Jack Parker's Wiseguys [electronic resource] : The National Champion BU Terriers, the Blizzard of ’78, and the Miracle on Ice / Tim Rappleye.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rappleye, Tim, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Boston University Terriers (Hockey team).

Boston University--Hockey--History.

Boston University.

Parker, Jack, 1945- (Hockey coach).

Parker, Jack.

Hockey coaches--Massachusetts--Boston.

Hockey coaches.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 PDF (xii, 226 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates) :) illustrations

Place of Publication:

Lebanon [New Hampshire] : University Press of New England, [2018]

Summary:

Over the winter of 1977-78, anyone within shouting distance of a two-mile stretch of Boston's Commonwealth Avenue--from Fenway Park to the trolley curve at Packard's Corner--found themselves pulled into the orbit of college hockey. The hottest ticket in a sports-mad city was Boston University's Terriers, a team so tough it was said they didn't have fans--they took hostages. Eschewing the usual recruiting pools in Canada, Jack Parker and his coaching staff assembled a squad that included three stars from nearby Charlestown, then known as the "armed robbery capital of America." Jack Parker's Wiseguys is the story of a high-flying, headline-dominating, national championship squad led by three future stars of the "Miracle on Ice," the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that beat the heavily favored Soviet Union. Now retired, Parker is a thoughtful statesman for the sport, a revered figure who held the longest tenure of any coach in Boston sports history. But during the 1977-78 season, he was just five years into his reign--and only a decade or so older than his players. Fiery, mercurial, as tough as any of his tough guys, Parker and his team were to face the pressure-cooker expectations of four previous also-ran seasons, further heightened by barroom brawls, off-the-ice shenanigans, and the citywide shutdown caused by the biggest blizzard to ever hit the Northeast. The '78 season was to be Parker's watershed, a roller-coaster ride of nail-biting victories and unimaginable tragedy, played out in increasingly strident headlines as his team opened the season with an unprecedented twenty-one straight wins. The first loss of the year eliminated the Terriers from their league playoffs and possibly from national contention; hours later Parker's wife died from cancer. The story of how the team responded--coming back to win the national championship a week after Parker buried his wife--makes a compelling tale for Boston sports fans and everyone else who feels a thrill of pride at America's unlikely win over the Soviet national team--a victory forged on Commonwealth Avenue in that bitter, beautiful winter of '78.

Contents:

Foreword / by Mike Eruzione

Introduction

Prologue : the debacle in Denver

1. Jackie Parker

2. Brian and Jimmy

3. The education of Mark Fidler

4. The dugout

5. Finding themselves

6. Wiseguys

7. Road trip!

8. The town

9. Dog

10. Media darlings

11. North country

12. The battle of Commonwealth Avenue

13. The Worcester heist

14. L'Affaire de Silk

15. The Blizzard of '78

16. A Fidler returns to Chestnut Hill

17. Miracle at the Whale

18. Beanpot brawlers

19. Black Friday

20. Terriers reboot

21. Slaying the Badger

22. Best of enemies : the 1978 NCAA Championship game

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-5126-0165-9

OCLC:

1019655723