Toe Blake: Winning Is Everything

Sportswriter Logothetis delivers a solid, insightful biography of Hector “Toe” Blake (1912­—1995), whose legendary three-decade association with the Montreal Canadiens included winning the Stanley Cup 10 times as either a player or coach. Starting with Blake’s Depression-era youth in Coniston, Ontario, where he learned to play hockey with “pucks cut from birch trees” before being signed by the Canadiens in 1936, and then moving through Blake’s playing and coaching career, Logothetis provides an excellent look at how both the personal and professional aspects of hockey have changed over the years. He shows how Blake learned to control his “aggressive behavior” and “loud and foul-mouthed on-ice presence,” allowing him to focus on his game and become an effective part of the Canadiens in the 1930s and ’40s, when he joined linemen Elmer Lach and Maurice Richard in what came to be known as the the Punch Line, one of the best offensive units of the era. Logothetis also shows how Blake changed from “an old-school coach” to a more modern type who pushed his players “to play to their strengths but did not point the finger when mistakes were made.” This look at an important figure in the world of professional hockey will thrill fans of all allegiances. (Mar.)