WEEKLY UPDATE

Another good week at the old/new barn, lights working, condom was filled above the ice surface & we had beer even though the list on the blog shows Feb 9th as the first week with suds. More on that later. The Dark squad skated away with the win and for the first time this season the Commish was not on the winning side, think he was doing a side job for Great Adventure. Britter & Shooter returned this week from their whirl-wind tour of the Mid West and their failed attempt to find another league.

Iam happy to report that Crafty & Opie had much more reliable twigs this week, used to different levels of success, Timmy had a couple of goals while Jeff was held off the board. Once again Tree did a great job between the pipes for the White turning away several quality chances. The stingy Dark defense led by Spongee, Murph & Flounder frustrated Fricker & Barney Fife all night forcing the Whites to generate offense from blueline. Romo had some good looks but no luck, finally Johnny Long Pants found the back of the net off a nice feed from the corner & Crabby hammered home a drive from the point but it was to little to late. Goals by Daddy Pat, Quiet Brian & White Doug had built a nice lead & the reunited duo of Brit and Curty Down Low (aka Grasshopper) added to it. Beer duties fell to Rusty this week so we were all worried, not because of the choice Russ might make his customary Moosehead is always a welcomed flavor but because we did not know who was ON the beer list. It seems that Rusty's secretary has not gotten around to posting said list, guess PECO is still swamped from Hurricane Irene. Looks like Rusty has gotten very comfortable in his leather office chair & I don't recall a weekly wrestling match with his hockey pants when he was still working the pole. Hats off to Daddy Pat for the back-up beers because we as you all know we could have the TNHL without pucks but not without beers! On a side note Occupy Springfield broke up about an hour after it was formed seems everyone had to go to work in the morning.

Till next week

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT

DADDY PAT SAVES RINK
SPRINGFIELD ICE RINK
FRIDAY OCTOBER 21 6:25PM

So there I was at the old barn waiting for my son to start his practice, all the kids are ready & waiting for the Zamboni to leave the ice & I'm finally tying my own skates and the lights go off, complete darkness. Now, we have a rink full of kids all under 10 years old in the dark with hockey sticks and helmets, think mini "Warriors,come out and plaaay" The only source of light are cell phones. The people running the rink have no idea what to do, an electrician takes a look and says no way so the coaches call practice and send everyone home, leaving the rink in total darkness. The ice is left to melt, Tuesday night hangs in the balance. The rink manager looked like Clark Griswald plugging in his Christmas lights only to be left wondering what the hell is going on. Calls went out all over Delaware County in hopes someone could turn the power back on, who would come to save the day.
Then it happened, they sent out the "Pat" signal & called the "Pat" phone & like a super hero Daddy Pat sprung into action, jumped in the "Pat" mobile & headed over to the rink flipped the switch behind the fridge! Well that didn't work, so like the bulldog that he is, sniffed out the problem over in the basement of the Country Club minutes later everything was back on except the inflatable condom. Give him a break the guy's only human.

Over the years the TNHL has seen many examples of great leadership; the Commish with his motivational e-mails; Crabby telling me "don't suck"; Rusty and the beer list & I could go on & on but I have never seen this kind of dedication to the TNHL. Without this "Messier" like act from Daddy Pat we would all be sitting home with our family on Tuesday night. This man deserves our utmost respect and we should toast him throughout the season with our first post skate beer!

WEEKLY UPDATE

Week two is in the books and once again the boy's showed up, huge effort, two cases of beer! As for the hockey that wasn't bad either & just like last week the Commish's squad, dark this time, skated away with a win. The gang from the dark side peppered Tree with a bucket full of rubber using a combination of slick skating & precise passing. Rob stood tall in net easily earning his 12oz. rewards with many big stops. The White boy's hung tough picking up a big goal from Daddy Pat to keep things close & would have had a few more if Crafty's sticks were made out of something other than balsa wood. Maybe he should try a Viagra that should keep his wood stiff for about 4 hours. Rusty, trying to recapture his youth, stole a stick from his son & almost took my head off with a shot & Opie looked much taller after breaking his own weapon then using one of Frickers. Cleavage Corner was a tremendous disappointment this week -NOTHING- it was like Kelly Ripa was there.
For some reason we didn't have any fans at this one, unless you count the guy in the lobby waiting for his son to finish work for the night. He looked really happy to see us schlep out of the locker room with beers and coolers while his non driving son cleaned up after us. So it was off to the parking lot where Rusty put all his Peco management smarts on display & pulled out some office furniture. Any way it was a good week of hockey & suds so I will leave with this.....As you continue this long crawl through life take a little time and get behind a woman in a short skirt, at least for a little while

OPENING NIGHT '11-'12

With all the pomp and circumstance of Bingo Night @ Briarcliff Feild House the Springfield Rink hosted the TNHL for the first time in 21 months. The place looked great, the ice was as white as the frothy head of an ice cold beer, bright new lights took away old excuses and the USSR is back in business at least in Springfield. At first glance you might have thought you were at a Rolling Stones show with a huge condom hanging above our heads and the last time their was this much talk about a roof Stew, Phil and Allen found Dougie and his mattress on top of Ceasars Palace, but finally we were back!
The game got up to speed quickly as the boy's were eager to get into the season, & the White squad skated away with the victory after a strong performance. But this was not about the game as much as it was about getting the old band back together, I think everyone enjoied that. It was great to see Curty looking as fit as ever and it was only fitting that he should open the scoring. I thought the rink cleaned up really well especially off to my right where some young ladies watched the game I know this because they caught me looking over ther a few times, I will now refer to this area as Clevage Corner. All I know is its great to be back home at the old barn and Im looking forward to the rest of the season & writing the updates instead of wasting time trying to write my book 'The Edge of Wetness' ... A love story.