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Hockey Night Fever: Mullets, Mayhem and the Game's Coming of Age in the 1970s
Modern hockey was born in the sport's wild, sensational, sometimes ugly Seventies growth spurt. The forces at play in the decade's battle for hockey supremacy-dazzling speed vs. brute force-are now, for better or worse, part of hockey's DNA. This book is a welcome reappraisal of the ten years that changed how the sport was played and experienced. Informed by first-hand interviews with players and game officials, and sprinkled with sidebars on the art and artifacts that defined Seventies hockey, the book brings dramatically alive hockey's most eventful years.
- GenresHockeySportsNonfiction
416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2015
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January 11, 2016
“The Bruins story of all time had Esposito recuperating at Mass General after surgery. In burst a masked surgeon - Orr in blue scrubs. “OK wop-po, you're coming with us.” Acting on Dr. Orr’s orders, teammates wheeled Espo out the door and into an elevator. The kidnappers peeled off existing railings to ram their fallen comrade’s gurney out of the hospital. Finally, they were bobsledding Esposito through icy Boston streets. “Turning, stick out your hand,” Orr instructed Phil at one point. Minutes later, they arrived at Bobby’s bar, the Branding Iron, for yet another Bruins team party.”
Stephen Cole looks at hockey’s wildest, most unpredictable era: the 1970s. By following the decade’s most dominant teams - the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Montreal Canadiens - Cole examines the game's transition from the classy sportsmanlike conduct of the 50s and 60s to the rough and tumble brutality of the 70s.
By the time the disco decade danced onto the scene, the NHL had been experiencing a lull in popularity. Luckily for them, the game was evolving. Gone were the days of sportsmanship and honour; enter mullets, missing teeth and bruised knuckles. When Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito’s Boston Bruins changed how the game was played with their mixture of skill and intimidation, you either had to get with the times or get out of the way.
It wasn’t long before Orr’s army inspired the famed Broad Street Bullies, Bobby Clark’s ferocious Flyers, a team that destroyed and punished their opponents in the rink. While they were busy bruising bodies, the Montreal Canadiens were constructing an unbelievable juggernaut. By the time 1976 rolled around, the Habs produced a team so full of talent, that even today they’re still arguably considered the greatest hockey team ever assembled.
While the bulk of the book’s focus is on those three hockey clubs, Cole also sheds some light on the 1972 Summit Series, the rise of the WHA (World Hockey Association) and the NHL expansion. They’re welcome distractions from the sometimes monotonous play-by-play but it also left me wanting more information - especially on the WHA. There are probably other books written on the subject, so it’s a minor complaint. After all, Cole can’t include everything.
Hockey Night Fever is an uncompromising look at the vicious yet brilliant talent assembled in hockey’s most tumultuous decade.
Stephen Cole looks at hockey’s wildest, most unpredictable era: the 1970s. By following the decade’s most dominant teams - the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Montreal Canadiens - Cole examines the game's transition from the classy sportsmanlike conduct of the 50s and 60s to the rough and tumble brutality of the 70s.
By the time the disco decade danced onto the scene, the NHL had been experiencing a lull in popularity. Luckily for them, the game was evolving. Gone were the days of sportsmanship and honour; enter mullets, missing teeth and bruised knuckles. When Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito’s Boston Bruins changed how the game was played with their mixture of skill and intimidation, you either had to get with the times or get out of the way.
It wasn’t long before Orr’s army inspired the famed Broad Street Bullies, Bobby Clark’s ferocious Flyers, a team that destroyed and punished their opponents in the rink. While they were busy bruising bodies, the Montreal Canadiens were constructing an unbelievable juggernaut. By the time 1976 rolled around, the Habs produced a team so full of talent, that even today they’re still arguably considered the greatest hockey team ever assembled.
While the bulk of the book’s focus is on those three hockey clubs, Cole also sheds some light on the 1972 Summit Series, the rise of the WHA (World Hockey Association) and the NHL expansion. They’re welcome distractions from the sometimes monotonous play-by-play but it also left me wanting more information - especially on the WHA. There are probably other books written on the subject, so it’s a minor complaint. After all, Cole can’t include everything.
Hockey Night Fever is an uncompromising look at the vicious yet brilliant talent assembled in hockey’s most tumultuous decade.
April 8, 2018
One of the best hockey books I've ever read (and I've been reading them for 50 years). Cole, who also wrote the excellent The Last Hurrah (about the last Maple Leafs Stanley Cup win) covers three of the biggest stories in hockey in the 1970's: The Big Bad Bruins of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito; The Broad Street Bullies, the Philadephia Flyers who won 2 Cups in 1974 and 1975; and finally maybe the greatest team of them all, the 1976-79 Montreal Canadiens.
