It is a little late to the 40th anniversary party, but 1972: The Summit Series: The UNTOLD Story
is now hitting the bookshelves.
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca
- Chapters - Amazon.com
Researcher and 1972 Summit Series fanatic Richard J. Bendell has put together this fantastic look at the Summit Series. I can vouch for Bendell first hand as I have participated in many conversations with him regarding 1972 and international hockey. His passion is simply unbeatable. Bringing Paul Patskou and Robert MacAskill - two of the top hockey historians - in on the project was a great move.
Their ideas for further understanding the series itself are impressive. Impressive enough to fill nearly 450 pages! They re-analyze every aspect of the series from every angle imaginable, resulting in the most in depth quantitative and qualitative look at series ever produced. The fresh insights accurately and comprehensively reveal new layers of the fascinating history of the series.
At 450 pages the book is daunting - almost overwhelming. It is not for the casual 1972 fan, but for the true hardcore fans who want to understand it at an even deeper level. That market might be somewhat limited as more than a month of 40th anniversary celebrations tested the exhaustion levels of the tournament's hype. It took 40 years, but they might finally have reached that point.
In some ways it is too bad this book does not have the push of a major publishing house behind it. It could benefit from their polishing and marketing/promotional machine. But on the other hand it is a god send that Bendell and company went at it on their own. A publishing house would have killed a lot of the content and shrunk the project considerably. That would have been a significant loss for hockey fans everywhere.
Bendell's passion for 1972 is almost unparalleled and certainly not exceeded. He presents all of his passion right here in this 450 page book - a true treasure chest of the 1972 Summit Series.
Comments
I'd been meaning to leave a comment for a while, astonishing how quickly time seems to go by when we're not looking. And, the same applies to the 1972 Summit Series which is at today's date of March 11th, 2016, is now 43 1/2 years ago. But, the memories live on as strong as ever, and I hope that my book can help others relive one of Canada's proudest sports moments of its history as well!
Richard J. Bendell