Scarlet Ice

Reviewer: Jim Rueda, published in The Free Press of Mankato, Jan. 1, 2012

The winter of 1994-95 was a turbulent time in Mankato.

In late January, an outbreak of meningitis seized the city, leaving one dead and hospitalizing six others. Most of us remember being concerned, being scared for our children, attending mass vaccinations and waiting for the deadly virus to subside.The Mankato West boys hockey team was directly affected by the outbreak. One of their own, sophomore John Janavaras, did not survive the contagion. He succumbed on Feb. 3, 1995.

It is through the eyes and voices of the West team that author Roger Dier tells the story of that stormy winter of Mankato’s discontent.But “Scarlet Ice” is more than just the re-telling of a high school team losing a  player. It’s also about the author’s love affair with the sport of hockey; about the paranoia that put a stranglehold on a south-central Minnesota town; and, perhaps first and foremost, about the tragedy of a mother and father losing a child.With the specter of tragedy floating in the background, Dier walks the reader through the team’s early on-ice struggles. He chronicles the dissension, the unwillingness to embrace head coach Mike Carroll’s strategy, the reluctance to work hard every practice, every game.

He also introduces the reader to young Janavaras, an effervescent and high-spirited sophomore trying to make his mark on the team. The Janavaras parents — Basil and Linda — are also introduced. The parents embrace their Greek heritage and have a strong, healthy bond with their only son.Eventually tragedy strikes and the parents and high school-aged kids are shattered. In specific detail Dier describes how many of them cope, how the team draws closer, how the players learn to believe in coach Carroll. It all culminates with a memorable playoff game against area rival New Ulm.

Dier’s vivid and meticulous detail of that postseason matchup demonstrates not only his knowledge and affection for the sport of hockey but his ability to make a real-life event as compelling as fiction.It’s at once happy, sad, humorous and inspiring. His chapters on John Janavaras’ hospital stay are as emotional as you will remember reading.

It’s not a perfect book. He sometimes gets bogged down in the minutiae of the sport, which might be off-putting to the non-hockey fan.He also opens each chapter with a famous quote, using everybody from Aristotle and the Dalai Lama to Mike Tyson and Ben Affleck. For the most part the literary device works OK but it comes off as pretentious at times.

It would have also been nice to read a little more about the affect of the meningitis outbreak on the community at-large. The gamut of emotions that ran through Mankato and the neighboring towns that winter probably deserved a little more attention.

But none of those are major flaws. Anyone who has played a team sport or who has had a child should read “Scarlet Ice.” It was 16 years in the making and was worth the wait.