Iron Mike

Book excerpt: The must-read memoir of one of the NHL's most controversial and successful coaches—winner of the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers. In the fraternity of NHL coaches, some stand out for their winning records, some for their big personalities and some for their unprecedented methods. Mike Keenan stands out on all these counts, and more. Breaking into the NHL as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984, Keenan got instant results, leading them to the Stanley Cup final in his first year. In 1987, he coached Team Canada to victory in the Canada Cup using his intuitive bench management, putting superstars Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux together on a line at key times to great, winning results. Keenan’s teams succeeded at every level. With championships in university athletics, the OHL and AHL, it seemed only a matter of time before his resumé would include the ultimate prize. One of the NHL’s most valuable franchises, the New York Rangers, hadn’t won a Cup in fifty-four years—the league’s longest championship drought at the time. But with five-time Stanley Cup champion Mark Messier as captain of the star-studded Rangers lineup, there was only one thing missing for a championship run on Broadway: a coach who could focus all the talent and desire on victory. After a season of much controversy, in 1994 the Stanley Cup finally returned to Madison Square Garden, considered by many to be one of the greatest Cup wins by a US-based NHL team. In the hands of veteran sports journalist and bestselling author Scott Morrison, Iron Mike takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most explosive runs to the Cup in NHL history, one that Keenan shares at long last. There is only one Iron Mike in hockey, and love him or hate him, his memoir is an essential read for any fan of the game.