For twenty-six straight seasons from 1978 to 2003 Mount Saint Charles Academy captured the hearts of its fans and the state s high school hockey championship. Attributing the streak to a near-mystical force called Mount Pride, beloved coach Bill Belisle and his team have built the most successful hockey program in Rhode Island. In the thrilling 2013 season, they recaptured the Mount glory as state champions. Yet the high school hockey team is much more than its wins and losses it s a culture and a family. Beginning with the earliest days when Rhode Island s four-team league took to the frozen ponds with tree branches serving as rudimentary hockey sticks, author Bryan Ethier chronicles the history of the MSC Flying Frenchmen. Join Ethier as he takes to the ice with the great games, the star players and the unforgettable moments to tell the remarkable story of Mount Saint Charles Hockey.

The U. S. hockey team's victory at the 1980 Olympics was a "Miracle on Ice"--a miracle largely brought about by the late Herb Brooks, the legendary coach who forged that invincible team. Famously antagonistic toward the press at Lake Placid, Brooks nonetheless turned to sportswriter John Gilbert after each game, giving his longtime friend and confidant what became the most comprehensive coverage of the '80 team. This book is Gilbert's memoir of Brooks. Neither strictly biography or tell-all expose, Herb Brooks: Born to Coach is the story of an extraordinary man as it emerged in the course of a remarkable friendship. Gilbert, writing for the Minneapolis Tribune, first met Brooks during his coaching days at the University of Minnesota, whose hockey program he resurrected in the 1970's. The two became fast friends, and here, for the first time, Gilbert relates anecdotes--his own and former players'--that illuminate Brooks' oftentimes hard-nosed coaching methods, his dramatic successes, and his incomparable character. From Brooks' beginnings in East St. Paul and his stint with the 1960 gold medal-winning Olympic team (from which he was famously the last player cut), Gilbert goes on to dissect the coach's tenure with the Gophers (including three national titles) and the Lake Placid story, from the selection process and yearlong barnstorming tour to the Games themselves. Throughout this and later chapters of Brooks' career--including coaching turns with St. Cloud State University, four NHL teams, and the 2002 U.S. Olympic squad--readers are treated to impossibly colorful quotes, rare photographs from Brooks' playing and coaching careers, and pertinent sidebar pieces that originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune.

Expectations are too high for beginners in hockey. Beginners are simply not ready for team play and systems. What is missing is a transition phase from the first time a player puts on a pair of skates to that first hockey game. The Hockey Method is a methodology to fill in this missing link or gap in hockey development. It identifies skill levels that can be grading to track player proficiency. The Hockey Method consists of two parts; Book 1 - Beginner Skating and Book 2 - Beginner Puck Control. These two parts present 31 skill concepts that are so simple and easy to learn that you don't need to be a coach to teach them. What is really needed, for first timers, is one-on-one direction and instruction. Coaches or parents can do it but parents are a better choice to instruct beginners because they have the time and vested interest to dedicate the 1 on 1 instruction needed by beginners at this early age. The basic idea is to build confidence by learning to walk before you run, run before you glide, and to be able to turn the toes in and out before you are able to use edges.

As the radio voice of the Calgary Flames from 1980 until his retirement in 2014, Peter Maher has witnessed more than his fair share of Flames action up close and personal--from the 1989 Stanley Cup championship to the individual brilliance of stars like Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, Theo Fleury, and Jarome Iginla. Through singular anecdotes only Maher can tell as well as conversations with current and past players, If These Walls Could Talk: Calgary Flames provides fans with a one-of-a-kind, insider's look into the great moments, the lowlights, and everything in between. No Flames fan will want to miss this book.