Messier - Hardcover

Klein, Jeff Z.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1572435917 ISBN 13: 9781572435919

Publisher: Triumph Books, 2003

Synopsis

The most detailed examination ever published about this hockey icon, Messier presents the true story behind all the myths, awards and accolades that even now continue to surround one of the greatest living legends in team sports. Known as "the Messiah" to New York Rangers fans for bringing the 1994 Stanley Cup back to the Big Apple for the first time in 54 years, "Moose" to Edmonton Oilers fans for using his skates, stick, and fists to clinch five Stanley Cups, and a national hero for helping his Team Canada win three world titles, Mark Messier is one of hockey's most recognizable and decorated stars. For the first time ever, the man behind the laundry list of awards and statistics is revealed in all his complexity. Messier shows the side of the player few get a chance to see—a student of philosophy, an unadvertised community volunteer, and a man who takes every chance to hit the beaches with his family whenever he can. The biography also reveals the hell-raising party animal renowned for his late-night antics, the beautiful supermodels he has dated, and the wild urban legends that have arisen around rumors of his private life.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"A week after the Stnaley Cup was paraded around the Northlands ice, Jack Falla wrote an article for Sports Illustrated in which he heralded the coming of age of the cocky young Oilers. Falla enthused that 'the Oilers may well have launched a new era in the pro game,' adding that'the sleek may yet inherit the ice.' "Perhaps so, but by voting to award Mark Messier the Conn Smythe Trophy, the hockey reporters seem to have concluded that, if the sleek were truly to inherit the ice, they would still need a big, combative hustler to lead the way." - from Messier

From the Inside Flap:

New York Times editor and hockey expert Jeff Z. Klein looks at the career of one of hockey’s most commanding and intriguing personalities.

We all know the larger-than-life Messier, the steely-eyed gladiator surrounded by an aura of near-magical charisma and menace, the Bad Cop to Gretzky’s Good Cop in Edmonton, the captain who promised -- and delivered -- a game 6 victory over the New Jersey Devils in the ’94 Eastern Conference finals, the centre of the “My Canada includes Messier” controversy before the ’98 Olympics. He has the third-highest points total in NHL history and the highest points and goals totals among current players.

But Jeff Z. Klein takes us beyond the headlines and the statistics. We meet a Messier who is not only a leader and a warrior, but a contemplative student of philosophy, a generous contributor to children’s hospitals, and a man who has a complex emotional life.

Drawing on his incisive understanding of the game of hockey, his contacts within the NHL, and his familiarity with the New York Rangers, Klein gives us an intimate look at the man who just may be the most fascinating player in hockey and the greatest leader in all sport.

About this edition

• Publisher: Triumph Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1572435917
• ISBN 13: 9781572435919
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256