Cyclone Taylor: A hockey legend

This book is simply an excellent biography of one of hockey's first great players. The game was still in its infancy and considerably different from the modern game, but men who played it were athletes through-and-through, and the games as hotly contested (if not more so) than they today. Games were played before large (often disproportionately female (his wife was an ardent hockey fan)) and freezing crowds, on ice often of dubious quality. Play was often rough and rowdy, and more often than not there were goals a-plenty. Even for a player like Cyclone Taylor, there wasn't much money to be earned playing the game, and they played for the most part for the love of the game, a passion that I don't think modern players truly can attain. Unfortunately, almost no other hockey biography of this kind exists, to my knowledge, and virtually no studies on the early days of hockey. Which is a shame since the game is an integral aspect of Canada's heritage.

this book does a great job telling cyclone taylors story, but it also tells the stories of the men he played with and againt like art ross. it also gives you an inside look at the famed ottawa and renfew teams you hear so much about. i recomend this for any hockey fan

This is an awesome biography of professional hockey's first great star. Cyclone Taylor, of course, grew up in Canada and played hockey there, as the sport hadn't been made popular in the USA yet. Very soon, he became one of its most recognizable names, bringing crowds to its feet with his spectacular scoring everywhere he played. In 1915, he had his last harrah on the rink when the Vancouver team won the Stanley Cup. In addition to Taylor's life, Whitehead also captures how hockey was played in the early days in Canada, along with the many great players that skated with Cyclone in his glory years, such as Art Ross and Lester and Frank Patrick. Cyclone Taylor's name is not widely known in hockey circles today, but in the early 1900's, there wasn't a better player anywhere else.