Review of "Hammered"

While the reading volume has slowed down as I get busy with the holiday season and work at my full time job picking up, that doesn't mean that the books I do get to read are any less interesting.  This one is a good example - the memoir of former hockey enforcer Dave Schultz. 

Title/Author:

“Hammered: The Fight of My Life” by Dave Schultz with Dan Robson

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Hockey fans will recognize the name Dave Schultz, even if they were not around to witness his legendary fights on the ice. He was one of the early “enforcers” in hockey, who would often fight or cause other ruckus on the ice. This was usually done to protect star players or to send a message to the other team that our team will not back down. His record of 472 penalty minutes in the 1974-75 season still stands. He tells his story in this memoir written with Dan Robson.

The book starts off very dark, with Schultz sharing a scenario where he is in a fight – but it is not on the ice.  Instead, he talks about provoking a fight with a bartender.  That was an attention grabber, and it worked to grab the attention of this reader. It was a good metaphor about his fight against his alcoholism.  He would fight (argue and resist, not with fists like the metaphor) those who tried to help him such as ex-teammate Bill Clement.  He would fight while in treatment.  Once done, he would fight (and still is fighting) to try to stay clean.

There are other fights he talks about, such as trying to suppress the memory of being sexually assaulted when he was a child.  He never shared that with family, his wife nor others until recently.  He was also fighting off depression over his losses, especially those of his brother and father, as well as his divorce. 

While this sounds like an unhappy book, it really isn’t as bad as this description sounds.  It is clear that he is working his way through them.  He talks about many happy memories with family and especially while in hockey.  His best days in the NHL were with the Philadelphia Flyers and he shares excellent accounts of not only his play, but that of his team when the Flyers won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. What is also notable about this part of the book is how he recalls the Flyers and himself in particular drawing the ire of NHL President Clarence Campbell for the rough style of play that helped the Flyers win. 

Schultz did not end his career with the Flyers, as he also played for the Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.  He did not find the same joy with those teams like he did with the Flyers and like his other battles mentioned above, he was fighting off bouts of anger when playing for those teams.  While the book overall is not a happy one nor is it one where Schultz comes off as looking for sympathy or redemption, I found it an interesting read as someone who is realizing what life has thrown at him and his way of addressing it as he enters the latter stages of life.  It made for an interesting read.

I wish to thank Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: Hammered: The Fight of My Life: 9780735247017: Schultz, Dave, Robson, Dan, Parent, Bernie: Books

Review of "The Game That Saved the NHL"

I read most of this book on a train ride to a baseball game.  Now, I usually like to read about the sport I am going to see on those trips, but this book had me intrigued, so I had to do so then.  It didn't disappoint as I really enjoyed it.  Here is my review of "The Game That Saved the NHL"

Title/Author:

“The Game That Saved the NHL: The Broad Street Bullies, the Soviet Red Machine and Super Series ‘76” by Ed Gruver

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:  In the 1970’s, professional hockey in North America (two leagues at that time, the NHL and the WHA) was undergoing an identity crisis.  Long believed to have the most superior players and teams, Canada had barely won the Summit Series in 1972 against the best in Russia after being overconfident early in the series.  Nearly four years later, after some growling by NHL officials that the Russians had never faced the best teams instead of a group of all-stars, it was decided to have the two best squads in Russia, the Red Army team and the Wings, face eight of the best NHL teams at that time. This book by Ed Gruver focuses on the last of these matchups that pitted the Red Army team against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers earned the nickname the “Broad Street Bullies” due to the location of their arena and their very physical style of play.  They were very popular with the fans and apparently with the author as he refers to them as the Bullies instead of the Flyers much more frequently throughout the book.  Nonetheless, the book as a whole is more of a look at that Flyers team with the actual game being the climax of the story – even though it does finish when the Flyers lost the Stanley Cup finals later in 1976 to the Montreal Canadiens.

The stories of the players and of head coach Fred Shero are the best aspect of the book and they are interspersed throughout.  Whether it was a superstar such as Bobby Clarke, a fighter like Dave Schultz or a player not so well known such as Ed Van Impe, Gruver will give the reader a mini-biography on each one profiled and connect it back to the story.  The best example of this was during the most famous part of the Flyers, er, Bullies game against the Red Army.

