'67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire |
Buy '67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire here, one of 750 Hockey History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 86883 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hockey History > Item 180
|
'67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire
|
by Damien Cox and Gord Stellick
Sales Rank: 372328
|
List Price: $34.95
$25.51
At Amazon
on 11-2-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 288 pages
Published by: Wiley October 14, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0470834005
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0470834008
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
Weighs: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
It was the last gasp of a hockey empire. Amidst the dying embers of the Original Six, the Toronto Maple Leafs combined a collection of fading veterans with a sprinkling of untested youngsters to surprise the hockey world and capture the 1967 Stanley Cup.
It was a team layered with complicated, sometimes frail characters, from loveable Johnny Bower to cerebral Brian Conacher; from sensitive Frank Mahovlich to Allan Stanley, a childhood pal of tragic Bill Barilko; from Jim Pappin, who led the team in scoring that unforgettable spring but was quickly cast aside, to Dave Keon, a true believer who gradually became bitterly alienated from the team.
The reflected glory of the Cup also concealed a great deal. Harold Ballard was beginning the process of ripping Maple Leaf Gardens from the hands of the Smythe clan and committing crimes that would lead him to jail. The seeds of what would become a lurid pedophile scandal were being planted. Personal feuds that last to today were being formed. Tim Horton was en route to becoming both a Canadian business icon and a tragic footnote to Leaf history.
Award-winning Toronto Star journalist Damien Cox and former Leaf general manager Gord Stellick tell the story of this unique team. About more than just hockey, this is a story about a time and a place when change in both society and sport was at hand. It looks at the heroes and the myths and offers a new look at the contradictions, the legends, the shame and the glory of ’67.
Product Description
In 1967 the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in a stunning defeat of the mighty Montreal Canadiens in Canada’s centennial year. Thirty-nine years later (and counting), no other Leaf team has been able to do it again. As the years pass, the legend grows. The men who were the Leafs in 1967--a scrappy group of aging players and unsung youngsters--were the kings of this universe, the last hockey heroes to skate in the world's most important hockey city. They were the men with the right stuff who enjoyed the perks and privileges that went with it.
Sixty-Seven is not just another hockey book about that legendary team, but a unique and total look at the contradictions, the legends, the shame and the glory of '67. Within five years of that '67 victory, two key members of the team, Tim Horton and Terry Sawchuk, would be dead due to alcohol and drug-related issues. The man who had succeeded Smythe as King of Carlton Street, Harold Ballard, was in jail. The seeds of what would become a horrifying pedophile scandal a quarter-century later were being planted. All that had been built up over the course of decades was in the process of being torn down.
Sixty-Seven will tell previously untold stories, funny and tragic, from the inside of that unforgettable dressing room. And beyond the story of the team, it will tell the story of the times, a time of innocence before Vietnam and Watergate, the last year of the Original Six-Team NHL, and the last gasp of the hockey dynasty built by the legendary Conn Smythe. The story of Sixty-Seven extends well beyond that of a hockey team that found a way to win.
Reader Reviews
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a long, storied member of the NHL as one of the "original six" franchises, but their history in recent decades shows a futility that is starting to close in on the one known by Ranger fans like me for many years until 1994 (only Chicago has gone longer without a Cup). The last Toronto Cup came in 1967, which not completely coincidentally was the last year of the "Original Six" era of the NHL before the onslaught of expansion, and it is about this team that this book is chiefly concerned with. The approach by Cox and Stellick is quite interesting. Chapters on the individual games of the playoffs are interspersed with a deeper look at the players of this team and their careers before and after 67, as well as the general history of the Leafs itself during this time and how things were not well in the ranks of management with poor decision making by GM-Coach Punch Imlach that in effect gutted the team's future, as well as the misdeeds of co-owners Stafford Smythe and Harold Ballard that also helped run the team into the ground in the years that followed. Cox and Stellick also recount the details of sordid tales of sexual abuse by Maple Leaf Gardens employees that weren't known for decades, that was also sadly part of the fabric of this last era of winning hockey in Toronto. About the only quibble I have with the book is their whitewash of disgraced Players Union head Alan Eagleson, whom they interviewed in regards to his role in trying to form the union at the time. It almost seemed like that in order to talk to Eagleson for this book, they had to promise to go easy on him regarding his later disgrace and frankly that doesn't speak too well of them. Aside from that, this book is the best I have ever seen that offers some well-written insight into what the NHL was like in the last years of the Original Six era, and even the casual hockey fan should be able to enjoy it.
Back To Top
|
'67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire
Available from Amazon
Price: $25.51
Updated on 11-2-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer '67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an Empire and other related Hockey History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about Hockey History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
