The Boys of Winter - Wayne Coffey

$10.04 at Amazon.com

Buy it if: You love a well-told story, especially when it’s true. Or you’re from Minnesota.

Don’t Buy it if: Your reaction to Miracle: “That was boring, I already knew the ending…”

It’s tough not to be a sucker for a good, underdog sports story. Rocky, Invincible… Even Major League fits the bill to a degree. But a good story only gets you halfway to a good book. It’s the writing that brings you home. The Boys of Winter should be a familiar story to some – probably most – of you reading. ‘The Miracle on Ice’ is certainly one of the most-referenced sports moments in history, so what new can be added? And how does one tell a tale most readers already know?

In reality, this book probably contains little, if any, new information about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team. Winter sports aficionados and ice hockey buffs will not be enthralled by previously undiscovered facts. The names and faces will certainly be familiar to anyone who had a drivers license by 1983. And is there anyone who doesn’t know who won the 1980 USSR vs. USA match up in Lake Placid?! Still, Wayne Coffey delivers nearly essential reading with excellent prose on three fronts: The sport, the player and the game.

The Sport:

For those who don’t know a blue line from a crease, not to worry…no necessary term is left undefined, no insider hockey knowledge is required. Coffey does an excellent job of describing techniques, scoring, etc without overwhelming or leaving a reader in the dark. It’s fine line to walk, but he pulls it off consistently.

The Players:

From legendary (and legendarily feared) Herb Brooks to enigmatic Jim Craig, the author weaves the backstories of the men on the 1980 roster (and a few who were left off) in and out of the narrative throughout the book. It’s not an uncommon technique for historical storytelling, but Coffey executes it uncommonly well. These are fascinating men, brought together from remarkably different walks of life. Placing each story into the context of the whole brings a surprising amount of depth to a book that covers a year of development and competition in only 272 pages.

The Game:

Anyone with ears, eyes and the ability to understand sports can tell you where they were when the US beat the Russians. (I was being Christened. No, I don’t remember it, but I know because everyone else that was there does.) Sportswriting is hard enough when the game is fresh in everyone’s mind, but the ‘Miracle on Ice’ was over a quarter of a century ago. And you know – unless you’re a complete moron – how the big showdown turns out. That Coffey can write this latest account and keep a reader so excited, so intrigued with the intricacies and details of what actually made the game what it was, is a testament to his skill as storyteller. Like the race scenes in Seabiscuit, the words draw you in to the past so much so that it feels present, something much easier said than done.

There are probably dozens of books more detailed, more technical or simply more intense than The Boys of Winter. But for those of you that missed it – or those you who want to relive its simple joy and excitement – I can’t imagine you’d find a better vehicle than this. The worn and wrinkled pages of my own copy stand witness to my belief that this is easily one of the best sports books ever written.