Ken Baker wanted nothing more than to play ice hockey with the
pros-until a brain tumor cut his dreams short while in college. After
surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top
prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career
on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback. He moved away
from his family to become the third-string goalie for the Bakersfield
Condors, an AA-level minor-league team in the dusty oil town of
Bakersfield, California. At the age of thirty-one, Baker became the
oldest rookie in all of pro-hockey, facing 1000-m.p.h. slap shots and
long bus rides, hostile fans and cheap motel rooms, body bruises and
battle-worn teammates. From his visit to an NHL training camp to his
first nerve-rattled minutes as a pro, Baker joins the rookies who still
dream of making it to the Show, the veterans long past their prime, and
the obsessive fans who keep them going. There's the coach who tests
Baker at every turn; the troubled captain who gets arrested for battery
on his wife; the former NHL goon who stages fights out of boredom; and
the team's other goalies who eye the newcomer warily knowing there's
only room for one of them in the net. Baker's pro-hockey adventure ends
up teaching him nearly everything he will ever need to know about life.