Van Impe laid a check into the best offensive player on the Red Army team, Valeri Kharlamov, that left the Russian star down on the ice for 10 minutes.  When coach Konstantin Loktev protested for a penalty to be called and none was whistled, he pulled his team off the ice.  This incident is probably the most remembered moment, but the game did showcase the hockey skills of the Flyers, er, Bullies as well as their physicality.  That they won by the score of 4-1 is less important than the fact that they were given notice by officials that they had to win the game for political reasons as well as proving that NHL hockey was just as good as Russian hockey.

That Gruver was able to cover all this ground is a tribute to the work he put into this project. He will come across as pro-Bullies and NHL here, but that fits the mood at the time since this was at the height of the Cold War.  Fans of that era of hockey, whether they favored the NHL style or the Russian style, should pick up this book.

I wish to thank Lyons Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Link: The Game That Saved the NHL: The Broad Street Bullies, the Soviet Red Machine, and Super Series '76: Gruver, Ed, Watson, Joe: 9781493074976: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "Slim and None"

I have to admit, I love to read anything about hockey teams that no longer exist. One of these teams is the Hartford Whalers and when I found this memoir of the original owner of the Whalers, I knew that it had to have some great stories about the team. It certainly did and told the story of a very interesting person.  Here is my review of Howard Baldwin's autobiography "Slim and None.

Title/Author:

“Slim and None: My Wild Ride from the WHA to the NHL and All the Way to Hollywood” by Howard Baldwin with Steve Milton

Tags:

Ice hockey, professional, memoir, Whalers, Penguins, Flyers, owners

Publish date:

October 7, 2014

Length:

320 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

Even though he was a good athlete through high school and college, Howard Baldwin never thought to have a sports career as a player – instead he wanted to own a team.  He achieved that dream at the young age of 28 as one of the partners of the New England Whalers of the fledgling World Hockey Association. How he got there and what he did with the team, as well as his future endeavors are captured in this wonder memoir that is entertaining, informative and full of great memories for hockey fans.

Baldwin doesn’t spend too much time talking about his childhood or his college days.  After his time in the Marines, he dives immediately into his sports career, becoming a ticket manager for the expansion Philadelphia Flyers in 1967. When Gary Davidson had an idea to create a rival hockey league in 1972, Baldwin convinced two other men to become the owners of the brand new New England Whalers franchise. The team was one of four WHA teams to join the NHL in 1979 as the Hartford Whalers – a merger (although for business reasons it was called an “expansion”) between the two leagues in which Baldwin played a key role.

How Baldwin and the Whalers got there and their years in the NHL makes for great reading. How the team and the entire WHA league was able to make deals with players, negotiate rent for arena time and yet still provide excellent hockey is covered throughout the book. It is clear that Baldwin is very passionate about the Whalers and the city of Hartford even after he sold his shares in 1989 and the subsequent move of the franchise to Raleigh in 1996.

Life after the Whalers is discussed in depth as well in the same entertaining manner – Baldwin later moved to the West Coast after marrying his second wife Karen and was instrumental in making San Jose a viable NHL market. However, that lead to a very brief tenure as an owner of the Minnesota North Stars. He went from Minnesota to Pittsburgh and was able to celebrate the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup championship with them.  He also went on to become a successful movie producer with his wife, the most notable of his films being the hockey movie “Mystery, Alaska.”

Hockey fans will love the stories of the WHA and some of the wisecracks Baldwin makes. One of my favorites came during the discussion of the final season of the WHA, when it finished with six teams, only four of which would join the NHL. Baldwin stated that “the NHL had its Original Six and the WHA would have its Final Six.”  His relationships with people like Jack Kelley, whom he hired from Boston University to become the first Whalers coach and GM, are told with reverence. It is clear that he feels that he should do right to people who help him or work for him and it is really no surprise he became such a successful team owner.

