Post by Old Bucks Admin on Jan 23, 2023 21:47:18 GMT -5
Red came into Week 17 with a simple game plan: skate, score, win, crack a cold one—not necessarily in that order. Brian’s lineup, once retrieved from Red’s in-box spam folder, looked promising. The two Freilings were split up with Red boasting the electric Freiling while Blue got the one who still runs on fossil fuels. But Blue’s defense looked tough—to an extent. It had the two Monsters of the Midway, Kiyoshi and Mark Mayer. But it also had Eddie O. and Rich Cerbone who, even when combined, barely amount to an adolescent Sasquatch. Red was pumped that Mike Tennant was in the house, and on its team, but lamented that Eli the Wunderkind, its erstwhile substitute goalie, had given Old Bucks his two weeks notice meaning that he had skated for two weeks and noticed that he’d seen enough.
The two teams exchanged niceties at center ice and then got down to business. Red went for the shock-tactic opener as Ed Conrad, goalie for Blue, gave up an early one and when we say early we mean on the instant with Dan Dougherty taking a little back pass from Bob Jr. and scoring what might be the quickest goal in Old Bucks history (at least that was the buzz after the game). Blue needed an equalizer—fast. This job, if not the actual goal, was entrusted to Rich Devlin who knows that although you can’t keep a good man down, you can hook him until he falls down, which is what Rich did to Frankie, giving Blue the man-advantage and Ben David the opportunity to tie the game one apiece. Frankie, incidentally, wanted to drop the gloves but Rich preferred putters at 20 paces, the golf course TBD. Either way the spark in the Blue flint had been struck and its offense was about to blaze forth with four more goals. Credit the ornery Ontarian Ben David. He brings a whole new brand of hockey to Old Bucks. Granted the bar isn’t set very high but when he’s not engaging in PDA’s (public displays of aggression) he can be a fun player to watch.
The stellar play of Dan Dougherty and Alan Blankstein was able to turn Red’s 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead. But Vinnie was still under siege with Blue playing like the lost bootleg of a main act that broke a string, blew and amp and accidentally kicked ass. Old Bobby, Ben David and Joe Herbert combined to make it 8-6 Blue. Then Young Bobby, no longer burdened by having to feed Dad the puck all the time, scored twice to knot the game at eights.
In sheer defiance Blue never took its foot off the gas, and even issued a new traffic pattern alert, taking the Kenny roundabout en route to a 12-9 lead. Jim Heffern and Junior (Young Bobby’s sobriquet) got it back to 12-11 but Vinnie can only bail out Red’s defense for so long. Joe Herbert muscled his way through traffic, extending the lead back to two, and Red grew desperate for offense, even considering moving Steve Souza from defense to wing and invoking the “Angie Rule” that states that once you turn 70 you can never be called for offsides. But it was too late for half measures. Red skates were dragging by then and Blue coasted to a 16-12 win.
Even on a cold, rainy January night it’s always Key West at TJ’s. Besides the warmth of the conversation and the chill of the beer, there was pepperoni pizza, and on top of that, a white pie was ordered when someone had the absurd thought that tomato sauce was somehow detrimental to the flavor of pizza. Vinnie was having none of that. He opted for more continental cuisine—french fries. When he couldn’t finish them they were finished by others—a handful of appetites that discovered, much to their gastronomic delight, that pizza and French fries go good together. It was a bona fide epiphany and barring a misplaced urge to eat more healthily in 2023 the after party will never be the same.
The two teams exchanged niceties at center ice and then got down to business. Red went for the shock-tactic opener as Ed Conrad, goalie for Blue, gave up an early one and when we say early we mean on the instant with Dan Dougherty taking a little back pass from Bob Jr. and scoring what might be the quickest goal in Old Bucks history (at least that was the buzz after the game). Blue needed an equalizer—fast. This job, if not the actual goal, was entrusted to Rich Devlin who knows that although you can’t keep a good man down, you can hook him until he falls down, which is what Rich did to Frankie, giving Blue the man-advantage and Ben David the opportunity to tie the game one apiece. Frankie, incidentally, wanted to drop the gloves but Rich preferred putters at 20 paces, the golf course TBD. Either way the spark in the Blue flint had been struck and its offense was about to blaze forth with four more goals. Credit the ornery Ontarian Ben David. He brings a whole new brand of hockey to Old Bucks. Granted the bar isn’t set very high but when he’s not engaging in PDA’s (public displays of aggression) he can be a fun player to watch.
The stellar play of Dan Dougherty and Alan Blankstein was able to turn Red’s 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead. But Vinnie was still under siege with Blue playing like the lost bootleg of a main act that broke a string, blew and amp and accidentally kicked ass. Old Bobby, Ben David and Joe Herbert combined to make it 8-6 Blue. Then Young Bobby, no longer burdened by having to feed Dad the puck all the time, scored twice to knot the game at eights.
In sheer defiance Blue never took its foot off the gas, and even issued a new traffic pattern alert, taking the Kenny roundabout en route to a 12-9 lead. Jim Heffern and Junior (Young Bobby’s sobriquet) got it back to 12-11 but Vinnie can only bail out Red’s defense for so long. Joe Herbert muscled his way through traffic, extending the lead back to two, and Red grew desperate for offense, even considering moving Steve Souza from defense to wing and invoking the “Angie Rule” that states that once you turn 70 you can never be called for offsides. But it was too late for half measures. Red skates were dragging by then and Blue coasted to a 16-12 win.
Even on a cold, rainy January night it’s always Key West at TJ’s. Besides the warmth of the conversation and the chill of the beer, there was pepperoni pizza, and on top of that, a white pie was ordered when someone had the absurd thought that tomato sauce was somehow detrimental to the flavor of pizza. Vinnie was having none of that. He opted for more continental cuisine—french fries. When he couldn’t finish them they were finished by others—a handful of appetites that discovered, much to their gastronomic delight, that pizza and French fries go good together. It was a bona fide epiphany and barring a misplaced urge to eat more healthily in 2023 the after party will never be the same.