Post by Old Bucks Admin on Feb 2, 2011 20:13:39 GMT -5
Week 18 was a gem, as painstakingly faceted at the sapphire dangling from the pierced navel of Saunders. All the elements of hard-nosed hockey were intact: a ton of snow on the ground, a zamboni in good working order, no referees, and Blue’s olive branch clenched in a fist sporting brass knuckles. As expected Kenny weighted the teams in Red’s favor giving Blue only two big talents (Brian and Alex) before there was a serious drop-off. Blue had to go out of network just to bolster their defense, getting Bill Hamill’s son, Will Jr., to play. A crack lacrosse player in college, Will Jr.’s ample beard belied his fresh-faced youth and agility. Apparently it was the first time he had ever skated with Old Bucks.
Red went for the shock-tactic opener with Jonathan Millen scoring 30 seconds into the game. Red’s cheers had hardly subsided when Greg Wright scored again, giving Red a 2-0 lead. Red was clearly dominant, pressing the attack and keeping the feeble Blue offense at bay, holding them virtually shotless. Kenny G. kept his head on a swivel, guarding against shots that seemed to come from all cardinal points of the compass, not excepting due north, behind him. The game had all the earmarks of a Red rout—and then Bob Freiling showed up. It was one of those “deus ex machina” moments that completely reversed Blue’s fortunes.
Bob was late, having gotten the wrong game time off the web site schedule, but his tardiness only served to make his impact on the game that much more spectacular. He had barely sat down on the bench and already his presence proved decisive. Blue scored their first goal—a stunningly finessed three-on-two where Rich Devlin, on right-wing, dished to Saunders, who then dished to Brian, who then got Marty to go down like he was Punch Rodriguez blocking home plate, before flipping a backhand over his shoulder. This narrowed the score to 2-1 and set the stage for Bob’s first shift on the ice. He teamed up with Alex Cerbone and in the space of two minutes Alex had scored twice, giving Blue the 3-2 lead.
From then on Red looked like a deer in the chrome spotlight of Hughie’s truck. All their bravado, it turned out, was a sham, predicated on Kenny rigging the game. But once Bobby showed up all bets were off. Red lost their bearings on defense and couldn’t get out of their own way on offense. At 5-2 Blue, Red managed a goal when Huck Fairman outbattled Doug Rendell behind the Blue goal and set Mike Robbins up for the score. But success was short-lived as Jim Heffern used a Rich Devlin screen to float a wrister past Marty and make the score 6-3 Blue. Momentum continued in Blue’s favor. Bob Freiling was not to score during the entire game, but he didn’t need to; he was like a general disciplining a mob of soldiers, or a conductor leading an orchestra. Under his direction Fred Diaz went from second fiddle to first violin, bagging two goals and giving rise to chants that toggled between D—fence! and D—azz! Blue won easily 12-6, and for all Bob Freiling’s tweedy PHC snobbery, he still proved he can put an entire Old Bucks team on his back and carry it to victory.
Red went for the shock-tactic opener with Jonathan Millen scoring 30 seconds into the game. Red’s cheers had hardly subsided when Greg Wright scored again, giving Red a 2-0 lead. Red was clearly dominant, pressing the attack and keeping the feeble Blue offense at bay, holding them virtually shotless. Kenny G. kept his head on a swivel, guarding against shots that seemed to come from all cardinal points of the compass, not excepting due north, behind him. The game had all the earmarks of a Red rout—and then Bob Freiling showed up. It was one of those “deus ex machina” moments that completely reversed Blue’s fortunes.
Bob was late, having gotten the wrong game time off the web site schedule, but his tardiness only served to make his impact on the game that much more spectacular. He had barely sat down on the bench and already his presence proved decisive. Blue scored their first goal—a stunningly finessed three-on-two where Rich Devlin, on right-wing, dished to Saunders, who then dished to Brian, who then got Marty to go down like he was Punch Rodriguez blocking home plate, before flipping a backhand over his shoulder. This narrowed the score to 2-1 and set the stage for Bob’s first shift on the ice. He teamed up with Alex Cerbone and in the space of two minutes Alex had scored twice, giving Blue the 3-2 lead.
From then on Red looked like a deer in the chrome spotlight of Hughie’s truck. All their bravado, it turned out, was a sham, predicated on Kenny rigging the game. But once Bobby showed up all bets were off. Red lost their bearings on defense and couldn’t get out of their own way on offense. At 5-2 Blue, Red managed a goal when Huck Fairman outbattled Doug Rendell behind the Blue goal and set Mike Robbins up for the score. But success was short-lived as Jim Heffern used a Rich Devlin screen to float a wrister past Marty and make the score 6-3 Blue. Momentum continued in Blue’s favor. Bob Freiling was not to score during the entire game, but he didn’t need to; he was like a general disciplining a mob of soldiers, or a conductor leading an orchestra. Under his direction Fred Diaz went from second fiddle to first violin, bagging two goals and giving rise to chants that toggled between D—fence! and D—azz! Blue won easily 12-6, and for all Bob Freiling’s tweedy PHC snobbery, he still proved he can put an entire Old Bucks team on his back and carry it to victory.