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Blades of Glory: The True Story of a Young Team Bred to Win

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At face value, this book is an account of a season at a perennial high school hockey state champion. But at its core, the book describes the hard work, pressure, sacrifice, glory, and heartbreak that America's youth are subject to when they compete to be the very best at their chosen activity.

Once I started the book, I had a hard time setting it down. I am a sports fan with a passion for hockey, but while reading the book I found myself looking through the eyes of a parent with a talented child. What would I be willing to do help them become a champion? What beliefs and values would I sacrificed for my child's victory?

The author is a great storyteller, who holds nothing back in his account of what these boys encounter as they seek a championship.

For the hockey enthusiast or the novice reader, this book has it all. From the historical references of Minnesota High School hockey's past to the dynasty and powerhouse that was the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars, Rosengren recounts Tom Saterdalen's storied program perfectly. As a Jefferson grad in the mid-90's, I can honestly say I was hooked on this book from the get-go. Hockey was THE sport to be in at our school. I witnessed first-hand what was written about in this book, and it brought back some great memories. My hockey-playing friends and classmates went through a ton of pressure to make the program what it was. But you need not have been a Jaguar to appreciate such a legend as "Sats" and the awesome domination during his thirty-eight-year career behind the bench. He expected a lot out of his players, sometimes too much, but got results that yielded him immortality in the high school hockey coaching ranks. This book also goes in-depth into the lives of these high school hockey players: on the ice, in the classroom, and in their private lives. It explores substance abuse, suicide, peer pressure and other facets of teenage life on and off the playing field. It is truly an inspirational and well-written story, even if you've never heard of the Jefferson Jaguars.

As a sports fan I found Blades of Glory to be a great story of a team's journey toward fullfillment of a life long dream. Rosengren does an outstanding job of highliting the ups and downs of high school athletics and the culture of youth/hs hockey. Additionally, the historical aspects of the book made me more appreciative of past programs and the role the sport plays in the hearts and minds of Minnesota residents.
However, as a high school coach, what I found even more valuable were the qualities and characteristics needed to build and maintain a successful program. Rosengren's brings to life a number of ethical questions that coaches face concerning winning, loyalty, and relationships making this a must read for anyone interested in coaching.

This is a great inside look at an elite high school hockey program. From the players to the coaches to the parents to the cheerleaders to the fans, no angle is left unturned.

Humor, history and controversy: Blades of Glory has it all. More important, Rosengren taps into truth from a variety of perspectives, including those parents, players, coaches--and scouts whose livelihoods depend upon not just upon a prospect's potential but also his circumstances.

But these aren't the reasons I selected the book in the first place. No, I picked up Blades of Glory because I'm a hockey fan (of all levels) and a hockey player; I selected the book because I have lived in Minnesota and have coached hockey (and other sports). I didn't know I'd learn so much about things I thought I knew about, and I didn't realize I'd get more than just a fleeting glimpse of the big hockey picture.

There is a wide variety of hockey books sitting on the virtual shelves at Amazon.com: NHL autobiographies, training manuals and minor league misadventures. I have read many of these books. I'll continue to read them--and will enjoy them for what they are. But these other books won't likely be laced with the same doses of humanity and history as Blades of Glory.

Blades of Glory-The True Story of a Young Team Bred to Win, by John Rosengren

Copyright 2003, Sourcebooks, Inc., 339 pages, ISBN- 1-4022-0046-3

Reviewer: Ryan Kesti 9th grade, Red Wing High School, Red Wing, Minnesota

"Jaguar Hockey 200-2001 November-Commitment, December-Teamwork, January-Endurance, February-Success, March-Xcel, read the sign hanging above the bench in the Bloomington Jefferson hockey team's locker room. The book Blades of Glory tells about the things that are expected when you are one of the best hockey teams in the state.

The book is a great look into the highs and lows of a hockey season with the Jefferson Jaguars. In this book you learn what kids will do and have done to play for one of the most premier hockey teams in the state of Minnesota. You learn about kids who will cheat and take steroids or do whatever it takes to become the best. You will also learn about kids who have worked hard at hockey since the age they could walk to get their shot to play at the Xcel Energy Center for a chance at the state title.

This is one book I would recommend to anyone interested in any high school sport, not only for those who love the game of hockey, but for everyone. I am not a person who will read many books but this is one book that everyone should read. There are a few adult moments but this book can be read by anyone from middle school age on up.

As a non-hockey fan (for that matter, a non-sports fan), John Rosengren's Blades of Glory seemed something of a long shot gift when a friend gave it to me. But what's important about this book has little to do with sports. I was appalled, and riveted by this fascinating book, which tells the personal story of children deprived of their childhoods by a must-win culture that forgot what is important about growing up. There's little fun or joy in their experiences in high school hockey, and the proof is the human toll: performance-enhancing drug use, and stress-related teenage dysfunction. For the kids Rosengren describes, hockey replaces what should have been a high school education and the broader learning that goes with it. Virtually none of them will make a living in hockey, but each of them focuses on the sport as though they were. This isn't a book just for sports nuts (though they will love the minutiae about the games themselves); it's for anyone who's concerned with affluent society's current preoccupation with the "success" of their children, and the lengths parents will go in pressuring children and teachers to produce winning specimens, whether it's in sports, academics, art, or music.

Folks, this is a hockey classic, John Rosengren paints a perfect picture for the reader on all the different characters involved in high school hockey in Minnesota. Put a log on the fire, pour yourself a cold one, kick back and enjoy this book.

The story of Bloomington Jefferson Jaguar hockey in 2001 could easily have been written about my high school 15 years prior. I grew up one 'burb over and attended Tom Saterdalen's hockey schools as an early teen. It was held at the Bloomington Ice Garden in "prestigious West Bloomington" - the storied venue chronicled in the book.

High school hockey in the Lake Conference is a very big deal. I knew as much from the time I was a Mite and my dad took me to watch our community's team play. Yes it is competitive. Yes there is a win-at-all-cost mentality that draws fire from many - including some of those that have reviewed the book for this site. You can be the judge of whether that is good, bad, or neither.

We (and I'm including pretty much every male hockey player in my community) all wanted to suit up for Varsity very badly. We wouldn't have wanted it so much if it weren't as competitive, as important. Like professional sports, successes are a great source of civic pride.

Blades of Glory takes you inside this world for one sometimes glorious, sometimes frustrating season. Indiana basketball, Texas football, Minnesota hockey. This isn't participatory high school athletics in obscure sports at some random school. Rosengren does a very good job of capturing the emotions. He also weaves in enough tales to make stabs at social commentary without coming across as preachy.

My only knock against the book is that he opts for an effect that takes things out of their chronological sequence in order to emphasize certain emotions and certain points. (Example - wait until you read about the Jefferson Jaguars GIRLS hockey team late in the book. We hear about how some of the boy players are dating girls that play on the team throughout the book... their successful season is covered late, almost as an afterthought. Another example - much is written about a parent's critical letter to the community paper in the early 90s about Saterdalen's overzealous competitive drive. Context on the source is provided at the very end. I'm not sure why that was held back as some sort of finale.)

Anyone that thinks they'd like this book will. A great work.

I realy like this book, I just started reading it and I'm totally hooked. I'm not a big hockey fan so I think a little bit is lost on me, but this book really draws you into the characters in the traditions of the best sports stories. The whole "parent of student athlete" is captured well and that's probably something we all need to be talking more about.