In "Hockey Gods," Nicholas Cotsonika, the hockey writer for the Detroit Free Press, follows the team from their embarrassing and shocking first-round ouster in the 2001 playoffs (the team's earliest exit since 1994), through training camp, the regular season and the Olympics (in which the Wings had 10 players and one prospect representing five countries), culminating in the spectacular playoff run and Stanley Cup victory.

If you are a Red Wing fan, this book should be required reading; however, I think any hockey fan would enjoy reading this book. It gives an excellent inside look at perhaps the best assemblage of talent the NHL has seen on one team in quite some time. And with Curtis Joseph in net replacing the retired Dominik Hasek, Mr. Cotsonika may just have to write a sequel to "Hockey Gods" next year!

4 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Delayed Penalty  Jan 24, 2003

This book could have been great - but it isn't. If you're wondering about the exact time shots occurred or goals were scored, buy this book. But if you're looking for a behind the scenes view of how this team worked together, DON'T buy this book. Cotsonika's writing style is like a book full of box scores. He mixes past, present and future events in the same paragraph - there's no flow to the story, no drama, no interesting facts. Cotsonika even throws in a couple of self-serving lockerroom moments that have no bearing on the story being told. I really looked forward to reading this book, and I forced myself to finish it, hoping it would eventually get better. My advice? Look in the Free Press archives for Mitch Albom articles about last year's run for the Cup.