Well – what can I say? Stuart Latham has done it again – with another huge book about British ice hockey, this time all about “Ice Hockey in Wales”.
Now, if you are a regular reader of my previous random ramblings on this subject (did you notice my double alliteration of the r-words there…?), you will know that I have already gone on at great length about the huge-ness of his previous Manchester ice hockey book “On Thin Ice” (that’s the one that you couldn’t read while riding no-handed on a bike – no, please, don’t try that yourself - it would be reckless and dangerous, and I only mention it for historical context)…
Well, this latest offering “Ice Hockey In Wales” comes from the same stable, and it really is pretty much what it says on the tin. Although you couldn’t creosote your fence with it in authentic Karate Kid style, you would certainly know a lot more about the subject matter than the average unassuming oriental martial arts tutor by the time you have finished reading this fascinating book.
As with all of Stuart’s other ice hockey books, this one is packed with interesting facts, league tables, players stats and personal stories from people who have been involved with the clubs concerned.
From a Deeside point of view, we have the various incarnations over the years of the Deeside Dragons, there is also the Flintshire Freeze who operated in the ENL in Deeside instead of the Dragons from 1998 to 2012 and an interesting piece by current Dragons GM Shaun Bebbington about the post-Covid period return of ice hockey in Deeside.
There is also a wealth of information about the Deeside second teams, covering the historical Deeside Demons, the short lived Dragons 2 and a very well written and informative (ahem…) piece about the new Deeside Ducks team that just started this season.
There’s no mention of the Clwyd Flames, unfortunately, who were the Deeside second team for a couple of seasons in the early 1980s, although – to be fair - detailed information about them is pretty hard to track down.
The other ice hockey venue in Wales – down in the Welsh capital - gets similar treatment and we have year by year league tables, player stats, stories and photos (as available) about Cardiff Devils, Cardiff Rage, Cardiff Capitals, Cardiff Fire, Cardiff Fire 2, Cardiff Bears, Cardiff Satans and the new Cardiff Canucks team.
If you are a keen collector of ice hockey books in general - and Stuart Latham’s books in particular - you will probably have come across a lot of this material before as he has previously produced separate volumes about the Deeside Dragons (in 2020) and Cardiff Devils (2021) but, even so – it’s nice to have all this stuff together in one tidy edition and with everything brought right up to date.
So, if you want vital statistics, I’ll give you some vital statistics. “Ice Hockey In Wales” is a whopping 630 pages in length - not quite as huge as “On Thin Ice”s 734 pages but it is still a heavyweight hardback. In fact, it weighs 1.25kg, is 260mm high, 180mm wide and has a spine width of 38mm and it will stand bold and proud on your bookshelf next to the rest of your Stuart Latham ice hockey book collection.
For orders, drop Stuart a line via Facebook HERE or send him an email HERE
- and get him to tell you about his other books as well.
