A few of the upcoming books in my reading queue are either quite lengthy or quite detailed, meaning that these will not be quick reads. This one is one of those of the latter quality - and quality is the key word as this is a high-quality book on one of the biggest underdog hockey teams to ever compete for the Stanley Cup. Here is my review of "Klondikers"
Title/Author: "Klondikers:
Dawson City's Stanley Cup Challenge and How a Nation Fell in Love with Hockey"
by Tim Falconer
Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)
Review: While many sports books, no matter the sport, do combine history, social events of the time and even national pride while discussing a particular event in the sport's history, this book about a hockey team from the Yukon competing for hockey's most prized trophy, the Stanley Cup, is a masterful combination of all these subjects.
Tim Falconer takes the story of a rag-tag hockey team from
Dawson City and follows them not only on their journey to Ottawa to take on the
defending Cup champions, but also provides readers with excellent information
on the Klondike gold rush that resulted in the formation of Dawson City. He
also paints a very good picture of both the social situation in Canada as they
were emerging into the 20th century and becoming less influenced by
Victorian-era norms.
Not only Canadian history is portrayed in the book – two
excellent hockey history subjects are discussed as well. Readers who may not be
familiar with either the origin of the Stanley Cup or how the early version of
the sport was even rougher than it is today will enjoy learning more about
hockey in the early 1900's.
The person most important in the transformation of the
Stanley Cup to become hockey's most holy grail, P.D. Ross, is portrayed
extensively here as well as Weldy Young, who was the player who was most
responsible for the success of Dawson's team and made them believe that their amateur
team could compete for the Cup. At the
time, amateur teams, not professional, were competing for the trophy as Dawson
competed with Ottawa about 15 years before the creation of the NHL and one of
the more stubborn Victorian-era traditions still in vogue was the purity of
amateurism. While not explicitly stated
by Falconer, it was clear that this was still the belief in the country and
professional players would somehow taint this image. That quickly came to pass, but the nation's
fascination with the voyage that Dawson took to play those two games was
clearly a nod to the amateur status.
Unfortunately for Dawson, the weeks-long journey caught up
to them and their lack of conditioning resulted in an easy victory for Ottawa. Nonethless, the entire nation was captivated
by the Klondikers and this story is part of the legacy of how hockey became the
national sport for Canada. Even after
the tourney, Dawson played more games in the east and Maritimes, some with
great attendance, in order to not only raise funds for the trip back but also
to allow the fans who followed them to see them play.
No matter which aspect of the Klondikers' interests a
reader, they are sure to be pleased with this book. It is detailed and will have to be read
carefully to fully appreciate all the information, but when all is said and
done, this book is well worth the significant amount of time required to invest
in it.
I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Link: https://ecwpress.com/collections/hockey/products/klondikers
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