Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Foreword xi
I Hockey History
1 Toronto's "Dreaded" Three-Goal Lead 2
2 The Second-Longest Game 5
3 How Hockey's First Major Strike Led To New York Getting Its First NHL Team 11
4 The NHL's Most Incredible Fight 13
5 The Bootlegger and the body checkers 18
6 The Night the rangers got talked out of a Playoff Berth 21
7 Hockey's Amazing Brother Acts 24
8 The Other Olympic Miracle, In 1960 27
9 A Brotherly Broadcasting Trifecta 32
10 How Uncle Sam Beat Johnny Canuck to Pro Hockey 33
11 The "Perfect" Goalie is a Hoax 34
12 How to Become a Trainer by Walking Down the Street 36
13 Why Joining a Union Once was Dangerous for Hockey Players 38
14 How a Detroit Fan Turned a Live Octopus into a Winning Team's Symbol 40
15 Babe Ruth, Buck and Frank Boucher 42
16 The Other Stanley Cup 44
17 The Richard Riot 46
18 First Goalie to Use a Water Bottle 49
19 How the Elephants Beat The Rangers-Three In A Row 50
20 How the Rangers Teased Gordie Howe Off the Team 53
21 World Hockey Association-The Little League that Could, Almost 55
22 The Strange Travels of the Stanley Cup 59
23 How the Ducks Created an NHL Team On long Island 63
24 How a Walk Around the Block Saved the Islanders Franchise 66
25 Santa's Favorite Hockey Team 68
II Colorful Characters
26 The Sweet All-America "Doctor" Turns Sour Goon 72
27 How an NHL Player Created a New Rule 16
28 How to Turn Superstitions into a Win 78
29 The Gaye Stewart Kiss in the Garden 79
30 Petty Cash 80
31 How Lynn Patrick Regained a Roster Spot When his Father, the G.M., Said No 83
32 How a Bullet Becomes a Corkscrew in One Easy Lesson 85
33 Turnabout Is Fair Play 86
34 From the Penalty Box to the Pulpit 88
35 Hap Day and Walter Pratt 91
36 How Ching Johnson was Un-American to the Americans 94
37 The Hockey Player Who Served as the Team Clown 96
38 The Hockey-Intense Mayor of New York City 98
39 Hockey Organists are Part of the Fun 99
40 Marcel Pronovost-The Most Embroidered Man in Hockey 101
41 The Most Traveled Stickhandler 103
III Unlikely Heroes
42 A One-Eyed Referee Becomes a Hall of Famer 108
43 Red Berenson-From Obscurity to Stardom in One Easy Six-Goal Game 112
44 Bill Stewart-Baseball Umpire Becomes Blackhawks Coach; and Wins A Cup 113
45 Male Ends NHL's Longest Shootout 115
46 Coyotes Pluck Amateur Goalie to Serve as Backup-After Ilya Bryzgalov Falls Ill 117
47 How a Busher Won the Longest Playoff game 120
48 The Totally Improbable Devils 1988 Playoff Run 126
49 The Mystery NHL Cameo Appearance of Larry Kwong 128
50 There Is Atavern-And A Goalie-In The Town(Alfie Moore) 132
51 Miracle Myles 135
52 How One of Hockey's Greatest Stars was Discovered on the Football Field 137
53 Joe Miller-A Joke Book and a Goalie 139
54 The Most Totally Improbable Two-Goalie Rotation 141
55 How the Skinniest Guy Became A Top Scorer 142
56 Punch Mach's Improbable Playoff Crusade 145
57 How Mickey Mouse Became a Rallying Cry for the Devils Franchise 149
IV Incredible Feats/Personalities
58 How a Long-Shot Horse Bet Turned Toronto into a Winning Team 154
59 The Ultimate Case of Rubber-itis-And an Incredible Save At Sea 157
60 They Said It Couldn't Be Done and Yet It was Done-But Only Once! 159
61 He Scored a Goal, But Not With his Stick: How Come? 163
62 How "The Captain" Delivered on his Guarantee 165
63 The Impossible-One-Man Scoring Spurt-Three Goals in 21 Seconds 167
64 Hockey First, Sleep Later 169
65 Hats Off, Derek!-How a Rookie Did the Impossible in his NHL Debut 170
66 Red Kelly-The Most Astonishing Transformation 172
67 Leo Reise, Jr.: A Defenseman with a Strategic Offense 174
68 Someone Who Actually Played for Several Hockey Teams, a Basketball Club, and the Brooklyn Dodgers 176
69 Don't Mess With the Rocket 178
70 Art Coulter: A Hero for the Rangers-A Hero for the Coast Guard 180
71 A Record that Can Never-Ever-Be Broken, Thanks to Butch Goring 181
72 The Coach with a Trifecta of Championships-Gentleman Joe Primeau 183
73 From Stairway to Stardom 185
74 Staal, Staal, and Staal 186
75 Who's MEL Hill? Check Out "Sudden Death," and you'll find Out! 188
76 Not Only the Greatest, But the Only Ambidextrous Superstar Scorer 191
77 Charlie Gardiner-A Study in Courage Beyond the Call of Duty 192
78 How Pentti Lund Extinguished the Rocket's Red Glare 195
79 The Un-Masked Goalie and his Amazing Record 198
80 The Most Sittched-Up Player in Hockey was Also One of the Best 201
81 One Winning Goal Pictured Two Different Ways 203
V Outrageous
82 How the Rangers Pulled A Re-naming Filmflam for an Entire Season 206
83 The Red Wing Who "Couldn't" Shoot The Puck in the Ocean 209
84 The Linesman Who Never Forgot that he was a Hall of Fame Hitter 212
85 When the Mob Nearly Mauled a Goalie 214
86 How a Live Goose Vetoed a Live NHL President 218
87 By Dogsled to the Stanley Cup Final 222
88 The Live Skating Bear on Hockey Ice 224
89 If the Name is Too Long - Change It! 228
90 When Two wrong Giacomins Make a Right 229
91 "Kill the Referee"-This I'm It Nearly Happened 231
92 Jake Milford-Traded for Two Hockey Nets 234
93 The Wrong Metz Won the Most Cups 235
94 Taking a Bath with Tubby 238
95 Fired Because of a Hot Poker Hand 239
96 The Near-Kidnapping of a Rangers Star 240
97 There was Magic in Leone's Big Wine Bottle 241
98 The Most Unusual Goal by a Goalie 245
99 How a League President Created Phony Hockey Games and Got Away with it 247
100 The Naked Goalie was Grattoony 249
101 When the Absolutely Perfect Goal Net Wasn't So Perfect After All 250
