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FNHL News Archives - 2006 / 2005 / 2004 / 2003 12/27/05 - George has advised me that we will have regular FNHL hockey this week. Since there was only one regular week left in this session, those games will be played Friday and the ABC games will be next week. As always, if you already know you can't make it for the ABC week (1/6/06) please send me an e-mail asap as I will be putting the teams together very soon. Thanks to everyone for you patience and cooperation as we adjust on the fly to the scheduling issues thrown at us. I can assure you that these issues don't originate with us and all George can do is try to get as much notice as possible when things happen. Unfortunately he is rarely given that courtesy by the rink. At this point I do not believe that the Sunday morning group will have ice until Jan 8th but if anything changes I will let everyone know. No game recaps this week with the holiday break.... A few of us did get together for a skate at Lysander which Brian Banks and Mike Comartos were kind enough to arrange..... My brother and I have been talking quite a bit recently about tournament options and I hope to make some commitments soon so if you think you might be interested, please see me or drop me an e-mail so you don't get left off the list. Just expressing interest doesn't bind you to anything so feel free to speak up without final obligation rather than being overlooked. I am fairly certain that we will have some roster changes next session with Jamie Shuler moving back to Yellow, Matt Marchitto and Germain LaPointe joining Black and Dan Jennings returning to his former team, now known as Orange. Also we're very happy to welcome back Dave Cavallaro to Blue following his injury a while back. So in conclusion I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and look forward to seeing you back on the ice this Friday. I think it may be a very Blue New Years Eve Eve for Orange.... See you Friday! 12/21/05 - Very important news this week - due to repairs and maintenance at the rink we will be off this Friday and possibly next. I was under the impression that everyone was aware of this but learned today that may not be true. Please make sure that everyone on your team knows there's no hockey. Once George gets final word on next week I will update the schedules. Since I had the late game last week there's very little to report. I heard that in the opener Black got a strong outing from goalie Rick Cummings and pulled out a two goal win over Red. I'm not sure on the score, maybe 10-8? No word at all on the second game, Yellow vs Orange. Feel free to e-mail me with the details and I will post them. The late game could have been a good one. Blue vs White is usually a pretty good game but White goalie Rob Conrad had a different idea in mind. Or maybe I should say out of his mind because that's how he played this week. Rob put together one of, if not the, best games he's played in the FNHL. Close shots, far shots, low, high, breakaways - you name it, he stopped it. On the other side, White sub Brian Pompo found the back of the Blue net early and often and this game was over before it really got started. I could ramble on with the sad details but it would only be depressing. Final score was White 11 - Blue 4 and it wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. On behalf of George and the entire FNHL I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hopefully we will be back on the ice without too much delay. .....And to all a good night! 12/13/05 - It's pretty cold here, must be down around 60 degrees right now... Anyway hockey was played again last Friday with mixed results. The opening game was Yellow vs White and it must have been a good one - too bad I didn't see it. The only report I got on the game was that White pulled out a 9-8 victory. If anyone has more info, feel free to send it in. The second game of the night was Blue vs something vaguely resembling Red. But this was no ordinary Red team. Adding subs Derek Crowley and Pete Klem to the already strong group including the Pompo brothers, Dave Sabatino, etc turned that team Crimson. Blue gave a tremendous effort all the way around and managed to stay with the new unholy powerhouse for about a period and a half. Dave Stage scored for Blue to tie the score at 3 but that was about all the gas in the Blue tank. Not even the presence of Mike Tully on offense could slow the Crimson attack. I think Tully even scored a goal and at that point you just knew it was over. The final score was approximately Crimson 11 - Blue 3. A better game than the score would indicate and a nice effort by Blue but there were just too many horses on the other bench. The last game of the night was a coming out party of sorts for the Orange team. For several weeks now I've noted that rookie goalie Dave Rigg has made some good saves but not managed to put enough pieces in place to secure the win. All that changed on the Olympic ice last week. For two periods