week 2 part B

Dear Mr. Wayne Coffey,

I am writing another letter to you to comment yet again on your book, Boys of Winter. In this section (pages 38-75), you give a lot of background information of a few of the players. The first was Bill Baker, whom you described as a poised player with a great savvy for the game. You also speak of William “Buzz” Schneidner and the “conehead” line that he was on with John Harrington and Mark Pavelich, who all grew up in the Iron Range and know each others wild style of play. You also go more in depth with mother players, like Jack O’Callahan. But one thing I can certainly tell is that there is a theme as far as the players’ mentality and personality: they are all hard workers that tend to keep to themselves, rather than flash off and brag out their talent and achievements. Coaches and people who known a thing or two about hockey have always told me to work hard but don’t brag, at least that’s what I have been told in my childhood as a hockey player. I have always known this, yet I always seem to brag about things I have done, even though it somehow comes back to bite me. It also fits with Herb Brooks’s theme of teamwork because he took “the right players, not the best ones.” This happened probably because the best ones tended to be very flashy and arrogant.

Sincerely,

Erich Rectenwald