Post by Jim H. on Jan 23, 2015 6:49:19 GMT -5
“There are no good vintages, only good bottles,” Paul Egan is fond of saying, an axiom that is just as true for Old Bucks as it is for wine. Week 20 was an especially good bottle, a mid-palate White Burgundy uncorked at the very last minute to avoid oxidation and then iced to a temperature that was neither too cold nor not cold enough. We’re sorry Kenny missed it but happy he got to spend the long weekend down in Naples where we pictured him, Sunday night, in some gargantuan movieplex with a big tub of popcorn watching “Selma” and rooting for Martin Luther King to kick some serious LBJ butt. Normally the MLK holiday is a big draw for Old Bucks but the NFL’s two championship games cancelled this out so benches were short and afforded plenty of ice time for long-absent players who had much to make up for in this regard, like Craig Allen. Chris Chairmonte, who normally skates Blue, grasped at the first excuse offered to skate Red, noticing a one-player difference in the rosters during warm-up and switching jerseys upon being administered the oath of allegiance. This put the finishing touches on Red’s offense, consisting primarily of Bob Freiling, Dr. Millen, Chris Depace, Tim White and the pajama-clad Yellow Tail-swilling Jim Heffern. Incidentally, Chris’s friend, Dan Dougherty, remained completely and impenitently Blue.
This game was as seesaw as they come with more lead changes than Talladega. Blue jumped ahead initially, 4-2, with goals from the likes of Rich Devlin and Dan Dougherty. Then Red went on a five-goal tear, sparked by a two-goal shift from Jim Heffern and culminating in two goals from Chris Chairmonte, giving it the 7-4 lead. During the run we received tidings from Bob Freiling that Seattle/Green Bay was going into overtime although how any hockey player can take interest in a sport where you have to wait 40 seconds to watch a player run three yards and then fall down in a pile of bodies is beyond us. Facing its largest deficit of the game (down 7-4) Blue never despaired of its chances of coming back. Not when you have perennial third-liners like Dave Hunt scoring goals and especially not when you have the Devlin-Dougherty-Urban line performing three-rail billiard shots reminiscent of Minnesota Fats. Even Paul Egan, who normally on offense just deploys his muffin top for the setting of screens, got into the mix, ricocheting a shot off Brian Urban’s skate to score a goal. Blue used the utmost exertions to take a one-goal lead, 9-8 into the latter stages of the game while Red, necessarily, had to go to its Bigs, Bob Freiling and Chris Chairmonte, to fight back and retake the lead 11-9. Rich Cerbone, a threat that neither age nor Craig Allen can neutralize, scored to make it 11-10 and Blue applied full court pressure, vowing to either win the game or, failing that, keep Bob Freiling from scoring again. But Bob did score again, extending Red’s lead to 12-10 and things looked black for Blue. Fortunately for Blue they had an anonymous ringer who reignited the embers of resistance even as Red deluded themselves into thinking they were all stamped out, and scored, setting up Brian Urban to get the game-tying goal with a scant five minutes to go in the game. The zamboni driver had already posted himself by the door when Brian Pike, playing defense for Red, possessed himself of the puck deep in his own zone and fired a cross-ice outlet to Bob Freiling, idling against the boards in the neutral zone, but only too aware that one his stick depended the fate of the game. Brian Pike, the only player in Old Bucks whose rashness is commensurate with skill, took off after his own pass, and joined Freiling in penetrating the Blue zone under a full head of steam. Bob hit him with a perfect tape-to-tape pass and Brian one-timed it into the corner of the goal, giving Red the 13-12 victory. A few on Blue were skeptical of the final tally but didn’t make a big stink over it. Seven players retired to TJ’s where Brian Urban had the New England game booted up on his phone. It was a light crowd, barely capable of consuming two pies, with the last slice of pizza fought over regarding who had to eat it. As we recall Rich Devlin bit the figurative bullet and closure was obtained.
This game was as seesaw as they come with more lead changes than Talladega. Blue jumped ahead initially, 4-2, with goals from the likes of Rich Devlin and Dan Dougherty. Then Red went on a five-goal tear, sparked by a two-goal shift from Jim Heffern and culminating in two goals from Chris Chairmonte, giving it the 7-4 lead. During the run we received tidings from Bob Freiling that Seattle/Green Bay was going into overtime although how any hockey player can take interest in a sport where you have to wait 40 seconds to watch a player run three yards and then fall down in a pile of bodies is beyond us. Facing its largest deficit of the game (down 7-4) Blue never despaired of its chances of coming back. Not when you have perennial third-liners like Dave Hunt scoring goals and especially not when you have the Devlin-Dougherty-Urban line performing three-rail billiard shots reminiscent of Minnesota Fats. Even Paul Egan, who normally on offense just deploys his muffin top for the setting of screens, got into the mix, ricocheting a shot off Brian Urban’s skate to score a goal. Blue used the utmost exertions to take a one-goal lead, 9-8 into the latter stages of the game while Red, necessarily, had to go to its Bigs, Bob Freiling and Chris Chairmonte, to fight back and retake the lead 11-9. Rich Cerbone, a threat that neither age nor Craig Allen can neutralize, scored to make it 11-10 and Blue applied full court pressure, vowing to either win the game or, failing that, keep Bob Freiling from scoring again. But Bob did score again, extending Red’s lead to 12-10 and things looked black for Blue. Fortunately for Blue they had an anonymous ringer who reignited the embers of resistance even as Red deluded themselves into thinking they were all stamped out, and scored, setting up Brian Urban to get the game-tying goal with a scant five minutes to go in the game. The zamboni driver had already posted himself by the door when Brian Pike, playing defense for Red, possessed himself of the puck deep in his own zone and fired a cross-ice outlet to Bob Freiling, idling against the boards in the neutral zone, but only too aware that one his stick depended the fate of the game. Brian Pike, the only player in Old Bucks whose rashness is commensurate with skill, took off after his own pass, and joined Freiling in penetrating the Blue zone under a full head of steam. Bob hit him with a perfect tape-to-tape pass and Brian one-timed it into the corner of the goal, giving Red the 13-12 victory. A few on Blue were skeptical of the final tally but didn’t make a big stink over it. Seven players retired to TJ’s where Brian Urban had the New England game booted up on his phone. It was a light crowd, barely capable of consuming two pies, with the last slice of pizza fought over regarding who had to eat it. As we recall Rich Devlin bit the figurative bullet and closure was obtained.