Post by Old Bucks Admin on Feb 2, 2009 11:53:09 GMT -5
With Kenny out with an injury and Kip Thomas at home watching the NHL All-Star game, Week 19 saw the club’s third-in-command, Rich Devlin, assume the power to pick teams, something he’s known to have a knack for. While still in the locker room he wooed Bob Freiling over to Blue by promising him free Rangers tickets and enticed Art Rosenbaum to skate with Red by promising him Rangers tickets at the discounted price of $150 apiece. Also engaged to Blue was Angie, who was finally back with Old Bucks, having received clearance from his doctor to play hockey and clearance from the prep school to land his plane in the parking lot. Angie created a stir when he unveiled his new water bottle—a liter of clear, hand-blown glass with a long neck and wire-hinged cork. Apparently he’s dispensing with plastic bottles because all they do is clog landfills, whereas this new bottle can not only be reused but bequeathed to posterity.
The teams were superbly balanced, and the game promised to be as tumultuous a broil as any on record. Both flexed their muscles early on and the score was 2-2 in the twinkling of an eye, or four eyes in you include the goalies, Dan and Marty. As for Angie—the lion had finally come out of his lair and he was roaring. No one had ever seen him play so aggressively, and a few speculated that he was jacked up on “Hopewell Hooch” which they identified as the clear liquid in the fancy bottle. Angie Jr. looked similarly stoked and in a collision with Jim Heffern knocked him right on his tailbone, the irony of which wasn’t lost on Huck Fairman, who said it was like watching a mustachioed pirate take out a bearded viking.
At 3-3 Greg Wright, skating for Red, cut across the goal mouth so sharply with the puck that Dan had to turn a cartwheel to make the save, and only barely, by deflecting it with the heel of his skate while he was upside down. Moments later Bob F. challenged Marty from the same oblique angle, only Bob tried to beat him short side and Marty stuffed him with the knee pad, executing a textbook butterfly. Rich Devlin, however, collected the rebound and flipped the puck into the net, making it 4-3 Blue and igniting a mini surge that would culminate in goals by Eddie and Mike Dougherty and a 6-3 lead.
Red still preferred to fight it out rather than surrender. John Lupisella tagged one from the top of the key that went right through Dan’s legs, and Larry Johnson sprung for two quick goals that tied the game at 6.
Undeterred, Bob F. came off the bench and like a Midas on skates, touched the puck once and it turned to gold, which he deposited for safekeeping in the Red net. After Greg Wright tied it at 7’s, the game drew to a close with both teams skating at half-throttle, seemingly resigned to the inevitable draw. Everyone, that is, except for Rich Cerbone who, the moment he saw the zamboni operator reach for the latch of the big double doors, swung into action, stealing the puck at center ice and then making for the Red goal, his JOFA helmet canted slightly back on his head like the ears of a jack rabbit in full stride. He deked out four different players, including Marty, on his way to scoring, and did it decisively enough to negate any calls of “Pucks Up!” that might have been uttered in the meantime. As to the question of whether the game was over before he scored, we can only quote Sportscenter, which often invokes the saying: Not if there’s not a whistle.
The teams were superbly balanced, and the game promised to be as tumultuous a broil as any on record. Both flexed their muscles early on and the score was 2-2 in the twinkling of an eye, or four eyes in you include the goalies, Dan and Marty. As for Angie—the lion had finally come out of his lair and he was roaring. No one had ever seen him play so aggressively, and a few speculated that he was jacked up on “Hopewell Hooch” which they identified as the clear liquid in the fancy bottle. Angie Jr. looked similarly stoked and in a collision with Jim Heffern knocked him right on his tailbone, the irony of which wasn’t lost on Huck Fairman, who said it was like watching a mustachioed pirate take out a bearded viking.
At 3-3 Greg Wright, skating for Red, cut across the goal mouth so sharply with the puck that Dan had to turn a cartwheel to make the save, and only barely, by deflecting it with the heel of his skate while he was upside down. Moments later Bob F. challenged Marty from the same oblique angle, only Bob tried to beat him short side and Marty stuffed him with the knee pad, executing a textbook butterfly. Rich Devlin, however, collected the rebound and flipped the puck into the net, making it 4-3 Blue and igniting a mini surge that would culminate in goals by Eddie and Mike Dougherty and a 6-3 lead.
Red still preferred to fight it out rather than surrender. John Lupisella tagged one from the top of the key that went right through Dan’s legs, and Larry Johnson sprung for two quick goals that tied the game at 6.
Undeterred, Bob F. came off the bench and like a Midas on skates, touched the puck once and it turned to gold, which he deposited for safekeeping in the Red net. After Greg Wright tied it at 7’s, the game drew to a close with both teams skating at half-throttle, seemingly resigned to the inevitable draw. Everyone, that is, except for Rich Cerbone who, the moment he saw the zamboni operator reach for the latch of the big double doors, swung into action, stealing the puck at center ice and then making for the Red goal, his JOFA helmet canted slightly back on his head like the ears of a jack rabbit in full stride. He deked out four different players, including Marty, on his way to scoring, and did it decisively enough to negate any calls of “Pucks Up!” that might have been uttered in the meantime. As to the question of whether the game was over before he scored, we can only quote Sportscenter, which often invokes the saying: Not if there’s not a whistle.
