ROME, NY – How do you pick the top 200 legends for the longest operating North American professional hockey league? Just give Jim Mancuso a call.
Mancuso, current vice-president of USA East for the Society for International Hockey Research, took on the task and the result is his latest book: 
“American Hockey League Legends”, commemorating the 75th anniversary season of the AHL through the men who played and made the league what it is today.
A self-confessed AHL fan since he first began following the Erie Blades in 1981, Mancuso took six months to narrow down the list of candidates for each position. He proportioned the selections based on those positions – for example, 60 percent of the players had to be forwards since there are three forward positions.
Among the other criteria was “having their AHL credibility in place”, meaning that to be selected to the legendary graduates section, a player had to have played at least 2/3 of an AHL season before getting the call to head up to the NHL. (The legendary graduates include 13 goaltenders with most of them being from the “Original Six” era when goalies didn’t wear masks and bore the scars to prove it.)
The book devotes sections to 150 legendary players and 25 legendary graduates. Each player’s full-page spread is illustrated with larger-than-life (primarily 4 ½” x 6 ¼”) black and white photos, season and team histories, notable feats and regular season and playoff statistics.
Mancuso went to great lengths to produce player photos with a range of team uniforms to span the histories of the franchises. For example, the Providence Reds are represented by Zellio Toppazzini in the “raging rooster”, John Bednarski wearing the “cereal box rooster” and goaltender Marcel Paille sporting the “slap shot rooster”. Mancuso was even able to showcase AHL legends who spent time in the uniforms of lesser-known or long-forgotten teams such as the Cincinnati Swords, Syracuse Stars and the New Haven Eagles.
The book also features a one-of-a-kind section dedicated to 25 legendary administrators and coaches such as league founder Maurice Podoloff and the legendary Eddie Shore (Shore is pictured in a suit and tie with a pair of skates while casually leaning against the boards). It also includes a bonus section that details every AHL award including their significance and the history of their namesakes.
In all, over 200 photographs were hand-picked to bring the legends to life on the pages of the book, making it a must-have for die-hard hockey enthusiasts. One of the photos that stands out is a game action picture that spreads over the two pages that precede the Legendary Players section. In the photo, Willie Marshall, the AHL’s all-time leader in regular season points, goals, assists, hat tricks and games played, is seen firing a shot between two Cleveland Barons’ defenders at net minder Les Binkley.
Self-published by Mancuso Publishing, “American Hockey League Legends” in its 8 1/2” x 11” text book style hard-cover format is a solid AHL historical reference with an old time hockey feel. For AHL fans in the market for a commemorative reference book with eye-popping photos and stats galore, this one’s a keeper.
“American Hockey League Legends” is available through the AHL at www.ahlstore.com for $29.99.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com
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