In a strange, surreal alternate reality, Texas had more professional hockey teams than any other state in the U.S. or province in Canada. The teams played in such far-flung locales as Waco and Amarillo and El Paso, usually in converted rodeo arenas. Throngs of fans watched them play every night, erupting with glee every time a fight broke out, and local celebrities like Lance Armstrong often showed up to drop the ceremonial first puck.

Oh, wait a minute. That wasn’t some random Bizarro World--it was our reality. Jason Cohen’s Zamboni Rodeo: Chasing Hockey Dreams from Austin to Albuquerque is an engrossing attempt by one writer to capture the essence of the Texas hockey explosion of the late 1990s. Cohen became a virtual member of the Austin Ice Bats for the duration of the league’s second season, riding along in the team’s smelly bus on hellishly long road trips to places like Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Monroe, Louisiana. He shadowed the team during workouts, became a fly on the wall during the coaches’ strategy sessions. In short, he made the most of almost unlimited access to a fledgling team playing a fledgling sport in a fledgling league.

The stories Cohen chronicles are priceless. During the early days of play, it was not uncommon for fans to leave early after the second period of a three-period game, assuming the first break to be “halftime.” Opposing fans were merciless to opposing teams, and often backed up by local law enforcement. The El Paso Buzzards managed to grab headlines with the league’s first drug scandal after two players were arrested after crossing the border from Mexico with a car loaded with steroids.

Cohen’s prose is lively and engaging, but most importantly, it is authentic. All too often, management and personnel decisions were made with ego and personal grudges in mind rather than the best interests of the team. To see the same mistakes play out over and over is maddening. To see the players suit up night after night, over-matched and injury-riddled, is inspiring.

The story of hockey in Texas is as hilarious as it is improbable, simultaneously inspiring and heart-breaking. The teams he wrote about may be gone, but Zamboni Rodeo is a fitting memorial to them. ( )

A season with the Austin Ice Bats (named in honor of the Mexican free-tailed bats that roost under the bridge), of the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL). This is the low minors, not even really a development league. These guys aren't going to the Show and most of them know it, but they love the game and what the heck, they're getting paid $300 a week to play it. The 10 hour bus rides and back to back games and injuries are part of it, but so is the camaraderie, the bantering and running jokes, and cheers of the Bats fans. They manage to keep their biggest rivals, the Shreveport Mudbugs, out of the finals, but end up in last place. Ice hockey in Texas and the South is as crazy as it sounds, but has a following.

I really enjoyed this. In an epilogue he tells what happened to the players - all of them are out of hockey now. After the book was written the league was bought by the Central Hockey League. The Ice Bats folded in 2008 because of competition from the AHL Texas Stars. Only the crusty equipment manager, "Gunner" Garrett, is still in the game, with the Amarillo Gorillas. ( )