Rigg was outstanding and pitched a shutout while Len Slack was among the scorers who gave Orange about a 4-0 lead into the 3rd period vs an undermanned Black. But it was at that point that reinforcements arrived from the second game with Dan Jervis and Germain LaPointe stepping in to sub. The tide could have turned, and it did somewhat as Rigg's bid for a shutout was foiled. But that was just a footnote - captain Jamie Sassenbury battled hard for a goal late in the 3rd period and a late rally by came up short. Do you believe in miracles??? YES!!! Orange plays tough and wins, Rigg is outstanding the crowd went wild. I think the final score was about 7-5 although there was some heated (and pointless) argument about this after the game. Whatever the final score was, Orange did earn the victory..... One observation, it would seem like a fairly simple solution to these what's the score controversies if the team on the scoreboard side of the benches would just mark the goals as they are scored. Hopefully we all realize that in the end it really doesn't matter who won or lost but we also know that in the heat of the game - it does matter to some degree. So why not just keep the score up to date on the board and end all the ridiculous arguments? But I digress..... Anyway, in other news, George has informed me that there are likely to be some more player movements made in the next couple of weeks in an effort to adjust for guys who have either officially quit or just stopped showing up. We know it's a real problem on one or two teams in particular and I know George will do anything he can to keep the league fun and the competition balanced. But it shouldn't be all on George to handle it. Bottom line is if you want to be on a team and play then show up. If you can't make it then call your captain so a sub can be arranged. Sorry to rant a little tonight but these types of problems should be easily solved and yet consistently they recur....... Last but not least I have heard from some people about next years tournaments and it's getting very close to decision time. If you want to participate in Montreal or any other tournament we can agree to go to then please let me know asap. Even if you're not sure, I'd rather have you on the list than not hear from you at all. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and allow me to return from Houston on time... See you Friday! 12/06/05 - Last week turned out rather black for Orange as they faced White in the opening game. By all accounts, new goalie Dave Rigg continues to improve and make some outstanding saves but consistency remains elusive. I didn't see either the early or late games this week so all I have to go on is the after game banter in the bar and a few tidbits from Lenny. Anyway, the final score of that first game was unknown although there was no doubt it was very one sided. Let's just say 12+ to 3 and leave it at that. Heather was once again in attendance and was most likely chatting with Ashley while Len scored his lone goal.... Game #2 was a good one with Black taking on Blue and marked the return of Dave Cavallaro to the Blue team. Cavy is still recovering from his injuries but did a nice job on D for Blue - switching places with George Fleischmann who jumped up to the wing (which is where Duane thinks he usually is anyway). Black was more Grey this week with the addition of several subs from the White team, most notably John Albanese and Gregg Evans who contributed quite a bit of offense to the effort. Black jumped out to a quick lead thanks to the aforementioned Mr. Evans and was up about 3-0 before Blue realized that the game had actually started. Blue finally did get on the board and for the next two periods the teams played "cat and mouse" with Black pulling away then Blue almost catching up and then Black scoring again. The third period was a different story however as Blue finally pulled within one at 10-9 thanks to goals by Tom Gridley, Dave Cavallaro and Brad Beran. With only minutes to go Dan Jervis stuffed his own rebound around Rick Cummings to tie the score. Then with less than 10 seconds left Jervis took a pass from Duane Pardee and was off on a breakaway. After a deke, the backhand shot tricked past Cummings just as the horn sounded. It was decided that the goal was too late so the miracle finish was erased. But not for very long as Tom Gridley scored the game winner on the first shift of overtime to (finally) conclude the comeback win for Blue 11-10. Dan Jennings, (sub) John Albanese, Mark Schumacher and Ron Schlicht were among the other scorers for Black. George Fleischmann and Germain Lapointe also had goals for Blue in this certified Game of the Week thriller.... Not much detail at all to report on the late game. I know that Yellow with only 6 players managed to post about a 10-7 win over Red with sub Del Hoyt in goal. Nothing else at the moment that I can think of to throw at you except that I really need to get a voice recorder so I can remember more details of the games. Each week I feel more and more like Bob LaBarre - older and with a severely diminished memory..... See you Friday! 