Author Tim Rappleye at Lake Forest Book Store

Description

AUTHOR TIM RAPPLEYE at LAKE FOREST BOOK STORE
We welcome debut author and former Lake Forest College hockey star Tim Rappleye celebrating the publication of Jack Parker's Wiseguys.

JACK PARKER'S WiISEGUYS: THE NATIONAL CHAMPION BU TERRIERS, THE BLIZZARD OF '78, AND THE MIRACLE ON ICE

University Press of New England $28.00 Released January 2, 2018

Friday, February 2nd 
5:45 pm to 6:45 pm
at the Store

Books available for purchase and signing

Register at 847-234-4420

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 medal-round game the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team won against 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 one of the biggest blizzards to ever hit the Northeast.