"They Don't Play Hockey In Heaven"

Have you ever been flipping through the channels and land on E News? Do you recall seeing a news correspondent named Ken Baker? If you have then you’ll be just as surprised as I was to learn about Bakers pro Hockey career. I recently purchased a book titled “They Don’t Play Hockey in Heaven. A dream, a team, and my comeback season” written by Ken Baker, for an independent reading project assigned in English. I figured the only way I was actually going to read a book is if it was about something interesting, like hockey. But what I found out while reading the story was more than I had ever expected. “They Don’t Play Hockey in Heaven” is a must read for all Hockey players and fans.

Growing up in Buffalo Baker’s pro Hockey dreams started at a very young age, eight years old to be exact. Skating on the endless frozen ponds and lakes in Buffalo during the winter Baker knew he had “Ice in his veins”. He also knew that he did not want to be a forward or defensemen, instead he opted for the most important position there is on a Hockey team, the goalie. In his teenage years Baker had plenty of success on the ice. When he was 14 Baker earned a spot in the United States Olympic Development Program, having been identified as one of the nation’s top young goaltenders. Then at age 17 Baker was selected as the starting goalie for the United States under-17 national team and won the championship. In that championship game Baker set a personal record for most pucks stopped in his career, he was scouted by dozens of NHL and College coaches.

Baker attended Colgate University and played on the men’s Hockey team there from 1989-1992. Baker’s college hockey career did not go as planned when he began suffering from dizzy spells and a decreased reaction time, which for a competitive goalie landed him a spot on the bench. In his four years at Colgate Baker played a total of 14 games and had a 4.89 goals against average. At the end of his College Hockey career frustration had mounted to the point that Baker swore he would never play hockey again. Five years later Baker was diagnosed at the age of 27 with a pituitary gland tumor that was located at the base of his brain. The tumor was to blame for Baker’s decline in health, decreased playing abilities, and lack of muscle growth all throughout college. In June of 1998 Baker underwent surgery to have the tumor removed, the surgery was successful.

Eighteen months after the tumor was removed Baker had a dream that would change his life forever. “The Dream” depicted Baker making a magnificent glove save off of a hard slap shot back in his college days. When he awoke Baker came to the conclusion that he was not done with the sport of hockey and that he was still completely in love with it. He began with playing in adult leagues in the San Francisco area where he lived and spent the next year fulfilling his dream of playing pro hockey.

Baker played a total of 61 minutes of pro hockey, split between two teams, sixty with the Bakersfield Condors of the WCHL and one minute with the Quad City Mallards of the UHL. Baker won both games and had fulfilled his lifelong dream of being a pro hockey player. He retired after that season and has since been working on his journalism and entertainment career.

At one point in his life Ken Baker had fallen out of love with hockey. He thought that there was no way that the roughest sport in the world could ever be played in heaven, but when he came to love the game again Baker described Hockey as “Heavenly”. “They Don’t Play Hockey in Heaven. A dream, a Team, and My comeback season” is a funny and exciting depiction of Bakers journey back to the great game of Hockey. I recommend this book not only to fans and players of hockey, but to anyone interested in reading a truly inspiring story.