A book of puck dreams

In his day job Ken Baker is the West Coast executive editor in L.A. for Us Weekly. Somehow he also finds the time to write personal books. His first, Man Made: A Memoir of My Body (2001), told of his 12-year battle with an undiagnosed brain tumor. In his latest, They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, a Team and My Comeback Season, Baker details his recent experience as the oldest rookie in pro hockey, a goaltender for the lowly Bakersfield Condors. His website describes the team like this:

There's the teammate Baker used to play with in college who now has five kids, his dreams of making the NHL gone; 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, all of them knowing there's only room for one of them in the net.

Mostly it's Baker's story. The brain tumor ended his promising college hockey career, so taking the ice for the Condors at age 31 was a personal triumph. Plus, his book gets rave reviews from the author and the producer of Slap Shot.

Disclosure: This is likely to be a mini-theme at L.A. Observed in coming months, No, not inspiring personal stories -- I mean hockey. It's getting to be that time of year, so occasional mentions of ice and Canadians may creep in. I'll be judicious, but you've been warned.

For those still clinging to interest in the Dodgers, check out the bloggers who go deeper into the stats than any news media would, could or should: Jon Weisman, John Wiebe and Robert Garcia Tagorda (who is adrift in recall politics these days). And for daily sports takes with an L.A. perspective, Sports by Brooks.