Books for the Hockey Fan in Your Life

For seven decades, the Boston Garden functioned as both a de facto community center and the indoor entertainment hub of New England.

Known to millions as the home of the Bruins and Celtics, the Garden was also home to a variety of other events. The Boston Garden was truly a ""people's palace,"" serving as a venue for events both grand and humble, monumental and mundane. It was nothing less than the city's playpen, music hall, political clubhouse, tavern, cathedral, and living room. The Boston Garden opened on November 17, 1928, to an overflow audience who witnessed local boxer Dick ""Honeyboy"" Finnegan defeat reigning world featherweight champion Andre Routis in a non-title bout. Three days later, the Bruins greeted a crowd that fire department officials estimated was nearly four thousand above maximum capacity. The Boston Garden captures these moments and the unique relationship that was forged with the city right from the beginning. During the Great Depression, the Garden hosted countless community events, such as free public skating and religious services. It was Boston's main attraction with concerts, wrestling, school sports, and the ever popular Bruins. Later years saw the birth of the Boston Celtics in 1946 and their unsurpassed record of sixteen world championships. Following World War II and through the baby boomer years, performers as diverse as Liberace, Elvis, and the Rolling Stones also packed fans in. The Boston Garden was demolished in 1998 to make room for the Central Artery and private development, but it lives on in the hearts of New Englanders.

The Boston Bruins are America's oldest and most honored NHL franchise. Although they tasted success early on, the arrival of Bobby Orr in 1966 seemed like divine intervention. Over the past half-century, the Bruins have missed the playoffs only twelve times and have captured two Stanley Cups (1970 and 1972). When their twenty-nine-year streak of consecutive playoff appearances ended in 1997, it marked the conclusion of the longest such streak in North American professional sports history. From Shore to Orr to O'Reilly to Bourque to Thornton, the Bruins' style of play has been two-thirds ballet and one-third street fight. The Bruins in Black and White: 1966 to the 21st Century, the second book in this two-volume illustrated history, celebrates the storied success of this legendary team.

In the beginning, the Boston Bruins were a rough tribe of Canadian tradesmen seeking their fortune with the first American team in the fledgling National Hockey League. When the Bruins played their first game in 1924, hockey was already a staple of the Boston sports scene. It was the prospect of attracting the capacity crowds that supported Boston's local club and college teams that lured Charles F. Adams to invest in the franchise. The Bruins were both an outgrowth of local tradition and a manifestation of the ambitions of the NHL. Their roster has included the likes of Eddie Shore, "Dit" Clapper, and the greatest player of all time, Bobby Orr. The photographs in The Bruins in Black and White: 1924-1966, the first of a two-volume illustrated history, document the success of Charles F. Adams's investment and the achievements of players who proudly wore the Bruins colors. Their passion, commitment, and love of the game are evident on every page.

Boston University has been synonymous with college hockey excellence for more than eighty years. Since taking the ice for the first time in 1918, the Terriers have fashioned a storied history that has consistently placed the program among the nation's elite.

Boston University Hockey chronicles the many National Collegiate Athletic Association Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Hockey East, and Beanpot championship team moments; the myriad accomplishments of individual players and coaches, such as Rick Meagher, the "BU Four," Jack Kelley, and Jack Parker; and the overall legacy of achievement by the long line of skaters who have donned the scarlet-and-white sweaters. The illustrations in Boston University Hockey (including many that have never been published elsewhere) offer a compelling view of a team that has won more national titles than any other eastern college hockey school.

Springfield has a dynamic hockey history that dates back 80 years, beginning with the Springfield Indians. One of the first professional hockey teams in the United States, the Indians were an inaugural member of the Canadian-American Hockey League. The Indians helped form the American Hockey League, where Springfield won seven Calder Cups, including a record three in a row from 1960 through 1962. Major-league hockey followed in the mid-1970s, when the New England Whalers came to town. Today, the Springfield Falcons carry on the city's great hockey legacy. Several hall of famers have skated for Springfield-based teams over the years, including Gordie Howe, Brian Kilrea, Chuck Rayner, Earl Seibert, Eddie Shore, Billy Smith, and Lorne "Gump" Worsley. Hockey in Springfield is the story of the teams, players, and coaches who make up one of the richest hockey traditions in all of North America.