This was one of the few memoirs that I read in one sitting because I was riveted to the book’s hockey stories and Baldwin’s writing that was easy to read.  It was entertaining, insightful and a book that is highly recommended for hockey fans.  People who have fond memories of the Hartford Whalers will especially love this book.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LWFF3E0?keywords=slim%20and%20none&qid=1450748612&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/slim-and-none-howard-baldwin/1119185311?ean=9781770893634

Review of "The Winter Classic"

Have you noticed that the biggest sporting event on New Year's Day is no longer one of the college football bowl games?   It is now a regular season hockey game, the NHL's Winter Classic.   This is a review of a book on this "new" New Year's Day tradition. 

Title/Author:

“The Winter Classic” by Russ Cohen and Michael Del Tufo

Tags:

Ice hockey, professional, New Years Day, Penguins, Sabres, Flyers, Bruins, Red Wings Blackhawks, Rangers

Published:

November 15, 2012

Length:

162 pages

Rating: 

2 1/2 of 5 stars (readable)

Review:

This book was okay but disappointing in several ways.  It contains too many editing errors.   I counted five typographical errors in the book.  The pictures that were included in the electronic version were negatives, not the photos.

It has most factual items correct and these were nicely done since the authors experienced them. However, a glaring mistake is one about the next Winter Classic in 2014.  It states that the game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs will feature teams in different conferences.  This is incorrect.  The NHL is realigning and the teams will now be in the same conference.  I mention this because the book was written and published after the realignment was announced.

The book's structure makes it easy to follow.  For each Winter Classic game, there is a narrative about the venue, why it was chosen, the politicians and NHL officials talking about the location.  This is one section of the chapter.  Next are interviews with players about playing at such a site.  Then the recap of the game itself, a rundown of the rest of the season for both teams and what is coming next.   These make for an easy means of looking up information in the book.  However, I felt there was inconsistency with the writing style.  Sometimes more emphasis was placed on describing the venue, other times it was on the game itself.  I felt that this made reading the entire book challenging.   This wasn't aided when there were extra sections in the chapters for the 2011 and 2012 Winter Classics when HBO also was filming footage about the participating teams.  

My last disappointment with the book is that the authors barely acknowledge the other two outdoor games played in Canada, the Heritage Classic.  Yes the book is titled The Winter Classic.  But if the Heritage Classic games are going to be mentioned, give them the same respect as the Winter Classic games as well. 

Overall, I thought that while the book had its good points and entertaining moments, I felt that there was room for improvement and a more complete accounting of all outdoor NHL games to this point would have been better.  It isn’t a bad read – I did enjoy parts of the book – I just closed the book hoping for more.

Did I skim?

Yes.  I wasn’t interested in reading about the two times that HBO featured the two participating teams, as mentioned in the review. I did read some of the first chapter on this topic, when the Penguins and Capitals were on the show, but grew tired of it and skipped over the last few paragraphs of that chapter.  Then when the Flyers and Rangers were featured and the authors wrote about them, I skimmed really quickly through that portion as well.  I didn’t completely skip it in case there was something interesting to learn, but I didn’t read much of this section either. 

 

Did I learn something new?

Yes.   The reader will learn just how big the event has grown in the five years it has been in existence.  I also learned what some of the other side events take place other than just the hockey game, such as the skating rinks and fan festivals that are going on in the days leading up to the Classic.

Pace of the book: 

Good for the most part.  Again, I only felt like it dragged during the sections about HBO.   

Positives:

I did like learning about each venue and what extra attractions and activities they featured to engage fans and to make the experience fun for fans and players alike.   The authors experienced this for themselves and it showed as a reader can see the joy they had in participating in these events.

Negatives:

The worst of these have been mentioned in the review (typos, lack of information on Heritage Classic games, and the upcoming Detroit-Toronto Classic), so I will not rehash them here. 

Do I recommend? 

Yes.  Despite the number of stars, I do believe hockey fans will enjoy at least parts of this book.  For those who were interested in the HBO shows but didn’t get to see them, those chapters do a good job of detailing the contents of the show.    I would also recommend for those interested in purchasing this book to buy the paperback version as the pictures in the eBook were of poor quality.

Book Format Read:

EBook (Kindle)

Buying Links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AG3A808/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img