Before the Stars: Early Major League Hockey and the St. Paul Athletic Club Team

A history of Minnesota's dominant hockey team in the early twentieth century--the St. Paul Athletic Club hockey team. Sports historian Roger A. Godin traces the development of the AC's from their origins to their capture of the MacNaughton Cup in 1916 as winners of the American Amateur Hockey Association title and to their later battles in 1922 and 1923 at the national finals of the U.S. Amateur Hockey Association. Godin profiles players such as Tony Conroy, Ed Fitzgerald, Cy Weidenborner, Emmy Garrett, and Frank Moose Goheen, who led the AC's to national prominence and was the second American player elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto after the legendary Hobey Baker. Readers are taken back to a time when players fielded seven-man teams using rovers, angry skaters swung at opposing coaches and referees, goal umpires raised white flags to signal goals, and fans watched games in massive Hippodromes and celebrated their teams in torchlight parades. Before the Stars is a captivating history of the sport's early years and a must read for any hockey fan.