The biggest story of the 2000-2001 National Hockey League season began as a whisper in Pittsburgh, and then raged across the sports pages and web sites of North America as the holidays neared. Mario Lemieux, the super-sized star of the National Hockey League driven too young from the game at which he excelled, was contemplating a comeback. In the wake of an interminable string of ailments and injuries, Super Mario had left the game in 1997 and limped into the Hockey Hall of Fame, barely into his thirties. By age thirty-four, he was president of the Pittsburgh Penguins, once again resurrecting a foundering franchise, this time in a suit. Ironically, accepting that responsibility only heightened his desire to address some unfinished business...on the ice. Healthier than he had been at any time in the last five years of his playing career, No.66 confirmed his return to the NHL ice wars, a belated Christmas present for Pittsburgh and the hockey world. Few could imagine the impact he would have on the league. From his early days as a hockey prodigy to the brilliant rise of his career (and its unexpected fall due to injury) and finally his return in a blaze of glory, "Mario Lemieux: Over Time" is the definitive book on one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

    From Fielding Yost, who made the decision to build the team a rink with artificial ice before the Depression (which ensured hockey would be played during those lean years), to coaches Joseph Barss, who survived World War I and the ghastly Halifax explosion before becoming the program's first coach, to Red Berenson, who struggled to return his alma mater's hockey team to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. Players from Eddie Kahn, who scored Michigan's first goal in 1923, to Brendan Morrison, who upon winning the 1996 national championship with his goal said, "This is for all the [Michigan] guys who never had a chance to win it."Blue Ice also explores the players' exotic backgrounds, from Calumet in the Upper Peninsula to Minnesota's Iron Range to Regina, Saskatchewan; how coach Vic Heygliger launched the NCAA tournament at the glamorous Broadmoor Hotel; and how commissioner Bill Beagan transformed the country's premier hockey conference.In Blue Ice, fans of hockey will learn the stories behind the curse of the Boston University Terriers, the hockey team's use of the winged helmet, and the unlikely success of Ann Arbor's home-grown talent.Unlike other sports at the collegiate level, the hockey players at Michigan haven't been motivated by fame or fortune; rather, they came to Michigan get an education and to play the game they loved.John U. Bacon has won numerous national writing awards and now freelances for Sports Illustrated,Time,ESPN Magazine,and the New York Times, among others.

    It captures the highlights of the regular season--the key players, the key moments, the key acquisitions. It captures the intensity and emotion of every game of the postseason, from the team¿s Round 1 sweep of Vancouver to their scintillating comeback in the Stanley Cup Finals and their eventual Game 7 triumph. It captures the celebration and euphoria of the team and the city, especially for celebrated veteran Ray Bourque, who until this championship had had the distinction of playing the most NHL games without a champion¿s ring.

    84-year-old Tom Gaston is the Leafs longest reigning season ticket holder, owning seats for more than 60 memorable seasons and attending games since the team's 1927 inauguration. He was at the very first game played in Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, and has been to every one of the Maple Leafs' opening nights since. He has watched the Toronto franchise play in nine decades, in three arenas and in eleven Stanley Cup victories; and today, still attends most home games. A Fan For All Season remembers the excitement of the Leafs first seasons in the 20's, through the early years of the 30's, the thrilling Cups of the 40's, 50's and 60's, the frustration of the Ballard era passing through the Leafs dressing room in the 70's and 80's, the mixed emotions of saying goodbye to Maple Leaf Gardens in the 90's and the anticipation of a Stanley Cup victory in the new millennium. Over the years, Tom Gaston has become a personal friend of the Maple Leaf organization and with many of the players and management, both past and present. Through his close relationship he has enjoyed special honour and privilege and candidly recounts the many entertaining and exciting events he witnessed and participated in during his 74 years as a Maple Leaf Fan. A Fan For All Seasons takes a highly personal and very original historical perspective on the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL's most storied franchises.Author Biography: Tom Gaston was recently featured in a Sports Illustrated article, profiling him as an extraordinary fan. He appeared ina MasterCard television commercial describing Bill Barilko's 1951 Stanley Cup winning goal and his photo graced the tickets for the Toronto Maple Leafs' opening night of the 2000/01 season. He has been an active volunteer at the Hockey Hall of Fame for over 20 years and for his commitment, the honoured member inductee book has been dedicated in his name and reads, "In honour of Tom Gaston, a great friend and volunteer of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum. Dedicated, Friday November 4th, 1994." Tom Gaston passed away January 2002.Kevin Shea is a native of Windsor Ontario, where he played junior A hockey. He recently co-authored Centre Ice, the Smythe Family, the Gardens and the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Club, with Tom Smythe and is currently working on his next book with retired Maple Leaf star, Ron Ellis, releasing Fall 2002.

    He didn’t know, then, that he would spend most of his professional career watching, describing, and commenting on professional hockey. As the play-by-play announcer for the Montreal Canadiens for some 30 years, and as a member of the CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast crew for almost as long, Dick Irvin has seen thousands of NHL games. Some he witnessed from an improbably perfect vantage point at the end of the team bench. He saw many more from the broadcast booth in all the storied arenas of the NHL, from the Boston Garden to the Chicago Stadium – but especially from the Forum in Montreal.In this book, Dick Irvin weaves together strands of hockey history with his own stories of professional hockey’s greatest moments, from the 1940s, through the Original Six era, the rough-and-tussle 1970s, the successive dynasties (Habs, Islanders, Oilers) of the 1980s, to the present age of limitless expansion. Dick Irvin has watched and been close to many of the game’s giants – those on both sides of the boards – and he shares his knowledge and keen insight with the reader. My 26 Stanley Cups is a unique contribution to hockey lore, and for hockey fans, an unequalled treat.

    As a young boy, the father was schoolmates with the Conacher brothers, now famous hockey stars. His son knows their stories by heart. One night, Charlie Conacher appears and buys tickets to a game for himself and the father and son. A shared love of hockey and each other makes this a memorable tale.

    Here is an inside look at the exciting, suspenseful, sometimes outrageous world of an NHL game -- on the ice and in the sin bin.

    Culled from the archives of the biggest names in sports photography, these images chronicle nearly a century of the world's fastest team sport. From the bone-crushing checks to the blistering slapshots, from the finesse of players to the loyalty of fans, the pages of Best Shots capture all the elements that make hockey the coolest game on earth. Introductory comments from a hockey legend and NHL Commissioner Gary B. Bettman provide unique insiders' perspectives on this riveting game. Among the memorable images captured in Best Shots you'll find: Gordie Howe's toothless grin after career goal number 545, one more than Maurice Richard...; Ken Dryden, tower of strength in Montreal's net in the 1970s, resting on his stick in his trademark pose...; His sutured skin bleeding rough bandages, Jacques Plante, having just taken a shot in his bare face, dons a mask and returns to finish the game in November 1959...; An instant after scoring the Stanley Cup-winning, overtime goal of the 1970s finals against St. Louis, Bobby Orr flying through the air like Superman...; Montreal Canadiens' players joining freshman coach Toe Blake as he sips from the Stanley Cup in April 1956 to celebrate the first of five consecutive championships...