Klondikers, Tim Falconer
Klondikers, Tim Falconer
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Klondikers
Dawson City's Stanley Cup Challenge and How a Nation Fell in Love with Hockey

Author: Tim Falconer

Narrator: Matthew Josdal

Unabridged: 12 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/05/2021


Synopsis

For fans of The Boys in the Boat and Against All Odds

Join a ragtag group of misfits from Dawson City as they scrap to become the 1905 Stanley Cup champions and cement hockey as Canada's national pastime.

An underdog hockey team traveled for three and a half weeks from Dawson City to Ottawa to play for the Stanley Cup in 1905. The Klondikers' eagerness to make the journey, and the public's enthusiastic response, revealed just how deeply, and how quickly, Canadians had fallen in love with hockey. After Governor General Stanley donated a championship trophy in 1893, new rinks appeared in big cities and small towns, leading to more players, teams, and leagues. And more fans. When Montreal challenged Winnipeg for the Cup in December 1896, supporters in both cities followed the play-by-play via telegraph updates. As the country escaped the Victorian era and entered a promising new century, a different nation was emerging. Canadians fell for hockey amid industrialization, urbanization, and shifting social and cultural attitudes. Class and race-based British ideals of amateurism attempted to fend off a more egalitarian professionalism. Ottawa star Weldy Young moved to the Yukon in 1899, and within a year was talking about a Cup challenge. With the help of Klondike businessman Joe Boyle, it finally happened six years later. Ottawa pounded the exhausted visitors, with "One-Eyed" Frank McGee scoring an astonishing 14 goals in one game. But there was no doubt hockey was now the national pastime.

About Tim Falconer

Tim Falconer is the author of Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music, which made the Globe and Mail's Top 100 list. A former writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, he returns to the Yukon as often as he can from his home in Toronto, Ontario.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kelly_Hunsaker_reads on April 15, 2022

I wish to thank the author and publisher for the gifted copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review. It was a treat to read. I am not a sports nut, and do not know much about hockey, so this may not seem like the right book for me. However, I love true, inspirational stories that combine aspe......more

Goodreads review by Dayton on January 13, 2024

I didn't finish it because the parts about the history of the Klondike wore me down. I loved the building of the Senators, but it was so interspersed with other parts I didn't enjoy that I just have up.......more

Goodreads review by Chris on October 08, 2021

I liked this a lot. It blends broader social and historical detail covering the end of the 19th century with plenty of very entertaining stories about the early days of hockey. Which were not dull, if this book is any indication. The characters were colourful but it's clear interest in hockey was so......more

Goodreads review by Matt on January 08, 2022

This is far more than the story of the Dawson City hockey club's Stanley Cup challenge. Indeed, in a 330 page book the Cup games only come up around page 300, and are over quite quickly. Instead, Falconer covers a lot more in this book, looking at everything from the development of hockey, to the Kl......more

Goodreads review by Leslie on July 09, 2021

How could you not love this book! If you are Canadian, you likely have some knowledge of the hockey universe. This book is the story of how hockey became Canada's beloved pastime. It begins with a group of untrained hockey players from Dawson City, who travelled for three and a half weeks to play for......more