Table of Contents

Contents  Prologue Introduction: Big Game Player 
Part 1: Becoming a Legend  1 Growing up in the Hudson’s Bay Company  2 The Move to Montreal  3 Go West Young Man  4 Going Pro  5 Small Town Glory  6 A Fight to the Finish  7 Back to the Big City  8 A Wanderer Who Wanders  9 Money Madness  10 High Pay Leads to Hard Knocks  11 More Money Madness  12 Fighting the Salary Cap  13 A New Hockey War  14 Peace, War … and a Real War  15 Banned for Life … For a While  16 Memorable Moments  17 End of the Line  18 Life Goes On 
Part 2: Building the Bruins  19 On to Boston  20 Growing Pains  21 Buying a Better Team  22 New Rules, New Invention, and a New Job   23 A Big Year in Boston  24 Practice Doesn’t Quite Make Perfect  25 Battling the Great Depression  26 The Ace Bailey Incident  27 Big Changes  28 Back on Top … Twice!  29 World War Too  30 The War Years  31 Postwar Challenges  32 Hockey Immortality  33 A Great Loss to the Game 
Epilogue Acknowledgements  Appendix: Career Statistics  A Note on the Sources  Selected Bibliography  Index

About the Author

Eric Zweig is a managing editor with Dan Diamond & Associates, consulting publisher to the National Hockey League. His books include Fever Season, Tough Guys: Hockey Rivals in Times of War and Disaster, Star Power: The Legend and Lore of Cyclone Taylor, and, most recently, Twenty Greatest Hockey Goals. He lives in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Reviews

It’s a big, fat slice of hockey past, one of those books that will delight those who consider themselves scholars of the game.
*Sun Times*

…a superb addition to any hockey library…one of the most readable hockey historians [with] the books to prove it.
*The Fischler Report*

Zweig does fine work, breathing life into 100-plus-year-old details; his descriptions of Stanley Cup matches from the era of the rover and the "60-minute men" manage to evoke the excitement of those bygone times, while his detailed analysis of the power struggles and high drama in which Ross was fully involved in the early days of the NHL, and the National Hockey Association before it, are both educational and entertaining, even if the reader has little to no prior knowledge of the subject.
*Winnipeg Free Press*

Painstaking research by one of the best in the business on one of hockey's most influential pioneers.
*Toronto Sun*

No one would believe this wild tale if it were a movie … A child of the Canadian wilderness, who may well have been the country’s greatest athlete, becomes a player, coach, manager, and inventor who likely affected the game of hockey more than anyone else. Those who say they should change the Art Ross Trophy to a more recognizable name would cringe in embarrassment after reading Eric Zweig’s magnificent biography.
*Roy MacGregor, bestselling author and Globe and Mail Columnist*

A fascinating read. In fact, when I started reading it I could hardly put it down until I completed it. What a pioneer Art Ross was … a great story.
*Scotty Bowman, Hockey Hall of Fame builder and the winningest coach in NHL history*

With his wonderful, many-layered, anecdote-rich study of Art Ross, author Eric Zweig does a masterful job of profiling an important figure who was a player, coach, executive, inventor, and innovator during the professional game’s crucial, formative years. In Montreal, more than 50 years after Ross’s passing, this hockey pioneer has been forgiven — almost — for having been an architect in the building of the Boston Bruins.
*Dave Stubbs, Montreal Gazette*

It is hard to talk about the history of hockey without mentioning the name Art Ross … from being a player, coach, manager, and on-ice official, to the history of the goalie net, to having a trophy named after him … just to name a few things Art Ross did over his years. Zweig has uncovered some great stories. A must for all hockey fans.
*Phil Pritchard, Vice President and Keeper of the Stanley Cup, Hockey Hall of Fame*

A diligently researched portrait of a canny, controversial, colourful hockey icon. Recognition for a hockey genius long overdue. As Cherry would say, “Two thumbs up, Eric!”
*Brian McFarlane, bestselling author and former sportscaster*

I enjoyed it very much. I had no idea Art Ross had been such an athlete in his day before he came to Boston. I think this book really has a place in Canadian history, in hockey history, and in NHL history. It was fascinating.
*Harry Sinden, former coach, general manager, and president of the Boston Bruins*

No, Art Ross didn’t invent hockey. You can forget that, sometimes, reminded of the extent to which he shaped the game we know today. On the ice, he was skilled and as wily a goal-scoring defender as there’s ever been. Off it, a tireless innovator of rules and equipment, he also coached, managed, and gave the Boston Bruins the feisty spirit that defines them still. It’s high time his formidable tale was told; Eric Zweig does it with a vim and an eye for detail that delights the fan in me as much as the historian.
*Stephen Smith, author of Puckstruck*