I guess if you were living in the 1970's, under the age of 20 watching Hockey Night In Canada and every playoff game you'd love this book. Cole shows his legitimacy by pointing out so many misconceptions about hockey in that decade:
- Bobby Orr, as beloved as he is today, was no choirboy on the ice. In fact he had a bad temper and there was a reason he was booed for years when he visited Maple Leaf Gardens.
- Derek "Turk" Sanderson, one of the baddest of the Big Bad Bruins, was actually a very valuable hockey player, one of the best faceoff men ever, before he lost his career to drink and excess.
- The Flyers may have been the Broad Street Bullies, but they were also a very good hockey team, and Fred Shero was a coach ahead of his time, anticipating the modern era of short shifts and the neutral zone trap.
But there's so much colour here; The French-English divide in Montreal, the atmosphere of the Boston Garden, Kate Smith singing God Bless America at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the Flyers instigating a donnybrook at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976 where four of their players were arrested, and so on. Scotty Bowman stories, Don Cherry stories, you name it.
What a ride, and having witnessed this decade of hockey I can verify its authenticity, and in fact I learned a lot that I never knew. (Except one part; Mike Bossy was an anglophone Montrealer, not "Michel" Bossy). Cole does draw from many books I've read, but adds his own unique voice. I loved this book!
I guess if you were living in the 1970's, under the age of 20 watching Hockey Night In Canada and every playoff game you'd love this book. Cole shows his legitimacy by pointing out so many misconceptions about hockey in that decade:
- Bobby Orr, as beloved as he is today, was no choirboy on the ice. In fact he had a bad temper and there was a reason he was booed for years when he visited Maple Leaf Gardens.
- Derek "Turk" Sanderson, one of the baddest of the Big Bad Bruins, was actually a very valuable hockey player, one of the best faceoff men ever, before he lost his career to drink and excess.
- The Flyers may have been the Broad Street Bullies, but they were also a very good hockey team, and Fred Shero was a coach ahead of his time, anticipating the modern era of short shifts and the neutral zone trap.
But there's so much colour here; The French-English divide in Montreal, the atmosphere of the Boston Garden, Kate Smith singing God Bless America at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the Flyers instigating a donnybrook at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1976 where four of their players were arrested, and so on. Scotty Bowman stories, Don Cherry stories, you name it.
What a ride, and having witnessed this decade of hockey I can verify its authenticity, and in fact I learned a lot that I never knew. (Except one part; Mike Bossy was an anglophone Montrealer, not "Michel" Bossy). Cole does draw from many books I've read, but adds his own unique voice. I loved this book!
January 9, 2016
I'm a sucker for 70's era sports. It's a time just before I discovered hockey and baseball and football and so on. Players that I only learned about through television, magazines and sports cards.
So when I heard about Hockey Night Fever, I knew it would be on the "must read" list. It didn't take long to get through this page turner (partially due to the 3 week library rules on new release books). It had me engaged from the first few pages on.
I enjoyed the breakdown of this read...three "acts" based on each of the teams to win Stanley Cups in the 1970's. The Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens. I knew a good amount about those teams and that era from previous books (and the author even referenced those titles) but this book gave a nice interpretation of the decade.
The chapters had some beef to them as opposed to just glossing over the events and getting us quickly to the next one. I felt like I got to know guys like Orr, Clarke, Lafleur, Bowman and Cherry even more. The details in some of the anecdotes were really nice.
I also liked some of the new tales I learned about - like Lafleur getting drafted and Orr's final game. It's these stories that really sold me on the book as a complete piece.
A must read for fans of 70's barnburner hockey and a great escape into an era that once was...and never will be again.
So when I heard about Hockey Night Fever, I knew it would be on the "must read" list. It didn't take long to get through this page turner (partially due to the 3 week library rules on new release books). It had me engaged from the first few pages on.
I enjoyed the breakdown of this read...three "acts" based on each of the teams to win Stanley Cups in the 1970's. The Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens. I knew a good amount about those teams and that era from previous books (and the author even referenced those titles) but this book gave a nice interpretation of the decade.
The chapters had some beef to them as opposed to just glossing over the events and getting us quickly to the next one. I felt like I got to know guys like Orr, Clarke, Lafleur, Bowman and Cherry even more. The details in some of the anecdotes were really nice.
I also liked some of the new tales I learned about - like Lafleur getting drafted and Orr's final game. It's these stories that really sold me on the book as a complete piece.
A must read for fans of 70's barnburner hockey and a great escape into an era that once was...and never will be again.
