This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Boston Bruins’ 1970 Stanley Cup championship. Boston College alumnus Thomas Whalen takes readers on a trip back to that memorable season in his new book, Kooks and Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, and the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020). He opens the book with a look at the U.S. in 1970 and what was happening outside the sports world in politics and pop culture. He then delves into the 1969-70 Bruins, led off the ice by coach Harry Sinden and on the ice by players like Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk, Phil Esposito, and Derek Sanderson. A Massachusetts native, Whalen earned a master’s degree and doctorate from Boston College and teaches at Boston University. His previous books include Dynasty’s End: Bill Russell and the 1968-69 World Champion Boston Celtics, When the Red Sox Ruled: Baseball’s First Dynasty, 1912-1918, and Spirit of ’67: The Cardiac Kids, El Birdos, and the World Series That Captivated American. He was interviewed about his book by the Salem News and Boston 25 News.