Search -
Cracked Ice: An Insider's Look at the NHL
Cracked Ice An Insider's Look at the NHL Author:Stan Fischler No major professional sports organization has undergone more turmoil--and embarrassment--in the past decade that the National Hockey Leauge. The NHL has faced management shake-ups, skyrocketing player salaries, franchise movement, expansion, and players' strikes while attempting to compete for the attention of sports fans against the "b... more »ig three"--baseball, football, and basketball. In this penetrating analysis, Stan Fischler examines the rise, fall, and attempted comeback of big league hockey. Fischler, a highly respected hockey reporter and author, gives an insider's look at the league's struggles on and off the ice while taking a look toward the sport's future. Fischler spares no one in Cracked Ice, not even icons such as Wayne Gretzky and Chris Chelios, while also taking shots at the sports media establishment and NHL officials. Cracked Ice is a revealing look behind the scenes at a league living on the edge.
A donut and a disappearance: the decline and fall of John Ziegler --
The 1992 strike and replacement of John Ziegler --
From Ziegler to Stein: punching up the NHL's image --
The NBA-ing of the NHL: enter Gary Bettman --
Facing death and hockey: about Simon, Mike Keenan and a heart --
The Bettman evolution --
The fall of Bruce McNall --
Prelude to civil war: the lockout looms --
The guns of October: war begins in earnest --
The dirt flies and the impasse hardens --
Getting hairy: digging in for the long haul --
A deal is made: the 1995 season begins --
Game on: the strange season --
From Quebec to Denver: the Americanization and possible death of hockey as we know it --
McMullen and the Mickey Mouse Club: the Devils strive for respect --
The NHL in the late nineties: New Jersey versus Nashville --
Will the Devils get a New Jersey: the NHL moves from the ridiculous to the bizarre --
Champagne versus the courtroom: climax of the Nashville-New Jersey NHL war --
And the final verdict is ... --
D (as in Devils) Day: the final "no" to Nashville --
A roller-coaster franchise: ups and downs with the New York Islanders --
From Alan Eagleson to Bob Goodenow: how the Players' Association became an NHL power broker --
Putting Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh back on track --
Big league hockey: where does it go from here?« less