Grasp Icing On The Plains: The Rough Ride Of Kansas City’s Nhl Scouts Depicted By Troy Treasure Categorized In Pamphlet

its expansion into new cities and territories, inthe NHL expanded by two teams placing them in Washington, DC and Kansas City.
While the Capitals have enjoyed success in Washington, including a Stanley Cup championship in, the same couldnt be said for their expansion brethren.
The Kansas City Scouts lasted just two seasons in that city before being sold to a group in Denver who moved them there.
The two seasons in Kansas City are the subject of this wellresearched, fastreading book by Troy Treasure,

Treasure starts out by

giving the reader a rundown of the history of professional sports in Kansas City up to the point where the NHL awards a franchise to a group of investors known as Kansas City Hockey Associates.
Right from the start, the franchise was plagued with problems their original choice for a team name, the MoHawks, was rejected as it was believed to be too close to the same as the Chicago Blackhawks.
Arena issues almost kept the franchise from being awarded until the Kemper Arena was approved for construction, Their cash flow, tenuous at the start, would continue to be an issue as the team suffered from poor performance on both the ice and the turnstiles.


There are many colorful stories about important people in the two years of the Scouts, The reader will get to learn more about people like the first coach and general manager of the Scouts, Bep Guidolin and Sid Abel respectively.
Many Scouts players are profiled throughout the book, including some colorful characters such as Steve Durbano and the most successful player drafted by the team, Wilf Paiment.
The story of his parents arriving at games in what could best be described as colorful clothing is one of the better stories involving players.


Something present in this book that is not common in many books about specific teams is player profiles are written for players on other teams.
While many of these are interesting and fans of other teams may enjoy them, these interrupted the flow of the reading about the Scouts.
The bulk of the material written were recaps, stories and issued affecting the Scouts and even just through these, fans who followed hockey during this time, whether they were fans of the Scouts or not, will enjoy reliving some memories.


However, those memories were not great for the Scouts as they suffered through what many expansion teams went through in their early years at the time when there were very few quality players available through the expansion draft.
The Scouts did set a dubious record near the end of their second season by playingconsecutive games without a victory, a record that has since been broken.
But that inglorious achievement is a proper reflection of the struggles of the team that was mercifully allowed to move to Denver.
While the franchise had much of the same struggles in Colorado as the Rockies and in their early years after relocating yet again in New Jersey, those bad times didnt last forever as the New Jersey Devils, winning three Stanley Cups in a nine year period in the mid to lates and earlys.


While it was nice to finally see the franchise enjoy some success in New Jersey, this book was also a nice tribute to the rough but colorful beginning of the franchise that hockey fans of this time period will be sure to enjoy.


I wish to thank Mr, Treasure for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review,

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During the earlys, the National Hockey League undertookseparate expansions when they addednew teams each time.
Devoted hockey fans can usually cite Buffalo, Vancouver, New York Islanders, and the Washington Capitals, as those teams are still playing with their original names in their original cities today.
Many can also name the Atlanta Flames, as the team kept its nickname after moving to Calgary,

Those who name the New Jersey Devils would be incorrect, however, as the team moved to northern New Jersey after a short stay in Denver.
And Denvers first team is also often forgotten, as the teams nickname is now associated with Major League Baseball, and hockeys Colorado Rockies were ALSO not the original site of that franchise.


Troy Treasure documents the original team and its twoyear existence in its original home in his book, “Icing on the Plains: The Rough Ride of Kansas Citys NHL Scouts”.
After two earlier expansion drafts three if you look back almostyears toand the threat of a rival league with its own teams that needed players, the well was largely dry when it came time for Kansas City and Washington to select players.


Mr. Treasure does interview many of the men who skated for the Kansas City Scouts a few declined to participate and reflects a team that performed the best they could, given their talent level coupled with some severe issues in upper management / ownership.
He documents the games, although not to the extent of force feeding us individual play by plays and talks about the office activities of the men and their families.


I highly recommend this read for all hockey fans, especially those who remember the NHL of thes.


RATING:stars.
An interesting read on one of the NHLs most colourful and short lived teams, The book sometimes gets bogged down as it goes game by game saying who scored and any notable highlights, It really shines when it comes to sharing quirky stories of the era and talking about all the various Scouts players.
I was born and raised in the Metro Detroit area, and grew up during this era of the "Dead Wings.
" I eventually became a Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils fan due to a player the Scouts drafted who has the same name as me How else was I going to see my name on the Stanley Cup I couldn't skate and had no athletic prowess.


This book was not only a thoroughly researched and detailed account of the Kansas City Scouts, but a trip down memory lane with so many former Red Wings involved Sid Abel, Guy Charron, Gary Bergman, Henry Boucha, Larry Johnstone, Phil Roberto.
For any hockey fan who is interested in the history of the game, or any oldtimer like me who wants to reminisce about the good old days of hockey, I highly recommend this wellwritten book about the life and death of the Kansas City Scouts.
Way too much filler. There's a lot that could be said about the spectacular failure of this team, Sadly most of the book reads like box scores and Wikipedia entires, I'm a sucker for expansion teams i, e. Seattle Pilots/Ball Four and how they start up and get through the early times, I always wondered why the NHL tried to put a team in Kansas City of all places, . . in. Seemed like an odd choice spoiler alert: it was, The other expansion team that started with them, the Washington Capitals, get more notoriety since they are the worst team in NHL history.
I thought this would be a fun book and I was not disappointed, I enjoy the stories more than the game by game detail as someone else said, it bogs things down and I agree.
Troy put a lot of research into this and it shows, Plus, the number of future "famous" people that cross paths with this team is interesting,

Fun fact: The Kansas City group paidmillion as an expansion fee, In, the Vegas Golden Knights paidmillion and the new as ofSeattle Kraken paidmillion, With only a twoyear existence to draw on Treasure had to go in depth on almost every game and incorporate personal stories of not only the Scouts but other players, coaches and personnel to get up topages.
It was an easy read but nothing remarkable, This is the story of Kansas Citys attempt to integrate majorleague hockey into its sports marketplace, only to see it fall through thin ice.


Troy Treasure, an awardwinning sports reporter, tells the riveting story of the Kansas City Scouts, who began playing in the National Hockey League in.


Perhaps the franchises owners should have guessed it would be a struggle from the beginning: After finally getting an arena, its original namethe MoHawkswas rejected because the Chicago Blackhawks thought it too closely resembled their moniker.


But while the franchise underperformed on the ice and at the box office, there was also triumphs and plenty of laughs mixed in with the tears.
During their two years on the ice, the Scouts featured the biggest onice badass in the NHL, a combustible coach, and one of hockeys alltime funny men.


Filled with player interviews and painstakingly researched, this book pays tribute to the history of professional hockey in Kansas City, the citys other pro sports teams, and athletics at large.
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