Post by Old Bucks Admin on Jan 15, 2009 8:04:12 GMT -5
Week 17 saw a return to normality as the holidays receded and the skaters returned, their spirits refreshed by the time off but their joints and limbs as stiff as garden hoses left out in the snow. Warm-up took a bit longer, which was fine for Dan Dougherty, who got roped into playing goal for Blue after Marty called in sick, and would have declined had not the Eagles victory over the Giants breathed new valor into his competitive spirit. Red had two new dogs in the fight—Ollie Hamill, whom we all know, and John Heffern, Jim’s brother. John hadn’t played hockey in a couple years to he was put on defense and told to 1. relieve Hughie and 2. do no active harm to the team. We grudgingly allow he succeeded on both counts.
The game was one of those high-scoring affairs that belie the fact that both goalies played well, their efforts keeping the score down rather than inflating it. Just as the swirling winds of Giants Stadium wrung a supreme performance out of Donovan McNabb, so too did Red’s swirling offense bring out the best in Dan Dougherty whose focus on the game was so intense that at one point he failed to notice when a slapshot jarred loose one of the ear buds of his IPOD. Vinnie, too, excelled on behalf of Red, playing as if he held in his hand not a goalie stick but a talisman whose magical powers stopped breakaways cold, no matter how cunningly executed, or by whom.
Whether it was Steve Thomas, Bill Hamill, or Alex Cerbone, anyone who engaged him one-on-one invariably came away frustrated, as if from an uncompleted sneeze.
And yet, for those who can’t enjoy a hunt without bagging some quarry, there was plenty of that too. Saunders drew first blood, capitalizing on a cheap giveaway to sneak one past Vinnie when the game was hardly a minute old. He would go on to record three goals and two assists, something we’re obliged to mention only because the beer he gave us after the game was conditioned on favorable publicity. We’ll also mention, in passing, that Kip Thomas had a goal, but we won’t belabor the point as the beer he gave us only came in a 7 oz. bottle. But regarding the game: Blue tended to bowl along at the rate of about one goal every five minutes while Red liked to score in multiples of three as if their offense was tied to a spigot they turned off and on at will. From this spigot flowed goals by John Lupisella, Larry Johnson, and Craig Allen, who gave up ice fishing in the Poconos to play Old Bucks; but the true source or wellspring was Brian Urban, Blue’s favorite son, whom Kenny not so much picked as conscripted, so loathe was he to wear Red. Blue also tapped several players for goals, including Rich Devlin whose work with John Daly’s swing coach is finally paying off, especially in the amount of torque he puts into his slap shot, two of which found the net; Rich Cerbone, who with his goal got our vote for the best redirect of the year, and Bill Hamill, who tormented Red on both offense and defense, especially when he dropped Eddie with a hip check that could have jolted an ox. Finally, Bill MacDowell proved once again he can do more than just down-tempo a game when he used a fat rebound to plug Vinnie’s five hole like it was a deuce of spades nailed to a tree. We call that a Bill MacDowell hat trick: three goals in two games.
The game ended in a 12-12 tie. Dan swore up and down it was 12-11 Blue, but we defer to Vinnie’s tally as Vinnie’s scorekeeping acumen is much sharper than Dan’s, based as it is on fifteen years experience. No one argued the point, as they barely had enough energy to tear into one of Dan Dougherty’s pretzels. On the way out Bill MacDowell dropped a pruning knife from his pocket the size of a small machete. He picked it up and replaced it, but not without a knowing wink, like he knew how to use it. We’d like to see Angie call Obama a Muslim now.
The game was one of those high-scoring affairs that belie the fact that both goalies played well, their efforts keeping the score down rather than inflating it. Just as the swirling winds of Giants Stadium wrung a supreme performance out of Donovan McNabb, so too did Red’s swirling offense bring out the best in Dan Dougherty whose focus on the game was so intense that at one point he failed to notice when a slapshot jarred loose one of the ear buds of his IPOD. Vinnie, too, excelled on behalf of Red, playing as if he held in his hand not a goalie stick but a talisman whose magical powers stopped breakaways cold, no matter how cunningly executed, or by whom.
Whether it was Steve Thomas, Bill Hamill, or Alex Cerbone, anyone who engaged him one-on-one invariably came away frustrated, as if from an uncompleted sneeze.
And yet, for those who can’t enjoy a hunt without bagging some quarry, there was plenty of that too. Saunders drew first blood, capitalizing on a cheap giveaway to sneak one past Vinnie when the game was hardly a minute old. He would go on to record three goals and two assists, something we’re obliged to mention only because the beer he gave us after the game was conditioned on favorable publicity. We’ll also mention, in passing, that Kip Thomas had a goal, but we won’t belabor the point as the beer he gave us only came in a 7 oz. bottle. But regarding the game: Blue tended to bowl along at the rate of about one goal every five minutes while Red liked to score in multiples of three as if their offense was tied to a spigot they turned off and on at will. From this spigot flowed goals by John Lupisella, Larry Johnson, and Craig Allen, who gave up ice fishing in the Poconos to play Old Bucks; but the true source or wellspring was Brian Urban, Blue’s favorite son, whom Kenny not so much picked as conscripted, so loathe was he to wear Red. Blue also tapped several players for goals, including Rich Devlin whose work with John Daly’s swing coach is finally paying off, especially in the amount of torque he puts into his slap shot, two of which found the net; Rich Cerbone, who with his goal got our vote for the best redirect of the year, and Bill Hamill, who tormented Red on both offense and defense, especially when he dropped Eddie with a hip check that could have jolted an ox. Finally, Bill MacDowell proved once again he can do more than just down-tempo a game when he used a fat rebound to plug Vinnie’s five hole like it was a deuce of spades nailed to a tree. We call that a Bill MacDowell hat trick: three goals in two games.
The game ended in a 12-12 tie. Dan swore up and down it was 12-11 Blue, but we defer to Vinnie’s tally as Vinnie’s scorekeeping acumen is much sharper than Dan’s, based as it is on fifteen years experience. No one argued the point, as they barely had enough energy to tear into one of Dan Dougherty’s pretzels. On the way out Bill MacDowell dropped a pruning knife from his pocket the size of a small machete. He picked it up and replaced it, but not without a knowing wink, like he knew how to use it. We’d like to see Angie call Obama a Muslim now.
