Post by Jim H. on Apr 3, 2023 5:08:27 GMT -5
Week 27 found us thinking a lot about the trial of Socrates, that Athenian gadfly who would rather drink hemlock than kowtow to a corrupt regime masquerading as a “democracy”. Every time we see the news we need to vent our spleen. In Athens that was done at the Agora, its central gathering place where politics were discussed while buying foodstuffs. Now we have WhatsApp, an Agora you hold in your hand. But there’s already too much spleen on WhatsApp, especially when the Rangers lose to the Devils like they did Thursday night. Nothing riles a Rangers fan more than screenshots of “Devils Win!” on the Jumbotron courtesy of Mike Tennant. Paul Egan tried to elevate matters by posting a photo of Maurice Richard shaking hands with Tiny Thompson, the one bloodied, the other with a black eye, after game 7 of the Stanley Cup. A few people chimed in, but it was mostly ignored. Old Bucks, as a rule, is not a nostalgic club. It looks to the future much more than it looks to the past. The hoariest myth about some lost pond where it got its start 60 years ago is as nothing compared to the prospect of a slice of pizza and cold beer after the next game. In fact, TJ’s is like an Agora too, only without the Acropolis looming in the background.
The good thing about Old Bucks hockey is that it repeats itself, like history, the first time as farce, the second time as even funnier farce. Week 27 was no different. For one thing, we didn’t play and instead watched the game from the Red bench. Nothing serious—just moved a lot of topsoil on Saturday and woke up Sunday with rigor tortoise in our back. In short, we put the don’t in do-it-yourself. But not playing heightened our sense of awareness, the way a blind man has acuter hearing. We became aware that there are certain pay-at-the-pump Pennsyltuckians who need to step up their game. And Rich Devlin needs to start following a new fitness influencer because Colin Montgomerie just ain’t cutting it. We could go on but it would detract from describing a very watchable game.
Guess who was back? Ed Conrad, after five weeks of convalescing from Tommy John surgery on his groin. Between his glove, blocker and butterfly—he was all there, tested early and tested often and instrumental in Blue jumping out to a 4-1 lead. A stellar backhand by John Lupisella got the score to 4-2 and then Brian Urban split the defenders Souza and Eddie to make it 4-3. But Joe P. one-hopped a knuckle puck past Dan and the score was 5-3 Blue with Chris Chairmonte chirping at Dan the way he did when they were both at Bensalem High, Chris a junior and Dan a freshman. The teams traded goals again. Brian Urban, from behind the net, set up Paul Egan who scored for the first time ever without hiking his left leg like a flamingo. But a bad Bob Freiling turnover lead to a Ben David fast break which culminated in Josh Hunter dishing to Brian Pike, and the score was 6-4 Blue.
“Just shoot the puck,” Joe Herbert kept telling Ben David, except that he said it in French which sounds something like “Tirer la rondelle.” Ben obliged with that sneaky good release of his—just slinging it at the goal to make it 7-4 Blue. The whole squad seemed determined to grind out a win while all Red could do was valiantly stave off defeat. Finally Bob Freiling, a point-a-game player, got his point and the score was 7-5. Then we left the bench to fill Dan’s water bottle and became too lost in the moment—and lost in the rink—to see Chris Chairmonte light the lamp for 7-6. Again the teams traded goals. Ben David torqued a wrister to make it 8-6 while Tim White made a nice drop pass to Bobby whose rip from the high slot made it 8-7. “We’re going better but we’re a lot better than we’re going,” Rich Cerbone said, reverting to his habit of quoting Bruins coach Jim Montgomery whenever he’s under stress.
After a crazy, broken play that saw the puck pinballing around the Red zone and Dan drawn out of the goal, Joe Herbert cleaned up a gaping net and the margin was back to a deuce, 9-7. Two more strikes by Brian Pike and Alan Blankstein made it 11-7 and Ed Conrad capped off the win with two incredible butterflied denials of breakaways, one by Bob Freiling and one by Chris Chairmonte. In the end Red bowed to their betters kind of like Tiny Thompson did in that photo posted by Paul on WhatsApp.
The good thing about Old Bucks hockey is that it repeats itself, like history, the first time as farce, the second time as even funnier farce. Week 27 was no different. For one thing, we didn’t play and instead watched the game from the Red bench. Nothing serious—just moved a lot of topsoil on Saturday and woke up Sunday with rigor tortoise in our back. In short, we put the don’t in do-it-yourself. But not playing heightened our sense of awareness, the way a blind man has acuter hearing. We became aware that there are certain pay-at-the-pump Pennsyltuckians who need to step up their game. And Rich Devlin needs to start following a new fitness influencer because Colin Montgomerie just ain’t cutting it. We could go on but it would detract from describing a very watchable game.
Guess who was back? Ed Conrad, after five weeks of convalescing from Tommy John surgery on his groin. Between his glove, blocker and butterfly—he was all there, tested early and tested often and instrumental in Blue jumping out to a 4-1 lead. A stellar backhand by John Lupisella got the score to 4-2 and then Brian Urban split the defenders Souza and Eddie to make it 4-3. But Joe P. one-hopped a knuckle puck past Dan and the score was 5-3 Blue with Chris Chairmonte chirping at Dan the way he did when they were both at Bensalem High, Chris a junior and Dan a freshman. The teams traded goals again. Brian Urban, from behind the net, set up Paul Egan who scored for the first time ever without hiking his left leg like a flamingo. But a bad Bob Freiling turnover lead to a Ben David fast break which culminated in Josh Hunter dishing to Brian Pike, and the score was 6-4 Blue.
“Just shoot the puck,” Joe Herbert kept telling Ben David, except that he said it in French which sounds something like “Tirer la rondelle.” Ben obliged with that sneaky good release of his—just slinging it at the goal to make it 7-4 Blue. The whole squad seemed determined to grind out a win while all Red could do was valiantly stave off defeat. Finally Bob Freiling, a point-a-game player, got his point and the score was 7-5. Then we left the bench to fill Dan’s water bottle and became too lost in the moment—and lost in the rink—to see Chris Chairmonte light the lamp for 7-6. Again the teams traded goals. Ben David torqued a wrister to make it 8-6 while Tim White made a nice drop pass to Bobby whose rip from the high slot made it 8-7. “We’re going better but we’re a lot better than we’re going,” Rich Cerbone said, reverting to his habit of quoting Bruins coach Jim Montgomery whenever he’s under stress.
After a crazy, broken play that saw the puck pinballing around the Red zone and Dan drawn out of the goal, Joe Herbert cleaned up a gaping net and the margin was back to a deuce, 9-7. Two more strikes by Brian Pike and Alan Blankstein made it 11-7 and Ed Conrad capped off the win with two incredible butterflied denials of breakaways, one by Bob Freiling and one by Chris Chairmonte. In the end Red bowed to their betters kind of like Tiny Thompson did in that photo posted by Paul on WhatsApp.