11/30/05 - I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. It's a slow news week since we were on vacation. I do have one update to pass along. Actually I had the info in my wallet since the game last Friday courtesy of "Smith" but in this hi-tech era I had forgotten that the Napkin went back to its roots in printed and abridged form. Anyway, the game was White vs Black and things started badly for the men from the dark side. White took a 7-2 lead after two periods and threatened to run away and hide. But Black was not quite done and launched a furious rally to close the gap to 7-6. Thanks to White goalie Rob Conrad, who made a bunch of big saves late, the rally came up just short and White escaped with a one goal win. Jeff Janofsky scored twice in his debut for White, Chris Baldwin and Gregg Evans also had 2 and captain Bill Hopkins added 1 himself. On the dark side, Dan Jennings played well and scored a couple and Greg Schiccitano, Germain Lapointe, George Flesichmann and Ron Schlicht had the others. Based on the details I'd have to say this qualifies for a (belated) Game of the Week. My apologies to "Smith" and the teams involved for the delayed posting..... The only other news at the moment is that I have received a brochure from Russell Hockey regarding the Montreal tournaments. They have really thrown a curve at us this year. There will be a small tournament in Montreal on May 5th - 7th however it will be at a different rink near the one we usually play at. Since they have only 1 sheet of ice they are limiting the entries to the 1st 16 teams who send in a deposit. If we want in, we need to make a commitment quickly. There will be a regular tournament at the 4 Glaces Rink, but not until August 25th - 27th. That might be the better one to try and bring two teams to. I will try to remember the brochure this week. If you are at all interested in being a part of our tournament team(s) please don't wait to contact me. See you Friday! 11/22/05 - I just got word that we do have the 10:15pm slot this Friday and we also do have ice for the Sunday group this week as well. Good news indeed for those of us who will be trying to quickly shed the excess Thanksgiving Day pounds. As always, there are 20 spots available for Friday and two goalie spots - please e-mail me immediately if you want in. George will not be there this week so please don't call him to save a spot for you. This week's updates will be quick since the games themselves really weren't that memorable. In the first game Blue added super sub Jeff Fisher, who played well and scored a couple, but simply didn't have the horses to keep up with an energized Yellow squad. Goal of the night had to be Jesse angling his way to the net with a Blue defender draped all over him and still managing to drop a nice backhand behind John Oakes. Chris Rousseau was back this week as a sub for Yellow and got the win in goal despite allowing a lapse in concentration to translate into a goal for Brad Beran from the Red line. The final score was about 12-8 (or something like that). The second game was White vs Black and I didn't get an e-mail with any details. I am pretty sure that White managed to win the game. If anyone has additional info, feel free to send it here and I'll post it. The late game was another one that will be quickly forgotten. The Red team welcomed Dave Sabatino to their roster and he teamed with Brian Pompo and sub Dan Jervis to form a line that the Orange defense had no answer for. Red scored early and often en-route to an 8-2 first period lead. Nick Julian got into the act as well with a goal and an assist. For that matter pretty much every member of the Red team got on the scoreboard at least once including defenseman John Griffith with a nice shot from the slot. Over on the Orange side goalie Dave Rigg continues to work hard to improve his game and he did make some really good saves, despite the lopsided result. After being under siege for most of the first period and a half they did find a way to put a few shots past Red goalie Chuck Austin. Wayne Morse and Bill Wood were solid but the absence of Jamie Shuler clearly put a damper on the Orange attack. Also notable was the presence of Len Slack's girlfriend Heather for the third week in a row. Since there was little traffic in front of the Red net, Len was not able to bounce in any goals off defenders legs and was held scoreless. The final score was irrelevant and I honestly have no idea what it was. But the night was not a total loss for Heather since she wasn't really there to see Len anyway. She received an autographed game puck from the games high scorer to mark the occasion, which will likely wind up bringing in a large sum on e-bay next month.... In other news, Dave Cavallaro was back on this ice this Sunday morning and we were happy to see him although we hope he's not trying to come back too soon. I don't think he will be ready for Friday's