First published 2001
Michigan's hockey program transforms from a struggling club team in the 1920s into a national powerhouse. Athletic director Fielding Yost builds a rink with artificial ice before the Great Depression, ensuring the team's survival during lean years. Joseph Barss, a World War I survivor of the Halifax explosion, becomes the first coach. Players like Eddie Kahn score the program's first goal in 1923. Decades later, Red Berenson fights to restore his alma mater to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. The story culminates with Brendan Morrison's championship-winning goal in 1996, when he declares the victory is "for all the Michigan guys who never had a chance to win it." The team captures another title in 1998. Bacon chronicles the exotic backgrounds of players from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota's Iron Range, and Saskatchewan. Unlike other college sports, these athletes pursue education and love of the game rather than fame or fortune.
Genres: 20th-century, hockey, sports, biography-memoir, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, underdog
Setting: Halifax, Michigan, Minnesota, Saskatchewan, Upper Peninsula
Period: 1920s, 1980s, 1990s, Great Depression
456 pages · Paperback · University of Michigan Regional