Brass Bonanza Plays Again: How Hockey's Strangest Goon Brought Back Mark Twain and a Dead Team--And Made a City Believe
This book began 9 years ago on a walk with my father when reminiscing about the past I unexpectedly choked up. I realized then how much I missed Hartford and the Whalers. I needed to find someone who loved them as much. Tiger Burns was revealed to me.From 1984 to 1994 I worked for the Whalers--driving a new car on-ice between periods (moonlighting in the Actuarial Department at Travelers Insurance). Some would say I saw a lot of bad hockey. I couldn't disagree more. It was the most privileged association of my life.It was a magical time, just out of college, with scores of like-aged actuaries to hang out with. And, of course, there was the Whale. My roommate Brad Peters was a press gofer for the team. One night out of the blue he called, tone urgent, "Get down here! We need someone to work the penalty box." That night, I opened and closed the gate for Hall-of-Famer Gilbert Perrault.Two weeks later, Brad called again. This time the need was different. When I arrived, his supervisor Mr. Henderson tossed me a pair of keys. Drive the promotional Honda Accord on ice between the first and second period. "On ice?" I gasped. What if the car skidded, rammed the boards and flew into the crowd? I could already see the headlines: DRIVER GOES BERSERK AT CIVIC CENTER. 10,000 LOOK ON IN HORROR. 'MAD DOG' MULDOON UNDER HEAVY GUARD.It went fine. Next season, incredibly, the regular driver left. These jobs were plums, passed on from father to son. Get your friend, Mr. Henderson told Brad. For the next 10 seasons I drove the car on-ice (first a Honda, then a Buick and last a Cadillac). No headlines.I wrote a story "View from the Penalty Box" in the SundayHartford Courantdescribing the experience. Phil Langan, the Whalers PR Director, invited me to write forGoal Magazine,the game program. I cut my teeth with features on the Zamboni Driver, Team Photographer, Team Dentist, Security Guards, Assistant General Manager, and Sky Boxes. Mercifully, at last, he entrusted me with a player.His name was Shane Churla. A tough guy! Wear a helmet and mouthpiece to the interview, my father teased. Others followed: Sylvain Cote, Paul MacDermid, Randy LaDouceur, Scott Young. No more Zamboni Drivers. Some of the players I profiled became NHL Coaches: Joel Quenneville, Dave Tippett, John Anderson.I went to grad school in New York City and moved back home to Boston, where for 2 seasons I drove 120 miles round-trip to keep the car-driving gig. In Boston I experienced first-hand how all things Hartford were sneered at: Hartford sucks! Whalers suck! My affections deepened. Who doesn't love an underdog?On April 13, 1997 I headed down for the last game. PA Announcer Greg Gilmartin snuck me down in to the penalty box where it all started for me 14 years earlier. I watched teary-eyed along with 15,000 others.Oooooooooooone minute left in Hartford,Gilmartin said.After the game, we went to Chuck's for the Irish wake. Beat writers Jeff Jacobs and Alan Greenberg, ofThe Courant, Randy Smith, of theJournal-Inquirerheld court, as always, but the mood was funereal.Kevin Dineen scored the last goal--and the players left for Carolina. Hartford was left with bittersweet memories. Five years later, I took that walk with my father--and the memories all flooded back.###Writing this has been a monomaniacal pursuit for 9 years. I've learned one thing: I don't have a glass jaw. Again and again I've been knocked down, dusted off the ice shavings and skated back into the fray.For a time I had a New York agent (who represented The English Patientnovel), and she pitched it to a New York publisher, and the response was "Hockey books don't sell!" I tried telling her it was a Rocky book, not a hockey book. An underdog story. A love story. She said in these troubled times publishing houses are closing. I said in these troubled times America needs Tiger Burns and his story of loss and perseverance.Hockey books don't sell. The epitaph.So now I take inspiration from fellow Bates alum Lisa Genova who self-published when she was told Alzheimer books don't sell.Still Alicewent viral, was picked up and debuted on the New York Times best-seller list at #5. Alzheimer books don't sell, indeed.