April 21, 2020
One of the great hockey books I've read!
Of course, it makes so much sense that the 70s - a decade with only three Stanley Cup champions - would make for a great structure of story-telling, but when you throw in the wild cast of characters (Orr, Esposito, Cherry, Shero, Lafleur, Bowman, Clark, Dryden, etc.); and the international battles with the USSR; and the cultural upheaval of the sexual revolution, silent revolution; and the emergence of the WHA as a challenge to the NHL, it all leads to a great read about one of hockey's great decades.
Somehow, this made me nostalgic for a time in which I wasn't even born.
Of course, it makes so much sense that the 70s - a decade with only three Stanley Cup champions - would make for a great structure of story-telling, but when you throw in the wild cast of characters (Orr, Esposito, Cherry, Shero, Lafleur, Bowman, Clark, Dryden, etc.); and the international battles with the USSR; and the cultural upheaval of the sexual revolution, silent revolution; and the emergence of the WHA as a challenge to the NHL, it all leads to a great read about one of hockey's great decades.
Somehow, this made me nostalgic for a time in which I wasn't even born.
Read
January 19, 2016I gave up on it. It just was not what I wanted it to be I guess. I got about half way through the Boston section. There were some decent stories, but I'd heard a few before (Bobby Orr busting Esposito out of the hospital, etc.), and the random quotes from past refs didn't do it for me. They just seemed out of left field. At times I felt like the writer was quoting too much from other material... which left me thinking maybe I should just be reading that stuff instead. Admittedly, I did not know much about this book going in. All I had to go on was the title, which had me excited and intrigued! I wanted stories about expansion teams, the WHA, and ALL the crazy players of that era. Not just a focus on three NHL teams. Had I known this I probably would have stayed away. It was while reading the Boston section, and not being that interested, that I started to think about the prospect of reading through the Montreal section... NO THANK YOU! Not that big a fan of theirs and I've heard enough about that team over the years to last me a lifetime. In closing, sometimes you have to know when to fold 'em. I knew.
December 27, 2015
This book is so good. Cole does a great job of contextualizing 70s hockey and making it relevant -- he parallels the combative sport with the decade's equally contentious music scene, as well as the new burgeoning political movements of the time. He covers with much detail some of hockey's most infamous teams -- the Bruins and the Flyers -- as well as the idolized Canadiens, and his play-by-plays of these teams' most famous games are technical, yet enjoyable. He does do a lot of layering of narratives and it can be difficult to keep track of some of the players/coaches he mentions without prior knowledge, but all in all a great history.
January 2, 2021
Can you write a history of hockey in the 1970s without writing very much about Bobby Hull, the World Hockey Association, and NHL expansion?
Obviously. At least Stephen Cole can.
That's what he did in the book, "Hockey Night Fever," a look back at some of those times in the Seventies. What's more, it's an enjoyable read - to put it lightly.
Cole spends most of the book on the three great teams of the 1970s, the ones that dominated the headlines through the decade. The first was the Boston Bruins, led by superstars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. They won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972, and probably should have won a few more. Several players defected to the WHA, and Orr's knee problems sent him on a slow, painful path toward retirement. Plus, maybe the Bruins had a little too much fun in those years.
In the middle years of the decade, the Philadelphia Flyers ruled the roost in the NHL. They had some skill players like Bobby Clarke, Reggie Leach and Bernie Parent, but they were also tough. Tough. Players on visiting teams often came down with the "Philly flu" at the mere thought of facing the Broad St. Bullies in their home lair of the Spectrum. The Flyers would beat you on the scoreboard, and would beat you up in the process. It's a team that is to this day hated everywhere but Philadelphia.
Hockey purists will tell you that just the right team came along in 1976 to restore order and balance to the sport. If the Montreal Canadiens of the late 1970s weren't the best team in history, they were close. They were loaded with talent from Guy Lafleur's scoring to Ken Dryden's goaltending, and everywhere in between. They could only beat themselves, and coach Scotty Bowman made sure that never happened. Their skill and grace was a counterpoint to the Flyers' style.
There are chapters along the way about the key figures of the Seventies - Orr, Clarke, Shero, Lafleur, Bowman, etc, Perhaps because I've read more about the Bruins and Canadiens teams more, some of the stories about the Flyers and their coach were quite interesting. Philadelphia had some brains behind the brawn; otherwise the team wouldn't have been successful.
Cole also goes in-depth on some of the key games of the era - the night the Bruins won their second Stanley Cup of the decade, the Flyers' first Cup win, Canada-USSR's Game Eight, "Too Many Men on the Ice" (say that to any Canadiens or Bruins fan of the era, and he or she will know the story instantly), and a couple of others. It is difficult to make games come alive after more than 35 years, but Cole does that very nicely.
