Title/Author:
“Bench Bosses: The NHL’s
Coaching Elite” by Matthew Dibiase
Tags:
Ice Hockey, professional,
coaching, list
Publish date:
October 27, 2015
Length:
544 pages
Rating:
5 of 5 stars (Outstanding)
Review:
Most sports books that
are lists of the best or worst of something usually follow a tried and true
format – countdown to the top spot, a brief biography or recap of the team or
player and an explanation why the team or player is ranked at that spot.
Take that format and
throw it out the window when picking up this book on the best coaches in the
history of professional hockey. Hockey historian Matthew Dibiase devised a
format that takes both positive and negative accomplishments by hockey coaches
and ranked the best coaches from 1 to 50, with a few extra “honorable mention”
coaches.
His methodology is
simple in one respect – positive accomplishments such as playoff appearances
and Stanley Cup wins are worth one point each while negative accomplishments
such as a losing season or missing the playoffs lose one point each. Then a few
tweaks to allow for items such as different requirements for these
accomplishments through different eras and it makes for one of the best books
about any sport for comparing eras.
Hockey fans and
historians will appreciate the write ups for each coach, especially those about
coaches from the early days of the sport like Pete Green, Art Ross, Frank and
Lester Patrick and Ralph “Cooney” Weiland.
Even if the reader has not heard of some of these coaches from many
years ago, he or she will appreciate what that coach has meant to the game and
what he accomplished after reading that coach’s passage.
Another reason that I
believe that this is one of the best books about who is the best at what he
does is that Dibiase includes accomplishments in other professional leagues –
the Pacific Coast Hockey League and Western Canada Hockey League/Western Hockey League from the early 20th century and the World Hockey Association
from the 1970’s. By including a coach’s accomplishments in these leagues as
well, Dibiase gives a complete picture of what the coach achieved without shortchanging
him because he coached in a different professional league.
Finally, the book
doesn’t stop at just ranking these coaches. There are chapters describing who
was the best coach in each decade, which coaches often came close to making the
Stanley Cup finals but never made it, rivalries and separate short chapters on
each of the aforementioned other professional leagues. That gives the book even
more credibility as a complete comparison of these coaches over the history of
professional hockey.
The book can be read for pleasure or can be used for reference as well. It is an outstanding record of the best coaches the game has known and should be on the bookshelf of every hockey fan and historian.
I wish to thank Mr. Dibiase for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Book Format Read
Hardcover
Buying links:
Sounds very interesting. Does he describe their coaching styles and methods as well?
ReplyDeleteYes he does. If a coach was particularly good with offense or defense he notes that. Or if a certain style was preferred such as the neutral zone trap,he talks about that as well.
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