Iron Mike: My Life Behind the Bench

The must-read memoir of one of the NHL’s most controversial and successful coaches--winner of the 1994 Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers.

In the fraternity of NHL coaches, some stand out for their winning records, some for their big personalities and some for their unprecedented methods. Mike Keenan stands out on all these counts, and more.
Breaking into the NHL as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1984, Keenan got instant results, leading them to the Stanley Cup final in his first year. In 1987, he coached Team Canada to victory in the Canada Cup using his intuitive bench management, putting superstars Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux together on a line at key times to great, winning results.
Keenan’s teams succeeded at every level. With championships in university athletics, the OHL and AHL, it seemed only a matter of time before his resumé would include the ultimate prize. One of the NHL’s most valuable franchises, the New York Rangers, hadn’t won a Cup in fifty-four years--the league’s longest championship drought at the time. But with five-time Stanley Cup champion Mark Messier as captain of the star-studded Rangers lineup, there was only one thing missing for a championship run on Broadway: a coach who could focus all the talent and desire on victory. After a season of much controversy, in 1994 the Stanley Cup finally returned to Madison Square Garden, considered by many to be one of the greatest Cup wins by a US-based NHL team.
In the hands of veteran sports journalist and bestselling author Scott Morrison, Iron Mike takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most explosive runs to the Cup in NHL history, one that Keenan shares at long last. There is only one Iron Mike in hockey, and love him or hate him, his memoir is an essential read for any fan of the game.

MIKE KEENAN is the eighth-winningest head coach in NHL history. Born in Bowmanville, Ontario, he began his coaching career as a substitute lacrosse coach at a Toronto high school. His star ascended rapidly. In the course of winning a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers, directing Canada to two Canada Cup triumphs, producing finalists in Philadelphia (two) and Chicago during eight NHL posts, plus wrapping up his career with a Kontinental Hockey League championship in Magnitogorsk, Russia, Mike Keenan coached the greatest stars in hockey and is remembered as one of the game’s most controversial personalities.

SCOTT MORRISON has provided cogent and colourful hockey analysis since his start in 1979, covering the Maple Leafs and NHL for the Toronto Sun. He has reported and provided analysis for Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada, and CBC Television and Radio, while making regular appearances across the sports-radio dial. He has twice served as president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and has written numerous books, including the #1 bestseller 1972: The Hockey Series that Changed the Game Forever. In 2006 he received the Hockey Hall of Fame Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. He lives in Toronto with his son, Mark.