Post by Old Bucks Admin on Dec 18, 2012 19:15:03 GMT -5
Finally tiring of the years of accusations, gripes, and general verbal abuse, General Manager Ken Blankstein took a bold course of action and decreed that the established Blue and Red teams would be no more. Instead of subtly tweaking the squads in a farcical attempt to establish a nightly parity, Kenny declared that the Old Bucks shall now toss their sticks into a pile at center ice and the teams would be established randomly and without partial influence. As the sticks were flung one-by-one in opposite directions, the rosters began to show a number of blockbuster transactions. Longstanding champions of the Blue squad such as Rich Cerbone, Brian Urban, Steve Sousa and Rich Devlin reluctantly pulled on Red jerseys while Red mainstays such as John Lupisella, Mike Robbins, Jason Millen, and Blankstein made their way to the Blue bench. The entire affair consumed 12 minutes of ice-time and prompted Craig Allen to suggest “Alright, now let’s throw all the sticks again to see who starts with the puck…”.
The opening minutes of the game played out like an awkward first date as unfamiliar players struggled to develop any sort of chemistry. Every attempt to sneak an arm around her shoulders was accompanied by an accidental fart. Passes were flung to the wrong team, players were heading to the wrong bench for a change, and Rich Cerbone was instinctively whacking at new teammate Jonathan Millen’s ankles. The scoring finally began when an uncovered Paul Egan cruised through the high slot and one-timed an early Christmas gift from Jason Millen. Not to be outdone by his equally stout counterpart, power forward Craig Allen corralled a loose puck from a crowded goalmouth and put Blue up 2-0. As the teams became more acquainted and the pace quickened, a never before seen dynamic duo of Bad, Bad Brian Urban and “The Dekin’ Doo-Rag” Jonathan Millen responded with four quick goals for Red. Both goaltenders, Marty for Blue and Vinny Bauerle of newly minted hips for Red, were a stabilizing force and dazzled the crowd with highlight saves including a diving goal line cover by Marty and a flashy glove snare of a Bob Freiling slapper by Vin. Freiling, however, would not be deterred and scored his usual two goals before the stroke of 7 o’clock. Craig Allen, Mike Robbins, and Huck Fairman would add to the Blue total while the unstoppable force known as George Schott and John Quirinale rounded out the scoring for Red.
With 15 minutes remaining in an impending 7-7 tie, Rich Devlin (seen in the photo below) became so frustrated with his inability to score a goal that he flew into a blind rage and hunted down the nearest Blue goal scorer. “Hey Freiling!!” a wild-eyed Devlin screamed, “I’ve got a message for your bench!!”. Devlin proceeded to deliver a two handed homerun swing across Bobby’s mouth, opening up a horrific gash in his tongue and sending him out for stitches. Devlin was promptly ejected from the game and a lengthy suspension is likely. His hearing is currently scheduled for this Friday afternoon at the Hooters in Lawrenceville, NJ.
The TJ’s crowd was again forced inside by a cold drizzle and sat quietly enjoying their pizza and beer when Devlin came screeching around the corner in his Porche Cayenne and stormed into the restaurant. Still clad in most of his hockey gear, he horsecollared a damp-crotched Mike Robbins and insisted that he did indeed score a goal and demanded that it be included in this publication. The entire clientele of TJ’s, including Hughie, John Lupisella, Paul Egan, and both Urbans informed Rich that no one could recall this mysterious goal and that he ought to just let it go. “No, no, no! I DID score! Rich Cerbone passed it to me and I fired off a laser of a one-timer into the top corner! That’s it, I’m calling Cerbone!!”. As Devlin dialed up his setup man, the rest of the crew prepared to eat crow. Instead, the following conversation was recorded:
(Volume needed)
Week 13 Three Stars
3- Ken Blankstein – Made a bold move with the roster adjustment, but it paid off with even scoring and crisp, upbeat gameplay. His actual performance was…….standard.
2- Vinny Bauerle – Made a cameo appearance and played with sandpaper to his game. Stayed with his shooters and didn’t give up anything cheap.
1 – John Quirinale – Beyond the predictably airtight defensive game, Johnny Quest showed a flair for the offense with an end-to-end rush capped off with a top corner snipe.
The opening minutes of the game played out like an awkward first date as unfamiliar players struggled to develop any sort of chemistry. Every attempt to sneak an arm around her shoulders was accompanied by an accidental fart. Passes were flung to the wrong team, players were heading to the wrong bench for a change, and Rich Cerbone was instinctively whacking at new teammate Jonathan Millen’s ankles. The scoring finally began when an uncovered Paul Egan cruised through the high slot and one-timed an early Christmas gift from Jason Millen. Not to be outdone by his equally stout counterpart, power forward Craig Allen corralled a loose puck from a crowded goalmouth and put Blue up 2-0. As the teams became more acquainted and the pace quickened, a never before seen dynamic duo of Bad, Bad Brian Urban and “The Dekin’ Doo-Rag” Jonathan Millen responded with four quick goals for Red. Both goaltenders, Marty for Blue and Vinny Bauerle of newly minted hips for Red, were a stabilizing force and dazzled the crowd with highlight saves including a diving goal line cover by Marty and a flashy glove snare of a Bob Freiling slapper by Vin. Freiling, however, would not be deterred and scored his usual two goals before the stroke of 7 o’clock. Craig Allen, Mike Robbins, and Huck Fairman would add to the Blue total while the unstoppable force known as George Schott and John Quirinale rounded out the scoring for Red.
With 15 minutes remaining in an impending 7-7 tie, Rich Devlin (seen in the photo below) became so frustrated with his inability to score a goal that he flew into a blind rage and hunted down the nearest Blue goal scorer. “Hey Freiling!!” a wild-eyed Devlin screamed, “I’ve got a message for your bench!!”. Devlin proceeded to deliver a two handed homerun swing across Bobby’s mouth, opening up a horrific gash in his tongue and sending him out for stitches. Devlin was promptly ejected from the game and a lengthy suspension is likely. His hearing is currently scheduled for this Friday afternoon at the Hooters in Lawrenceville, NJ.
The TJ’s crowd was again forced inside by a cold drizzle and sat quietly enjoying their pizza and beer when Devlin came screeching around the corner in his Porche Cayenne and stormed into the restaurant. Still clad in most of his hockey gear, he horsecollared a damp-crotched Mike Robbins and insisted that he did indeed score a goal and demanded that it be included in this publication. The entire clientele of TJ’s, including Hughie, John Lupisella, Paul Egan, and both Urbans informed Rich that no one could recall this mysterious goal and that he ought to just let it go. “No, no, no! I DID score! Rich Cerbone passed it to me and I fired off a laser of a one-timer into the top corner! That’s it, I’m calling Cerbone!!”. As Devlin dialed up his setup man, the rest of the crew prepared to eat crow. Instead, the following conversation was recorded:
(Volume needed)
Week 13 Three Stars
3- Ken Blankstein – Made a bold move with the roster adjustment, but it paid off with even scoring and crisp, upbeat gameplay. His actual performance was…….standard.
2- Vinny Bauerle – Made a cameo appearance and played with sandpaper to his game. Stayed with his shooters and didn’t give up anything cheap.
1 – John Quirinale – Beyond the predictably airtight defensive game, Johnny Quest showed a flair for the offense with an end-to-end rush capped off with a top corner snipe.