Post by Old Bucks Admin on Feb 27, 2009 9:34:48 GMT -5
As much as Old Bucks frowns on the use of imperatives, Week 23 was a must-win for Red if they hoped to stay in contention for the title “Best in Club”. Everyone was keen for a tough game that reflected this fact, and Kenny did not disappoint, making teams that were nothing if not fair and balanced. The first half-hour was fast, scoreless, and fun to watch, and you didn’t need a thermal imaging device to know that both goalies were red hot and dreaming of shutouts. “There’s nothing like competition to make you forget your age,” Angie said at one point, overlooking, a little ironically, that the same holds true for advanced dementia. He was among several who took Doug MacDowell’s advice to buff their blades with a skate rag after every game in order to enhance their mobility during the next one. It seemed to work for he commanded unusual respect from the Red bench, who, every time he took the ice, put out the word, “Don’t let the glasses fool you.”
At the thirty-three minute mark, Jim Heffern, skating for Blue, hoisted the puck over Marty’s shoulder and made it 1-0. It reminded us of the quote, “A fool’s bolt is soon shot,” because he did nothing the rest of the game. Red countered quickly, with Brian Urban doing the honors, if ruining Vinnie’s shutout could somehow be considered honorable. Here both goalies lost their air of invulnerability and looked mortal again, though the fire in the snack bar’s fireplace would occasionally flare up in homage to a spectacular save or two. But nothing of note took place until Red had a 5-3 lead and then for the duration of one action-packed shift Blue got to hold the shotgun while Red doe-see-doed. Bob Freiling, Kevin Saunders, and Rich Devlin all scored during this shift and would have given Blue a 6-5 lead had not Brian Urban squeezed in the tying goal just as the trio was beginning a well-deserved sit-down on the bench. From then on, Red got physical and Blue bore the brunt of it. First Bill MacDowell had the nerve to play Jim Heffern instead of the puck, and knocked him stumbling about the ice like the pathetic pantomime of a clown doing pratfalls before an audience. Then Larry Johnson tripped Mike Dougherty as he squared up to shoot, and dished his ill-gotten booty to a streaking Greg Wright, who promptly scored. And finally, John Lupisella, not satisfied with trying to dig the puck out from beneath Vinnie’s kneepad, pushed him backwards, hyper-extending his entire frame, and loosing the puck just long enough to tap it in the goal, while Vinnie writhed in pain and showered him with imprecations. Such play was underhanded, base, and highly effective. With the score 10-7 in Red’s favor and the game drawing to a close, Blue managed one more goal—a nice in-your-facemask backhander off the stick of Rich Cerbone, but it was too little, too late—what our in-house stock guru, Rich Devlin, dismissively termed a “dead cat bounce”.
At the thirty-three minute mark, Jim Heffern, skating for Blue, hoisted the puck over Marty’s shoulder and made it 1-0. It reminded us of the quote, “A fool’s bolt is soon shot,” because he did nothing the rest of the game. Red countered quickly, with Brian Urban doing the honors, if ruining Vinnie’s shutout could somehow be considered honorable. Here both goalies lost their air of invulnerability and looked mortal again, though the fire in the snack bar’s fireplace would occasionally flare up in homage to a spectacular save or two. But nothing of note took place until Red had a 5-3 lead and then for the duration of one action-packed shift Blue got to hold the shotgun while Red doe-see-doed. Bob Freiling, Kevin Saunders, and Rich Devlin all scored during this shift and would have given Blue a 6-5 lead had not Brian Urban squeezed in the tying goal just as the trio was beginning a well-deserved sit-down on the bench. From then on, Red got physical and Blue bore the brunt of it. First Bill MacDowell had the nerve to play Jim Heffern instead of the puck, and knocked him stumbling about the ice like the pathetic pantomime of a clown doing pratfalls before an audience. Then Larry Johnson tripped Mike Dougherty as he squared up to shoot, and dished his ill-gotten booty to a streaking Greg Wright, who promptly scored. And finally, John Lupisella, not satisfied with trying to dig the puck out from beneath Vinnie’s kneepad, pushed him backwards, hyper-extending his entire frame, and loosing the puck just long enough to tap it in the goal, while Vinnie writhed in pain and showered him with imprecations. Such play was underhanded, base, and highly effective. With the score 10-7 in Red’s favor and the game drawing to a close, Blue managed one more goal—a nice in-your-facemask backhander off the stick of Rich Cerbone, but it was too little, too late—what our in-house stock guru, Rich Devlin, dismissively termed a “dead cat bounce”.
