Game Misconduct: Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey

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Russ Conway has worked at the Eagle-Tribune of Lawrence, Massachusetts, since 1967. For more than five years, he pursued the details of this fascinating story, an investigation that focused increasingly on the activities of Canada’s Alan Eagleson, once regarded as the most powerful figure in professional hockey. Conway’s series for the Eagle Tribune, “Cracking Ice,” from which this book was developed has been at the heart of the FBI and US Justice Department investigations that led to the 1994 indictment of Alan Eagleson.Among other things, Conway’s sensational exposé documents the following:Eagleson’s defrauding of injured players seeking career-ending disability insurance.Eagleson’s use of National Hockey League Players’ Association money for questionable and unauthorized loans to friends and associates, one of whom was also his partner in business ventures.Eagleson’s exploitation of his position as head of the NHLPA and driving force behind the Canada Cup to obtain everything from free clothing to free air travel to France.Eagleson’s outright theft of Canada Cup money via a scheme that saw Irving Ungerman’s company, All Canada Sports, retain control of end-board advertising during Team Canada games.Conway’s discovery, while investigating the conduct of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation into Eagleson that Timothy Lemay, a lawyer on loan from the federal Department of Justice, was working out of the same office in Newmarket, Ontario, as the RCMP, which was collaborating with US authorities. Lemay worked for Eagleson’s law firm; Eagleson had Lemay do work for Hockey Canada; Lemay is Eagleson’s son’s brother-in-law.Game Misconduct is much more than a sports story: it embraces business, politics, and true crime; indeed, some have called it the biggest scandal in professional sports since the 1919 Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. It is unquestionably among the most impressive and explosive examples of determined, investigative journalism in recent years.From the Hardcover edition.