Local author Frank Block has spent years chronicling the life of the late, great Metro Prystai who is an Original Six legend in the NHL in addition to being one of Yorkton and Melville's greatest athletes. In the aftermath of the 2013 death of Metro, Block has finished his biography on the story of the life of Prystai, an audiobook that includes interviews and stories with some of the great teammates who played alongside him.
With stories from Red Kelly and Emile Francis amongst others, Block has penned a fitting tale of a former Stanley Cup champion and three time NHL All-Star who played for the Detroit Red Wings alongside some of the greatest players in what is considered by many to be the Golden Area of hockey.
From the small farming community of Yorkton and Melville to the bright lights of Detroit and the NHL's six cities and scoring the winning goal for the Red Wings in the 1952 Stanley Cup series with the Montreal Canadiens, Prystai's life story is an interesting tale that is a must read for an local hockey or sports fan as the definitive story on one of the area's legendary figures.
Recently I sat down with Frank to discuss his process in compiling Metro Prystai's life story, a four plus year journey for Block that included interviews with the man himself, countless archiving as well as further interviews with Metro's teammates.
Here is a transcript of our interview about The Metro Prystai Story.
Q: What got you started on writing a book on the life of one of Yorkton's most famous athletes and an NHL legend? How did your interest in the life of Metro Prystai begin?
A: It all started four years ago when I decided I wanted to preserve interviews with those legends who had been involved with the Melville Millionaires. I poked around and got a few names and one of those names was Metro Prystai. Metro had coached the Millionaires for a couple of seasons during the 1960's.
When we met, Metro shared the most incredible stories about his run-ins with the mafia and his days with Detroit.
He had also mentioned about wanting to do a book. I decided to put it off for a while and then I got serious about it close to three years ago.
Q: Once starting the book, how did it come together? What was the process in compiling the story on the long life of Metro?
A: During one of our meetings I asked Metro if I could contact some of his old hockey buddies.
That's when I got ahold of Red Kelly (who wrote the forward for the book), Emile Francis, Ted Lindsay, Bert Olmstead and others. These great players not only validated the stories that Metro had shared with me, they made me realize what an absolutely incredible player Metro was and the man that he was.
After talking with the players it was time to talk to family and friends. More stories were added
3) Were there any obstacles in writing and publishing the book?
A: The biggest obstacle for me was deciding how to organize all of this wonderful content into something that would read well.
Once I got direction on how to start, it all began to come together.
4) Who were some of the biggest contributors to helping form the book?
A: The biggest contributors were Red Kelly, Emile Francis and Harvey Jackson. They had some wonderful stories to share.
5) Lastly where can readers go purchase the book?
A: The book is available at www.metrorrystai.com. If people are not "tech savvy" I would be happy to burn the audiobook version onto disc. People can contact me at (306) 508-0134. I'm a big fan of the audio version because you get to hear the voices of Metro, Red Kelly and others.
I also think it's worth letting people know that it is only available as an ebook and audiobook and not as a physical book at this time (although I plan on releasing a print version down the road).
