Post by Old Bucks Admin on Apr 17, 2011 6:27:16 GMT -5
The festive, holiday spirit of Week 12 took a big hit Sunday night when a scheduling glitch caused a one hour delay in game time. Twenty-five dour-faced grinches now had to stand idly by while a bunch of young pumpkinlilies barely out of diapers bumped them into the later time slot. Kenny was livid and gave management an earful, exacting the concession that if Old Bucks started late, at least they’d get an extra half-hour of ice time. This did not mollify everyone, however, especially those who find the hour-and-a-half taxing enough. But the game got underway in due course, with Dan Dougherty defending the Red goal and Marty the Blue. It was no contest at first, with Blue exploding for six quick goals while the Red offense could only manage “a heap o’stir an’ no biskits.” Huck Fairman scored first for Blue by rifling a backhand over Dan’s shoulder, Greg Wright converted one of those “hit and hopes” he takes from playing so much golf, and Kevin Saunders schooled Jim Heffern in the art of outhustling an opponent on a breakaway. Three more goals completed the set, and Red was faced with the looming threat of a shutout. They did not give up, however, reminding themselves that when Blue lets their guard down, they go big, in which case a 6-0 deficit is hardly insurmountable. Such optimism soon bore fruit as Red mounted a comeback the like of which hasn’t been seen all year. Eddie, Jim Heffern, and Bob Freiling contributed but the key goal came from Angie who has recently gone back to his old diet of wild game and tofu pups hoping to reverse an alarming dip in his stats. With the game tied at six the Red comeback fizzled, undone by a bench that had started out with Martin Luther King Day numbers, got down to Christmas numbers at mid-game, and then degenerated to “Red’s got nothin’” numbers by the three-quarter mark. They were simply out of gas. Blue coasted to victory and even without the zamboni prompting the call for “Pucks up!” everyone stopped playing after an hour-and-a-half. Only Bob Freiling tried to coax, wheedle, and cajole people back onto the ice, but everyone ignored him. In the locker room John Lupisella dispensed shots of homemade lemoncello and the Christmas spirit, so rudely interrupted by the scheduling glitch, returned with a warm glow. As a final salute to the holidays Jim Heffern promised to bring homemade grenadine next week and mix Shirley Temples for anyone wishing to get an early jump on New Years.