Post by Jim H. on May 15, 2023 16:55:58 GMT -5
Author's Note
The American town. Our national lore abounds with its sagas, reflecting a paradigm as ever-changing as the landscape in which it thrives. Conceived with hope in Plymouth, crushed in the crucible of Salem, revived in the Hannibal of Mark Twain, pined for when Thomas Wolfe, looking homeward, made Asheville the seat of his muse—the hamlet of our collective imagination is best remembered in Our Town a play by Thornton Wilder.
How fitting that Our Town should be invoked in this book about hockey. For Thornton Wilder taught at the Lawrenceville School from 1921 to 1928 and Lawrenceville is our town inasmuch as it’s where Old Bucks plays—at the school which is the namesake of the town. Lawrenceville is the only place (COVID years excepted) that Old Bucks has ever played—its “home rink”. Its games are a Sunday night tradition going back over 50 years. Of more recent vintage is the tradition of enjoying, after the game, pizza and BYOB at the TJ’s restaurant on Main Street. The parking lot of the rink used to be the tradition, a place to gather after games to hoist a few over noisy bull sessions, but the new millennium ushered in a more stringent way of doing things—and so this tradition ended in 2006.
One block from TJ’s is Weeden Park, dedicated to the memory of Coach Chuck Weeden, hockey coach at the Lawrenceville School in the 1960s and 70s and one of the founding members of Old Bucks. Charles Foster Weeden III was a graduate of Princeton ’51 and captained its hockey team his senior year. He was also a Marine rifle platoon leader in Korea and won a Bronze Star. For 40 years he taught at Lawrenceville—Medieval, Renaissance and American history. In a way he’s an exemplar of what Hobey Baker could have become had he not lost his life in France in 1918. Coach Weeden left an amazing legacy at Lawrenceville and part of that legacy was his love of hockey.
Everyone at Old Bucks loves hockey too, and this book is a testament to that love.[/i]
The Best of the Blog
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Week 1: Kenny hits his stride
Week 3: Blue plate special
Week 6: Cancun Craig
Week 7: Kenny gets his integrity back
2008-2009
Week 5: Dan turns 21
Week 7: Monogrammed towel
Week 8: Aim for the azimuth
Week 24: Kevin’s fan club shows up
Week 25: Late start—VERY late start
Week 26: Bonfire at Bill’s
2009-2010
Week 1: Vinnie retires
Week 2: Vinnie comes back
Week 22: Only one beer
2010-2011
Week 1: Honoring Angie and Bill
Week 5: Rangerman
Week 6: Blowout
Week 15: Beer is banned!
Week 16: The Zebras Cometh
Week 17: The Zamboni breaks down
Week 19: Bed bugs!
Week 21: Playing before a packed house
2011-2012
Week 4: “They got the kids”
Week 8: Darkness Visible
Week 12: Our first TJ’s afterparty
Week 19: Saunders picks the teams
Week 21: A marathon for pizza
2012-2013
Week 1: Just yell “Got it!”
Week 9: One goalie blues
Week 13: No goal for Devlin (written by Mike Robbins)
Week 22: Both Urbans in net (written by Mike Robbins)
2014-2015
Week 2: Full house
Week 3: White House fence jumper
Week 7: Guest Ref
Week 8: Frie-bird!
Week 16: Christmas skate
Week 18: McSorley’s Outing
Week 29: March snowfall
Week 30: Skater X
Week 32: Awards Party
2015-2016
Week 3: The Pope visits Philly
Week 7: Kenny doesn’t care
2016-2017
Week 1: Tribute to Angie
2020-2021
Week 1: The six ages of Old Bucks
Week 3: Which Bjork are you?
Week 4: Playing hockey on Tennis Court
Week 5: Mad River Paul
Week 6: No place like Grundy
Week 8: Tribute to Chris
2021-2022
Week 1: Old Bucks returns to Loucks
Week 3: Critical Red Theory
Week 5: Red 20 Blue 8!
Week 6: Snatching napkins
Week 7: So Seattle has a team
Week 23: Last tango at Loucks
2022-2023
Week 1: If you build it Old Bucks will come
Week 10: Brian takes command
Week 13: Old Czech folk tale
Week 14: Big Red makes Lawrenceville history
Week 15: The right people
Week 16: The planks were missed
Week 18: A poignant end
Week 22: In Chamonix baby!
Week 29: In Cabo baby!
Week 30: Cheeky's minions
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Week 1: Opening night
Week 10: The boxer
Week 13: On the occasion of wet snow
Week 16: Farewell to Joe
Week 28: Red 16 Blue 16!
Week 30: What’s in your wallet?
Week 31: Golf, hockey, and Andrew’s deck
ESSAY
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