The Boys of winter

Author: Wayne Coffey

            I started reading this book solely for my love of hockey and how much this storyline interests me. The book is based off of a true story that happened during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. The USA hockey team defeated the Soviet Union who was said to be the best hockey team in the world. The crazy part about this is, is that the USA team was made up of solely college kids where the Soviet Union was a bunch of proefessionals.

            The Boys of Winter without a doubt belongs in the realistic fiction section. First of all, it’s based off of a true story that may be more commonly known as ‘miracle on ice.” For example it uses the same names as the real story such has Herb Brooks who is the head coach, Jim Craig who is the goalie and Mike Eruzione who was the captain. Another example of this being realistic fiction is that it follows the same story line as the real story does. It starts with Herb Brooks going through the rigorous selection process then leads all the way up to the tournament itself. It even goes game by game in the tournament starting off with their game against Sweden then all the way up to the miracle that occurred when they played the team from the Soviet Union.

            This book deserves many awards not only for what it’s about, but for how well it was constructed. As corny as it sounds, this book deserves a gold medal. Wayne Coffey wrote this book so well and did not leave out a single detail about this amazing story. Basically, if you were not familiar with any part of this story, you were now. For example, on page 102, you get a little insight to just exactly what kind of Coach Her Brooks was. Steve Janaszak, goalie of Herb Brook’s college team had this to say, “Traumatic is the best way to describe playing for him.” He goes on to explain how he does not mean this in a bad way, but the only way to really explain to people what kind of coach he is.

            This book is for all different types of people. It could be for not only just hockey players, but any sports player at all. The reason being is that every single person that plays a sport has some type of dream. Whether it’s simply to win a championship or play at the next level. This story certainly goes above any simple dream that athletes have today. Another group of people who would like this story would be people that lived through “miracle of ice.” I’m sure the people that were around to actually witness this would find it so interesting to read it about it detail for detail. On page 49, Wayne Coffey talks about how bad the Soviets beat the USA team in an exhibition just a week before the 1980 games. I’m sure people that know the whole story would love to read about that knowing how the American end up getting pay back in the end.

What would you say the theme of this book is? Give specific examples on why you picked the theme you picked.