They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, a Team, and My Comeback Season
- Book Review,
by Ken Baker
From Publishers Weekly
Eight years after his college hockey career ended and two years after a successful brain surgery, Baker, a writer for U.S. Weekly, decided to try to play professional hockey for the first time. After working out at recreational rinks, he made the jump to a low-level minor-league team as an emergency goalie, in the oil-town of Bakersfield, Calif., (surprisingly, a hockey hotbed), for a team willing to take him on in the name of research. In a style that is equal parts George Plimpton-gonzo and Rocky Balboa-triumphalism, the author spends much of the book chronicling the culture of the team and his intense desire to play on it. Indeed, he gets almost no ice time; the story derives its suspense not from the question "how he will play?" but the question "will they ever let him play?". Yet Baker's account maintains a powerful narrative thrust, thanks to the neat structure of a professional sports season and the author's appealing psychological candor. Baker also shows great range-the characters on his team are colorful and the descriptions of life at the lowest echelons of professional sports are as poignant as they are startling. Though he lets in a few cheap lines (he has a tendency toward the maudlin as well as toward locker-room and self-help clichés, and he mentions his brain tumor so often it starts to feel calculating), the narrative remains touching and surprisingly effective. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Hockey exerts a mesmerizing hold on its participants and fans, as exploits like Baker's attest. Once a highly touted high-school player, considered a strong possibility for the U.S. Olympic team, goalie Baker's pro hockey aspirations were forestalled during college by a brain tumor. After his recovery, the allure of the fast-paced hockey world surged within him again. He took a break from a budding journalism career to give hockey a last shot, joining the minor-league Bakersfield (California) Condors. And he was back in that strange but serene world between the pipes, blocking biscuit-sized pieces of hard rubber hurtling at him at speeds up to 100 mph. Ah, sports bliss! Baker's story conjures the spirit of another great tale of boisterous minor-league hockey, the movie Slap Shot, but possessed of the old-pro-in-the-minor-leagues charm of that classic baseball flick, Bull Durham. Better than celluloid by virtue of being a professional writer's true story, Baker's tale of an old goalie's last stab at playing in the NHL is one of the sports books of the year. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
"A riveting and often hilarious account." -The Hockey News
"Inspirational . . . colorful descriptions make this a fun read." -Los Angeles Times "One of the best sports books of the year." -Booklist
Ken Baker wanted nothing more than to play ice hockey with the pros-until a brain tumor cut his dreams short while in college. After surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback.
He moved away from his family to become the third-string goalie for the Bakersfield Condors, an AA-level minor-league team in the dusty oil town of Bakersfield, California. At the age of thirty-one, Baker became the oldest rookie in all of pro-hockey, facing 100-m.p.h. slap shots and long bus rides, hostile fans and cheap motel rooms, body bruises, and battle-worn teammates.
From his visit to an NHL training camp to his first nerve-rattled minutes as a pro, Baker joins the rookies who still dream of making it to the Show, the veterans long past their prime, and the obsessive fans who keep them going. When the season is over, Baker's pro-hockey adventure ends up teaching him nearly everything he will ever need to know about life.
From the Back Cover
Ken Baker wanted nothing more than to play ice hockey in the pros, until a brain tumor cut his dreams short while in college. After surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback.
He moved away from his family to become the third-string goalie for the Bakersfield Condors, a AA-level minor-league team in the dusty oil town of Bakersfield, California. At age thirty-one, Baker became the oldest rookie in all of pro hockey, facing 100-m.p.h. slap shots and long bus rides, hostile fans and cheap motel rooms, body bruises and battle-worn teammates.
From his visit to an NHL training camp to his first nerve-rattled minutes as a pro, Baker joins the rookies who still dream of making it to the Show, the veterans long past their prime, and the obsessive fans who keep them going. There's the coach who tests Baker at every turn; the troubled captain who gets arrested for battery on his wife; the former NHL goon who stages fights out of boredom; and the team's other goalies, who eye the newcomer warily, knowing there's only room for one of them in the net. Baker's pro-hockey adventure ends up teaching him nearly everything he will ever need to know about life.
About the Author
KEN BAKER is the West Coast executive editor at Us Weekly and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, Premiere, and ESPN magazine. A native of Buffalo, New York, Baker is also the author of the critically acclaimed Man Made: A Memoir of My Body. He has all his teeth.
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