The Last Good Year

Seven Games That Ended an Era

By: Damien Cox

Narrated by: Damien Cox

We may never see a playoff series like it again.

Before Gary Bettman, and the lockouts. Before all the NHL's old barns were torn down to make way for bigger, glitzier rinks. Before expansion and parity across the league, just about anything could happen on the ice. And it often did. It was an era when huge personalities dominated the sport; and willpower was often enough to win games. And in the spring of 1993, some of the biggest talents and biggest personalities were on a collision course.

The Cinderella Maple Leafs had somehow beaten the mighty Red Wings and then, just as improbably, the St. Louis Blues. Wayne Gretzky's Kings had just torn through the Flames and the Canucks. When they faced each other in the conference final, the result would be a series that fans still talk about passionately 25 years later.

Taking us back to that feverish spring, The Last Good Year gives an intimate account not just of an era-defining seven games, but of what the series meant to the men who were changed by it: Marty McSorley, the tough guy who took his whole team on his shoulders; Doug Gilmour, the emerging superstar; celebrity owner Bruce McNall; Bill Berg, who went from unknown to famous when the Leafs claimed him on waivers; Kelly Hrudey, the Kings' goalie who would go on to become a Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster; Kerry Fraser, who would become the game's most infamous referee; and two very different captains, Toronto's bull in a china shop, Wendel Clark, and the immortal Wayne Gretzky.

Fast-paced, authoritative, and galvanized by the same love of the game that made the series so unforgettable, The Last Good Year is a glorious testament to a moment hockey fans will never forget.

©2018 Damien Cox (P)2018 Penguin Random House Canada

Critic reviews

Nominated for the 2019 Toronto Heritage Book Award

“In the spring of 1993, I was leaving university for the world of sports journalism - expected to view the world with a more critical eye. Those NHL playoffs were the last I watched as a fan. There’s been so much written and said about this series that you think you’ve heard it all. Not true. Damien uncovered so much I didn't know, bringing back all those memories. Awesome to relive them once again.” (Elliotte Friedman, hockey insider for Sportsnet, the NHL Network and Hockey Night in Canada)

“To quote the great Bob Cole: ‘Everything is happening!’ in The Last Good Year. A historic franchise finally on the verge of returning to glory after almost three dark decades wandering through the wilderness, challenged by a team that seems to represent everything new and glitzy about sport in the 1990s, owned by charming super-salesman who also happens to be a crook, and captained by the greatest player of all time. Sounds like fiction, but it wasn’t, and anyone who had the pleasure of covering the 1993 Stanley Cup semi-final between Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings will never forget it. Damien Cox has done a beautiful job of weaving the times, the personalities and the games themselves into a multi-layered narrative. This is my favourite hockey book in a long while.” (Stephen Brunt, Sportsnet broadcaster and author of Searching for Bobby Orr, Gretzky’s Tears, and Leafs ’65)

“Masterful. Damien Cox captures the detail and intensity of one of the most intense playoff series ever played, one all of us in the business remember. He knows the background stories and tells them in his usual style: tough, but fair. A must-read for any hockey fan.” (Brian Burke, Stanley Cup-winning NHL GM and Hockey Night in Canada analyst)

A behind the scenes way to relive a great memory

I really like the way Damien folded in the stories of players and coaches as he told the story of the games themselves. This added a human element that was unexpected and is very much appreciated.