilling programming at Bloody Words 2011, Canada's annual gathering of mystery readers and authors, being held this year in Victoria.

Arthur Ellis-nominated Canadian author Michael McKinley (The Penalty Killing, Hockey: A People’s History) has prepared a series of hockey-related crime questions based both on true crime events and fictional crimes. Two teams of two players each (one media representative and one Canadian mystery writer) will compete in a single-game challenge for the title of Great Canadian Hockey Media Mystery Trivia Champion.

The challenge takes place May 19 at 7:00 p.m. on the Bloody Words conference Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BloodyWords). Just like the Stanley Cup playoffs, there’s a “best of seven” set of questions with the first team to answer four correctly winning the championship.

The Victoria Villans (Team Victoria) features the dynamic duo of Grant McKenzie (Editor-in-Chief, Monday Magazine) and Gabriola Island mystery writer Roy Innes. McKenzie is also a crime writer whose debut novel, Switch (Bantam UK, Heyne Germany and Penguin Canada) continues to earn fantastic reviews. Innes is the author of the Inspector Coswell mystery series published by NeWest Press. His latest is Murder in the Chilcotin, was published in 2010.

The Cold Cases (Team Vancouver) boasts the dreaded Russell-Lynch combination. David Russell is an actor, improviser, former talk show and kid's television host. His novel Deadly Lessons was short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award. Brian Lynch is a writer and editor with the Georgia Straight weekly in Vancouver. He's been interested in the intersection of hockey and crime since the Flyers first won the Cup in 1974.
McKenzie, Innes and Russell are all members of the Crime Writers of Canada who will be attending the Bloody Words 2011 conference, June 3-5 in Victoria. Bloody Words brings readers and writers from across Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere together to discuss all aspects of the crime/mystery genre. The annual event began in 1999 and features panel discussions, workshops and presentations on crime forensics, writing, manuscript evaluations and readings by leading mystery writers.

For more information on Bloody Words 2011, please check out: www.bloodywords2011.com