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Chasing the Dream: Life in the American Hockey League
Go on the road with the best hockey players not in the NHL
What is life really like in North American hockey’s top minor league? As told by dozens of the players, coaches, broadcasters, personnel, and owners who work a grinding schedule every winter, Chasing the Dream goes behind the scenes with seven AHL teams. Find out how players’ dreams of lacing up their skates in the NHL motivate them through long bus rides and games where they’re constantly gunning for a precious spot in the majors.
From young prospects to veterans whose own hopes have faded, hear from AHL players on why today’s minor league is no longer like Slap Shot , what playing three games in under 48 hours can do to a player, and why fighting — once a staple of the minors — is on the decline. Learn about the game from coaches, alumni, and broadcasters, as well as AHL president Dave Andrews, who reveals how the AHL is becoming an even more important tool for NHL teams in the salary-cap era.
Load your gear on the bus and take a tour around the many venues, personalities, pranks, and memories of the once-small AHL — an organization that now crosses the continent and is big business for players and owners.
What is life really like in North American hockey’s top minor league? As told by dozens of the players, coaches, broadcasters, personnel, and owners who work a grinding schedule every winter, Chasing the Dream goes behind the scenes with seven AHL teams. Find out how players’ dreams of lacing up their skates in the NHL motivate them through long bus rides and games where they’re constantly gunning for a precious spot in the majors.
From young prospects to veterans whose own hopes have faded, hear from AHL players on why today’s minor league is no longer like Slap Shot , what playing three games in under 48 hours can do to a player, and why fighting — once a staple of the minors — is on the decline. Learn about the game from coaches, alumni, and broadcasters, as well as AHL president Dave Andrews, who reveals how the AHL is becoming an even more important tool for NHL teams in the salary-cap era.
Load your gear on the bus and take a tour around the many venues, personalities, pranks, and memories of the once-small AHL — an organization that now crosses the continent and is big business for players and owners.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 8, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 1, 2025
Some cool shorts. A bit disjointed but more of a book of short stories than one tale.
March 3, 2017
In “Chasing the Dream”, Ted Starkey looks at the American Hockey League, which has been the main developmental league for North American professional hockey since before I was born. Mr. Starkey examines the league from multiple angles – he looks at the league and its teams as businesses, and as a sport. He looks at the participants – players, management, and fans – as folks who are willing to work hard to get to the next level, or who realize that they need to work hard just to maintain their current status. He looks at history – and towards the future.
For the most part, Starkey alternates between a look at some aspect of the league as a whole and a peek at an individual franchise. .Those include long-standing teams (Rochester) and relatively new teams (Lehigh Valley), teams located in the same city as their NHL affiliate (Toronto), nearby (Bridgeport), and a distance away (Syracuse). Perhaps the only glaring omission was a passing glance at the new West Coast division, stating that it was a radical departure in historic league operations but not including any of the affected teams in the detailed analysis.
I'd looked forward to this book coming out, and acquired it / read it shortly after it was released. I was not disappointed.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
For the most part, Starkey alternates between a look at some aspect of the league as a whole and a peek at an individual franchise. .Those include long-standing teams (Rochester) and relatively new teams (Lehigh Valley), teams located in the same city as their NHL affiliate (Toronto), nearby (Bridgeport), and a distance away (Syracuse). Perhaps the only glaring omission was a passing glance at the new West Coast division, stating that it was a radical departure in historic league operations but not including any of the affected teams in the detailed analysis.
I'd looked forward to this book coming out, and acquired it / read it shortly after it was released. I was not disappointed.
RATING: 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5 stars where 1/2 stars are not permitted.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews