The Fife Flyers have played ice hockey for over ten decades and are the oldest team currently playing at the highest level of the game in Britain. During that time the sport has witnessed radical change which has resulted in periods of boom and bust, from fully professional status to strictly amateur and combinations in between. But for almost 85 years the team from the Gallatown Rink in Kirkcaldy, Fife, has endured. Such longevity is a naturally rich source of stories and memories for those who have either played for, supported or indeed been in opposition to the Fife Flyers. Or simply for hockey fans in general! The stories within come from the diligent reporting by local journalists, without whom much of the detail of the game would have been lost. Ice Hockey is not a sport that enjoys an extensive archive of data. Much of the history of the Fife Flyers has never been documented. This book, while not intended to be a full history, aims to gives an insight into both the different eras of hockey and the fortunes and misfortunes of one Club along the way.

In his diverse, exciting, and very active forty-five-year legal career, spent mainly in the world of professional sports, attorney Robert O Swados has worn many hats - owner, league executive, counsel, and franchise builder. In this wide-ranging and good-humoured memoir, Swados offers many behind-the-scenes insights into the players, coaches, executives, and owners who have created today's sports entertainment industry. Swados describes his early involvement in professional sports through his efforts in the 1960s to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to his hometown of Buffalo, NY. The deal was so close that a "New York Daily" News headline erroneously announced that new franchises would go to San Diego and Buffalo. But things really got interesting when in 1969 Swados helped Seymour Knox III and Northrup Knox to establish the Buffalo Sabres. Thus began an exciting thirty-year journey through the ups and downs of the National Hockey League. As part owner, vice chairman, and counsel of the Sabres, Swados has had many opportunities to 'score from the crease', and sometimes the action behind the scenes is just as rough and tumble as that on the ice.;He tells many fascinating tales about his dealings with winning coaches including Scotty Bowman, with General Managers Punch Imlach and John Muckler, with owner John McMullen, and with commissioners John Ziegler and Gary Bettman, among others. He also talks frankly about the impact of Adelphia's bankruptcy on the fate of the Sabres and about the obsessions and frustrations of the 2004 NHL lockout. Perhaps no one in professional sports has had such an engaging and productive view. For hockey fans in the US and Canada, especially Buffalo Sabres fans, and anyone interested in the business of bigtime sports, Robert Swados's entertaining and informative story is a must-read.

The earliest forms of ice hockey developed over the centuries in numerous cold weather countries. In the 17th century, a game similar to hockey was played in Holland known as kolven. But the modern sport of ice hockey arose from the efforts of college students and British soldiers in eastern Canada in the mid-19th century. Since then, ice hockey has moved from neighborhood lakes and ponds to international competitions, such as the Summit Series and the Winter Olympics. Historical Dictionary of Ice Hockey traces the history and evolution of hockey in general, as well as individual topics, from their beginnings to the present, through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary has more than 600 cross-referenced entries on the players, general managers, managers, coaches, and referees, as well as entries for teams, leagues, rules, and statistical categories. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about ice hockey.