Indeed, the research here make this book work so well. The author seems to have read every imaginable book on the subject, done interviews, tracked down microfilm, and watched videos. There are some familiar parts, but a lot of it is fresh and interesting. For example, the rivalry, if that's the right word, between Lafleur and Marcel Dionne when they were juniors is almost frightening to read.
The problems here are minor. The NHL was essentially bankrupt by the mid-1970s, with expansion fees keeping the league afloat at times, thanks in part to the WHA war and the lack of a major television deal. That's a bigger part of the story than is mentioned here. I'm also not sure how interesting hockey stories from the era might be for those younger than, say, 45.
But make no mistake here. "Hockey Night Fever" is an extremely entertaining and well-done book. Not only will readers learn a lot, but they'll laugh a bit along the way. I would guess that many will consider it one of the best hockey books of the season.
Obviously. At least Stephen Cole can.
That's what he did in the book, "Hockey Night Fever," a look back at some of those times in the Seventies. What's more, it's an enjoyable read - to put it lightly.
Cole spends most of the book on the three great teams of the 1970s, the ones that dominated the headlines through the decade. The first was the Boston Bruins, led by superstars Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. They won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972, and probably should have won a few more. Several players defected to the WHA, and Orr's knee problems sent him on a slow, painful path toward retirement. Plus, maybe the Bruins had a little too much fun in those years.
In the middle years of the decade, the Philadelphia Flyers ruled the roost in the NHL. They had some skill players like Bobby Clarke, Reggie Leach and Bernie Parent, but they were also tough. Tough. Players on visiting teams often came down with the "Philly flu" at the mere thought of facing the Broad St. Bullies in their home lair of the Spectrum. The Flyers would beat you on the scoreboard, and would beat you up in the process. It's a team that is to this day hated everywhere but Philadelphia.
Hockey purists will tell you that just the right team came along in 1976 to restore order and balance to the sport. If the Montreal Canadiens of the late 1970s weren't the best team in history, they were close. They were loaded with talent from Guy Lafleur's scoring to Ken Dryden's goaltending, and everywhere in between. They could only beat themselves, and coach Scotty Bowman made sure that never happened. Their skill and grace was a counterpoint to the Flyers' style.
There are chapters along the way about the key figures of the Seventies - Orr, Clarke, Shero, Lafleur, Bowman, etc, Perhaps because I've read more about the Bruins and Canadiens teams more, some of the stories about the Flyers and their coach were quite interesting. Philadelphia had some brains behind the brawn; otherwise the team wouldn't have been successful.
Cole also goes in-depth on some of the key games of the era - the night the Bruins won their second Stanley Cup of the decade, the Flyers' first Cup win, Canada-USSR's Game Eight, "Too Many Men on the Ice" (say that to any Canadiens or Bruins fan of the era, and he or she will know the story instantly), and a couple of others. It is difficult to make games come alive after more than 35 years, but Cole does that very nicely.
Indeed, the research here make this book work so well. The author seems to have read every imaginable book on the subject, done interviews, tracked down microfilm, and watched videos. There are some familiar parts, but a lot of it is fresh and interesting. For example, the rivalry, if that's the right word, between Lafleur and Marcel Dionne when they were juniors is almost frightening to read.
The problems here are minor. The NHL was essentially bankrupt by the mid-1970s, with expansion fees keeping the league afloat at times, thanks in part to the WHA war and the lack of a major television deal. That's a bigger part of the story than is mentioned here. I'm also not sure how interesting hockey stories from the era might be for those younger than, say, 45.
But make no mistake here. "Hockey Night Fever" is an extremely entertaining and well-done book. Not only will readers learn a lot, but they'll laugh a bit along the way. I would guess that many will consider it one of the best hockey books of the season.
September 17, 2018
I was vacillating between four and five stars, but considering how quickly I read it and how engrossed I was, I went with 5. Cole's books always do a great job of integrating whatever period he is examining in hockey history into the general culture of the time. Cole examines hockey in the 1970s through an examination of the three teams that won Stanley Cups in the era -- The Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens. Each third of the book delves into some of the key personalities of each team and what it was that made each team successful. As a Habs fan and Flyers and Bruins hater, I wasn't sure what to expect, but Cole does a good job at looking at each team, accentuating the positives while not completely glossing over the negatives. Having grown up with hockey in the 70s (my first hockey memory on TV was watching Bobby Orr fly through the air in the 1970 finals), this book brought back many great memories and provided fodder for me to agree or disagree with Cole's analysis. If you grew up with hockey in the 70s, you will really enjoy this book. If you didn't, it may be more of a four star book. You'll like it and learn a lot, but it's the connection to the era which really made this book work for me.
April 23, 2020
A really entertaining book on NHL hockey in the 1970's that focuses on three teams, the Boston Bruins, the Broad Street Bullies (the Philadelphia Flyers) and the Montreal Canadians. The three franchises won all the titles in the 10-year period with Montreal winning six titles, while Boston and Philly each won two. Philly's style of play was a far cry from the traditional style used in the 60s and they raked up penalty minutes because of it. You'll read great stories on Bobby Orr, Derek Sanderson, Bobby Clarke, Guy Lafleur, Scotty Bowman, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden and others during this book. Gets the reader inside the heads of many players and then takes through some of the epic games. Good stuff and a must for all hockey fans.
January 7, 2017
Gotta love hockey
This is a great book about the game of hockey in the 1970s. It mostly covers the Hans, Bruins and Flyers. Not much mention of the WHA. Really interesting stories, some talk of strategy.
This is a great book about the game of hockey in the 1970s. It mostly covers the Hans, Bruins and Flyers. Not much mention of the WHA. Really interesting stories, some talk of strategy.
January 2, 2023
Hockey really was in the golden era in the 70s. Relive the decade through the eyes of the three best teams, the Bruins, Flyers and Canadiens. It was a wild time. Incredible players and lots of fighting. So many colorful characters. Modern hockey is dull in comparison.
October 5, 2023
Liked it. Great stories. Philadelphia, Boston and Montreal are represented and each team gets about 125 pages; I ran out of steam near the end during the Canadians portion of the story. Some of it is a blur. Sorry to all the fans in Montreal for the disrespectful reading.
September 25, 2020
I thought this book was great, and I don't even follow hockey.
July 4, 2023
An enjoying read taking you through a nostalgic romp of 70s hockey. excellent
October 11, 2023
Absolutely loved this book. It brought back so many great moments
August 5, 2016
I've read several books about hockey in the 70s. It's a subject that I find very interesting because I enjoy seeing how the sport evolved after expansion in 67 and the emergence of the WHA in 72. I was very excited to read this book, as I expected to read a book that covered a bigger picture of hockey than this book covered. I enjoyed this book, but it seems to me that you can't tell the story of hockey by just looking at its successes. Half of hockey in the 70s was in the rise and fall of the WHA, and that was barely touched on. This book is simply the story of the Stanley Cup winning teams of the 70s, and that makes a fine book, but I was expecting something quite a bit different. We never get to find out anything about the teams that didn't find success in the 70s, and there were quite a few since only three teams won a Stanley Cup that decade. At times this book felt like a book report of other, better, books that I've already read. You can skip most of this book if you've read The Game by Ken Dryden and a couple of books about the Bruins, like Crossing the Line by Derek Sanderson and any of Bobby Orr's biographies. Still, I give this book four stars because even if a lot of it was a rehash of better material, I still find value in these pages, and it was fun to revisit some of the stories that defined a decade of champions.
January 11, 2016
Hockey Night Fever was one of the most entertaining reads for me in 2015. If you grew up with 70’s hockey you will love this book which is often laugh-out-loud funny and full of things you didn’t know about the game and players of the era. Insightful, the book concludes with an epilogue that was surprisingly touching. There's a good piece of advice herein as well: don't start a fight with a hockey player.
June 7, 2019
Cole looks at the 1970s NHL through the three most prominent teams of the decade: the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens. A lot of anecdotes and personal stories of players, coaches, and executives are used to show how the league changed so dramatically in those few years. It makes for an easy, fun read, and puts you right in the middle of some of the events, with lots of coverage of the various Stanley Cup Finals each team played, and won.
February 21, 2018
Great read for the hockey fan who wants to appreciate how the game has changed since the 60's and 70's. The game was full of characters and the stories are great. Even if your not an avid hockey fan, you may want to read this book. Just for the joy of it.
February 1, 2017
Nice facts; poor writing...
Nice facts; poor writing...
Was able to learn a bit about hockey in the 70s, but the writer tended to ramble on, interspersing incoherent anecdotes.
Overall; entertaining.
Nice facts; poor writing...
Was able to learn a bit about hockey in the 70s, but the writer tended to ramble on, interspersing incoherent anecdotes.
Overall; entertaining.
December 2, 2015
I've never been a hockey fan. Never. But this book was a game - changer. Blends amazing research and wonderful characters to paint a picture of the sport in the 70s.
August 8, 2016
Interesting and entertaining look at NHL Hockey in the 1970's. Great read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews