A History of Professional Hockey in Minnesota: From the North Stars to the Wild (Sports)

Fun read, very informative

good

Perfect!

Who is George Rekela anyway? Where did he fall out of the sky from? The reason I ask both of these questions is this book was a total surprise. Finally...finally...a team history that speaks the way a intelligent frustrated fan would. The research is still tremendous as any sports history book, but Rekela is able to get to the heart of every issue of really why the NHL North Stars and the WHA Saints, despite being in the so-called "State Of Hockey," moved and folded respectively. His focus on North Stars fan experiences from the early quiet (many Minnesotans being of staid Scandinavian descent) crowds to the drunk rowdies of the 1981 Stanley Cup run was very enlightening. His takedowns of pretty much every owner the North Stars had gives us all great insight into why the team never really got over the hump. The story on the machinations of the notorious Detroit Red Wings' owner James Norris and Chicago Black Hawks' owner Arthur Wirtz in pitting Minnesota's arena vs. their jointly owned St. Louis Arena to fix expansion to line their own pockets is jawdropping. This is why I love Rekela, he doesn't love the NHL and realizes hockey is one thing and the NHL is completely another.If I had the money I'd fund Rekela to write hockey histories full-time. Don't be fooled by this book having just 126 pages as not a single word really is wasted. The guy is THAT good.

Excellent! Bought as a present for my fiancé who is a wild fan and he loved it