Hello, Loyal Readers!

I’ll be gearing up for both my blog and podcast in the weeks ahead, but meantime my latest book, THE GREATEST COMEBACK: How Team Canada Fought Back, Took the Summit Series, and Reinvented Hockey, is now available on amazon, at Literati and Schuler’s, among others, and in Canada on amazon.ca, Indigo/Chapters, and more. We are getting gleaming reviews, including from the players themselves, as you’ll see below, along with a synopsis.

But most urgently, I’ll be appearing TONIGHT, Wednesday, October 19, at the Ann Arbor District Library downtown at 6:30! I’ll be joined by the good folks at Literati, WTKA’s Ira Weintraub, and plenty of books for everyone to buy and for me to sign if you like. Hope to see you there!

-John

You can also order your book here:

https://www.literatibookstore.com/event/john-u-bacon-aadl-0

THE GREATEST COMEBACK

How Team Canada Fought Back, Took the Summit Series, 

and Reinvented Hockey

By bestselling author John U. Bacon

In time for the 50^th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, this is the first book written with the complete co-operation of the whole team.

“You can say this is the best book on the series, because it’s true.”

—Serge Savard

“More than any other book on the Summit Series, The Greatest Comeback clearly shows the emotions of the players, and the country that came together, when we needed each other most. Together we won.” 

—Bob Clarke

“The Greatest Comeback takes you behind-the-scenes to show you what it was really like.”

—Brad Park

When the Summit Series started in September 1972, Cold War tensions could not have been higher — but that was the whole point of setting up this unprecedented hockey series. Team Canada, featuring the country’s best players—all NHL stars, half of them future Hall of Famers—would play an eight-game series, with four games played across Canada followed by four in Moscow. Team Canada was expected to crush their untried opponents eight games to zero, with backups playing the last four games.

But five games into the series, they had mustered only one win. With just three games left, Team Canada had to win all three in Moscow—all while overcoming the years of animosity and mistrust for one another fostered during the Original Six era.

The Summit players asked Bacon to tell their story and provided unparalleled access and candour in dozens of interviews with almost every living player. The Greatest Comeback is a universal story about overcoming bitter feuds to forge a hard-earned team spirit and inspire heroics against long odds and almost inhuman pressure—an experience so unforgettable that every member of Team Canada considers those eight games to be the highlight of their storied careers. 

“…The Greatest Comeback perfectly captures the greatest moment in Canadian sports history.” —Mark Mulvoy, former Editor-in-Chief, Sports Illustrated; co-author, Face-Off at the Summit with Ken Dryden

About John U. Bacon

JOHN U. BACON has written for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME, and Sports Illustrated, among others, and authored seven national bestsellers. His books include Blue Ice, The Great Halifax Explosion, and Let Them Lead, about coaching his high school hockey team. A popular public speaker, Bacon also teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where students awarded him the Golden Apple for exceptional teaching, and serves as a trustee at Michigan Tech University. A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, he lives with his wife and son in Ann Arbor.

Talking points:

• Book was originated by the players. John was asked to write the book by 1972TeamCanada group of players, led by Pat Stapleton and Brad Park. He was given unprecedented access to the players and their archives. Not an “official history” though, no approval of content by the alumni.
• Most in-depth interviews of any Summit Series book. John interviewed 17 of the 22 players still alive today, three of the seven who didn’t play, Harry Sinden, Alan Eagleson, three wives, three Soviet players, several journalists and NHL players including Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. All told over 350 pages of transcripts.
• Unparalleled behind the scenes access. John’s exclusive interviews tell what was happening off the ice: from to the training camps to the locker rooms and even the Moscow hotel where the team was staying.
• Modern analytics. John commissioned the hockey analytics expert for the Detroit Red Wings and University of Michigan to analyze the eight games with modern tools. His findings put the games in a current context and confirm some of Coach Harry Sinden’s decisions that were controversial at the time. They also confirm that Gretzky is right when he says it’s the “best hockey every played”
•  Exclusive photos. Book includes never-seen-before personal photos from the players.
• Great storytelling from an award-winning writer. John is an accomplished historian and writer and the book will appeal to even non-hockey fans as an incredible social history and underdog story.