The Lone Star Skate continues to receive some very strong and supportive views. Here are a few from the past week:
http://thehockeywriters.com/book-review-lone-star-skate/
http://www.onfrozenblog.com/2011/03/24/book-review-the-lone-star-skate.html
http://autumnbluesreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/lone-star-skate-by-glenn-hart-and-rusty.html

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Howdy Texas hockey fans:
Great news: “The Lone Star Skate: Improbable (But True) Stories of Texas’s Hockey Heroes” is now available for purchase on this website or through Amazon.com.

Even most sports fans in the Lone Star State probably do not realize that the state with more professional hockey teams than any other is Texas. Deep in the heart of football country, one of the most fascinating sports developments of the last 15 years is the rise in popularity of hockey. From Amarillo to Austin and from Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley, Texans have grown to love their hockey. In 2009-10, more than two million fans attended professional games in the Lone Star State.

This is the one book that provides in-depth stories and personal pictures of the men who brought, taught, promoted and played big-time hockey in the Lone Star State. It is filled with never-before-told stories from some of the biggest names in the sport—legends like Gordie Howe, Mike Modano and Brett Hull. The stories behind these men and others will leave hockey fans laughing or shaking their heads in amazement. For example, did you know that:

* Gordie Howe’s most enjoyable seasons as a player were spent in Houston, not Detroit.
* Norm Green wanted to move the North Stars from Minnesota to California, not Dallas. But because Disney wanted to own a hockey team, Green was forced to relocate to Dallas. In other words, Dallas can thank Mickey Mouse for the Stars.
* The early marketing strategy of the Stars in Dallas involved giving tickets away to topless dancers in the area. Former Stars president Jim Lites says his staff targeted single males with money as their initial season ticket base. They lured them into the arena with the promise of hard-hitting action on the ice, a hard rock atmosphere in the building, hard liquor in the postgame setting (the Stars Club), and hard-bodied, short-skirted, voluptuous women in the crowd and inside the Stars Club. We’re talking stiletto heels, revealing clothing, and enough implants to turn Reunion Arena into “Silicone City.” Said Lites: “Our sales guys would go to sorority houses at SMU, and they’d pass out tickets to the hottest college girls they could find. They would also go to plenty of strip clubs and pass out tickets to the topless dancers. It was pros, semipros, and high-ranking amateurs. We didn’t advertise any of that, but word quickly spread around town that you needed to experience the atmosphere of Stars games—and the Stars Club—for yourself. Honestly, that’s how we built the original fanbase.”
* Houston came oh-so-close to being the first NHL city in Texas. The WHA Aeros won four regular season titles and four division championships in 1974, ’75, ’76 and ’77. Houston also won back-to-back AVCO World Trophies, beating the Chicago Cougars in ’74 and the Quebec Nordiques in ’75. In 1977, merger discussions with the NHL were first initiated. Houston, along with Cincinnati, Winnipeg, New England, Quebec, and Edmonton, applied for entry into the NHL. After a lengthy debate, the NHL voted the proposal down. Merger discussions resumed in 1978, but Houston was not part of the proposal this time because of a decision that still haunts the city. The Aeros folded on July 6, 1978. During the final series of talks, Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer campaigned to the NHL that either his team be admitted as an expansion team independent of a merger, or he would attempt to purchase an existing club and relocate it to Houston. Neither came to fruition. As a result, four teams— Edmonton, New England, Quebec, and Winnipeg—joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season, and the WHA ceased operations. By most accounts, Houston should have been one of the teams chosen to move to the NHL.
* What the CHL is today is largely the results of the efforts Rick Kozuback and his prior business partner, Brad Treliving. Their stories of the early expansion in Texas will bring you tears with laughter. For example, there was opening night in Belton, where the majority of fans left after the second period. They thought it was like college basketball with a first half and a second half. Most of them had no idea there was a third period. Kozuback and Treliving were literally running through the parking lots telling fans that the game was not over. Then there’s the story from the next day in Waco when opening night was nearly fogged out. Not outside the arena. Inside it. Those stories and more are the essence of this humorous chapter about one of the great hockey pioneers.
This book is a must-read and a coffee-table keepsake for every hockey fan in Texas.

