Post by Old Bucks Admin on Oct 24, 2021 21:39:00 GMT -5
So Seattle finally has a hockey team. In normal times this would be cause for celebration. But these are not normal times. Occasionally at 3:30 a.m. when we are staring sleeplessly into our phone, we come across some interesting facts. Here’s one: the Seattle hockey team plays in the Climate Pledge Arena, a 1.1 billion dollar, privately financed, carbon-neutral testament to Amazon largesse. It even has electric zambonis. Meanwhile, to put things in perspective, five miles away, in Woodland Park, which for 30 years has hosted the biggest high school cross country meet in the state, no students can compete there any more. The rolling hills and shady woods have been taken over by homeless encampments and it’s no longer safe for kids to run there. That’s Seattle in a nutshell. For a billion dollars you can watch a hockey game in a state-of-the-art arena but go for a jog in the woods and you are risking life and limb. On behalf of Greta Thunberg, we’d like to thunder "How dare you!" at Seattle, not just for its shameless virtue signaling, as in Climate Pledge Arena but, even worse, for calling its team the Kracken.
Going into Week 7 the big question for Old Bucks was which team was going to be the sea monster and which team was going to be the merchant ship entwined in its tentacles. This was heady stuff. But not nearly as heady as showing up at the rink and finding three out of four locker rooms occupied by players from the previous game—some TCNJ affair that required an odd number of locker rooms with no reason given. Locker room 4 became COVID Central as all 20 Old Bucks players crammed into its tight precincts in blatant defiance not only of CDC guidelines, but even worse, the fire code. On the bright side—think of it now—20 players showed up! That meant four subs per bench which by 2021 standards qualifies as a cornucopia.
We were late but apparently Red jumped out to a 3-0 lead on shots that were all deflected past Vinnie by Blue players. Blue needed to get on the board and they did. Frankie scored not only Blue’s first goal but his first goal of the season, pointing to the sky to give thanks, either to Mayor Frank Rizzo or St. Francis, we’re not sure. It did not prevent Red from jumping out to a 6-2 lead which, according to the scoreboard, was the final score of whatever game preceded Old Bucks. Rich Devlin, the Marvel of Middletown Country Club, kept Blue in the game by scoring twice in one shift, making it 6-4. This was so typical of Rich—always a little tight on the first hole but once he loosens up—watch out. Dan Dougherty drew Blue within one, 6-5, but then John Lupisella extended Red’s lead to 7-5 notwithstanding the two butterfly stitches in his calf due to his recent chainsaw mishap. Speaking of mishaps, Jim Heffern, skating for Blue, deflected a fourth shot past Vinnie to give Red a 9-6 lead. “Another deflection!” Vinnie exclaimed. He just couldn’t catch a break, not even a five-minute break, since the benches weren’t short enough to yield five minute breaks.
Both Mark and Vinnie put on a goalie clinic which was fun to watch. But Red still took a 14-10 lead into the latter stages of the game. Blue came storming back. Rich Devlin scored. Brian Urban netted two in the blink of an eye. It was now 14-13. Leave it to Bob Freiling to give Red that one insurance goal to put the game out of reach. It wasn’t spectacular—just posting up in front of the net and getting the loose rebound—still number three in the Seven Wonders of Bob Freiling.
The after party was awesome—crisp, fall air and big turnout including Paul Egan and Tim White, all packed into one corner of the front porch of TJ’s. We don’t think there’s a beer club in America that can boast an ambience equal to that. Golf Friday, hockey Sunday—in Old Bucks’ terms that’s called “livin’ the dream."
Going into Week 7 the big question for Old Bucks was which team was going to be the sea monster and which team was going to be the merchant ship entwined in its tentacles. This was heady stuff. But not nearly as heady as showing up at the rink and finding three out of four locker rooms occupied by players from the previous game—some TCNJ affair that required an odd number of locker rooms with no reason given. Locker room 4 became COVID Central as all 20 Old Bucks players crammed into its tight precincts in blatant defiance not only of CDC guidelines, but even worse, the fire code. On the bright side—think of it now—20 players showed up! That meant four subs per bench which by 2021 standards qualifies as a cornucopia.
We were late but apparently Red jumped out to a 3-0 lead on shots that were all deflected past Vinnie by Blue players. Blue needed to get on the board and they did. Frankie scored not only Blue’s first goal but his first goal of the season, pointing to the sky to give thanks, either to Mayor Frank Rizzo or St. Francis, we’re not sure. It did not prevent Red from jumping out to a 6-2 lead which, according to the scoreboard, was the final score of whatever game preceded Old Bucks. Rich Devlin, the Marvel of Middletown Country Club, kept Blue in the game by scoring twice in one shift, making it 6-4. This was so typical of Rich—always a little tight on the first hole but once he loosens up—watch out. Dan Dougherty drew Blue within one, 6-5, but then John Lupisella extended Red’s lead to 7-5 notwithstanding the two butterfly stitches in his calf due to his recent chainsaw mishap. Speaking of mishaps, Jim Heffern, skating for Blue, deflected a fourth shot past Vinnie to give Red a 9-6 lead. “Another deflection!” Vinnie exclaimed. He just couldn’t catch a break, not even a five-minute break, since the benches weren’t short enough to yield five minute breaks.
Both Mark and Vinnie put on a goalie clinic which was fun to watch. But Red still took a 14-10 lead into the latter stages of the game. Blue came storming back. Rich Devlin scored. Brian Urban netted two in the blink of an eye. It was now 14-13. Leave it to Bob Freiling to give Red that one insurance goal to put the game out of reach. It wasn’t spectacular—just posting up in front of the net and getting the loose rebound—still number three in the Seven Wonders of Bob Freiling.
The after party was awesome—crisp, fall air and big turnout including Paul Egan and Tim White, all packed into one corner of the front porch of TJ’s. We don’t think there’s a beer club in America that can boast an ambience equal to that. Golf Friday, hockey Sunday—in Old Bucks’ terms that’s called “livin’ the dream."