66: Lemieux Over Time

I'm still in the midst of the sports books.  I've been into hockey since high school, but I haven't read a lot of hockey books.  The only other one I'd read prior to this one was the Wayne Gretzky autobiogrphy.  66 is almost a coffee table book.  It was just about 200 pages, but in the large format with a lot of pictures.  I just picked up the book, because I thought it would be fun to read.  And it was.  It was actually much better than I expected, not that it's spectacular.  It just did a decent job of telling the Lemieux story without being cheesy.

The book is mainly an attempt to chronicle the Lemieux's return the NHL.  I was forced in to early retirement due to some back problems.  When he retired, he left hockey entirely with no intent of getting back into the game.  About three years after he retired Lemieux's team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, were in serious financial trouble.  There was a strong possibility the team would fold or move to another city.  Ticket sales were way down.  Something very different from Lemieux's days with the team when they won two Stanley Cups.  Lemieux decided to get involved, but this time as an owner.  He was able to pull together a team of business folks and lawyers to make a purchase of the team to keep it in the city.  This began Lemieux's return to hockey.

At this point there was no inkling that the big man would return to the ice as a player.  It certainly was not on his mind.  He just wanted the team to stay in Pittsburgh.  After some time off from hockey and with some new exercises, Lemieux noticed his back felt much better.  He also knew his team needed some life injected into it.  He finally realized he could return to hockey as a player and finally go out on his own terms.  It was one of the biggest stories in hockey.

The book goes through Lemieux's career from a kid through his return.  The return itself is covered throughout the entire book.  Each chapter begins with a description of a game from his return to the ice and some of the important plays.

The book is fun, though I found the layout a bit distracting.  That's not a big deal, because it's not really written to be a book you just pick up and read.  The story telling is pretty good and I think it touches on the human side of Lemieux.  Even though he is certainly one of the best players to play the game, the book gives the sense that's he's still a pretty regular guy.  I think the only people who would enjoy it are avid hockey fans.

Here are some highlights just for fun: