Heart of the Blackhawks: The Pierre Pilote Story
Pierre Pilote was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975. A member of the 1961 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, he was the NHL’s Defenseman of the Year three times. He’s kept a relatively low profile since he retired after the 1969 season, but hockey fans will rejoice in this wonderful autobiography. Pilote was born and raised in rural Canada to French Canadian parents. Early in his youth he played baseball but eventually, later than most Canadian kids, gravitated to hockey. The best sections of the book are not the anecdotes surrounding his years in the NHL as a teammate of Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, but rather his years winding his way through the youth hockey and the professional minor leagues. Once he finished his six-year minor-league apprenticeship and made the Blackhawks, he quickly established himself as a great player on a great team. This is a very enjoyable sports bio about one of the very greatest. --Wes Lukowsky