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We are drawing closer and closer to the release of “The Lone Star Skate: Improbable (But True) Stories of Texas’s Hockey Heroes.”
Even most sports fans in the Lone Star State probably do not realize that the state with more professional hockey teams than any other is Texas. Deep in the heart of football country, one of the most fascinating sports developments of the last 15 years is the rise in popularity of hockey. From Amarillo to Austin and from Dallas to the Rio Grande Valley, Texans have grown to love their hockey. In 2009-10, more than two million fans attended professional games in the Lone Star State.

This is the one book that provides in-depth stories and personal pictures of the men who brought, taught, promoted and played big-time hockey in the Lone Star State. It is filled with never-before-told stories from some of the biggest names in the sport—legends like Gordie Howe, Mike Modano and Brett Hull. The stories behind these men and others will leave hockey fans laughing or shaking their heads in amazement. For example, did you know that:

• Gordie Howe’s most enjoyable seasons as a player were spent in Houston, not Detroit.
• Norm Green wanted to move the North Stars from Minnesota to California, not Dallas. But because Disney wanted to own a hockey team, Green was forced to relocate to Dallas. In other words, Dallas can thank Mickey Mouse for the Stars.
• The early marketing strategy of the Stars in Dallas involved giving tickets away to topless dancers in the area. Former Stars president Jim Lites says his staff targeted single males with money as their initial season ticket base. They lured them into the arena with the promise of hard-hitting action on the ice, a hard rock atmosphere in the building, hard liquor in the postgame setting (the Stars Club), and hard-bodied, short-skirted, voluptuous women in the crowd and inside the Stars Club. We’re talking stiletto heels, revealing clothing, and enough implants to turn Reunion Arena into “Silicone City.” Said Lites: “Our sales guys would go to sorority houses at SMU, and they’d pass out tickets to the hottest college girls they could find. They would also go to plenty of strip clubs and pass out tickets to the topless dancers. It was pros, semipros, and high-ranking amateurs. We didn’t advertise any of that, but word quickly spread around town that you needed to experience the atmosphere of Stars games—and the Stars Club—for yourself. Honestly, that’s how we built the original fanbase.”
• Houston came oh-so-close to being the first NHL city in Texas. The WHA Aeros won four regular season titles and four division championships in 1974, ’75, ’76 and ’77. Houston also won back-to-back AVCO World Trophies, beating the Chicago Cougars in ’74 and the Quebec Nordiques in ’75. In 1977, merger discussions with the NHL were first initiated. Houston, along with Cincinnati, Winnipeg, New England, Quebec, and Edmonton, applied for entry into the NHL. After a lengthy debate, the NHL voted the proposal down. Merger discussions resumed in 1978, but Houston was not part of the proposal this time because of a decision that still haunts the city. The Aeros folded on July 6, 1978. During the final series of talks, Aeros owner Kenneth Schnitzer campaigned to the NHL that either his team be admitted as an expansion team independent of a merger, or he would attempt to purchase an existing club and relocate it to Houston. Neither came to fruition. As a result, four teams— Edmonton, New England, Quebec, and Winnipeg—joined the NHL for the 1979–80 season, and the WHA ceased operations. By most accounts, Houston should have been one of the teams chosen to move to the NHL.
• What the CHL is today is largely the results of the efforts Rick Kozuback and his prior business partner, Brad Treliving. Their stories of the early expansion in Texas will bring you tears with laughter. For example, there was opening night in Belton, where the majority of fans left after the second period. They thought it was like college basketball with a first half and a second half. Most of them had no idea there was a third period. Kozuback and Treliving were literally running through the parking lots telling fans that the game was not over. Then there’s the story from the next day in Waco when opening night was nearly fogged out. Not outside the arena. Inside it. Those stories and more are the essence of this humorous chapter about one of the great hockey pioneers.

This book is a must-read and a coffee-table keepsake for every hockey fan in Texas.

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