for a while yet but it's evident that Cavy will not be out as long as originally feared...... On behalf of George and the entire FNHL I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday and we will be back to regular action a week from Friday.... Have a good week! 11/16/05 - Sorry for the delayed update but my personal odyssey continued this week and there was not even cell phone service in the small town we were banished to. Last week marked the return of the ever popular ABC games and it appears that they were a success again this time. The opening game was the B game and I wasn't able to attend so there are few details to pass along. I was told that the White team with Rob Conrad in goal won the game by about 11-7 and Len Slack and Mike Masello worked well together on offense. Also a couple of people mentioned that the game was well paced and closer than the final score would indicate. Heather was back for the second week in a row and since she didn't have me to cheer for she passed the time talking to Ashley in the bar - I understand completely, with Len on the ice there's sure to be lots of idle time between missed opportunities.... Game number 2 was the C game and with the lack of true C players right now it featured several new faces who apparently had a real positive impact on the competition. With that said it's time to turn the column back over to "Smith" who did come through with another installment of the Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. The C-Game The rosters were shuffled, but the tradition of close C-Games continued as the Grinders (wearing blue) rebounded from a slow start and defeated the Goons (in white) in should be a Game of the Week Contender. White jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, but Blue adjusted their strategy and dominated the mid-latter portions of the game, tying the game at around 5 or 6. The teams then traded goals, with the final go-ahead goal scored with around a minute to play. The game ended with White (net empty and extra attacker on the ice) jamming at the puck in the Blue crease. Play got a little intense/borderline chippy in the third, but it was all good heat-of-the-moment stuff that you get in close games. Nick Smith had a hat trick for the Grinders, including the game winner off a nice feed from Ron “Zamboni” Maydole. Drew Liszewski scored a pair of goals, while Terry “The Instigator” Young (top shelf), Pete Thompson, and Keith Benjamin chipped in singletons. Mark Schumacher had a few good scoring chances in his first C-game in several months, but couldn’t quite put in one of his signature goals. The Grinders defensive unit, which consisted of a core of Joe “Amazing” Gracz and Keith Benjamin, with Pete T. and Rich Fleischmann alternating time between D and C, was solid in breaking up the Goons rushes and setting up some going the other way. Keith in particular played a strong game – on top of his goal, he had another strong shot from the point that I thought was tipped just across the line, but the review from the booth said no goal. After a shaky start, Dave “Hexy” Rigg woke in the net, making enough big saves to earn the “W”. Hit of the night honors go to Rich for a mid-ice collision with a White forward, who had to leave the game with a possible shoulder injury – hope everything is okay. The Brothers Matyasik (Len and Mike) led the Goons with three or four goals between them, while Scotty Budynas also scored two. Not sure who rounded out the scoring for White, think it may have been one of the many new guys that were playing in this game. Goalie Del “Hanrahan” Hoyt had Blue stymied early on and stopped a lot of shots to keep the score close. Terry King, Frank Rathburn, Brad Beran, and Nick “Senior” Julian were solid in the defensive zone, and were a key factor in keeping Blue off the scoreboard in the early going. The bar had a decent crowd as usual after the ABC games, but was relatively quiet as most of the players that showed were kinda wiped out from the intense games. Ashley was in fine form, as always. Can’t say the same about the slow pouring Labatt’s tap, but Saranac Pale Ale is now in the rotating tap and was going down pretty good. Not much talk about the alternate jersey idea going on. Maybe we also need to come up with a league motto/slogan to help guide what ends up on the jerseys. Thanks as always to "Smith" for his usual fine job of reporting. Based on your recommendation I will go ahead and make it official as the Game of the Week.... But there was one other game played and it was a good one as well. The A teams found a lot of ice to deal with thanks to 4 of the scheduled 20 players winding up as no shows. Blue traded Jesse Nistico to White prior to faceoff in an effort to even up the sides and it worked well, almost too well. Jesse thrives on the Olympic ice and in an 8 on 8 game chasing him around can get very tiring very quickly. Blue defenders Duane Pardee, Bill Hopkins, Wayne Morse and Dan Jennings certainly earned their post game beers as did goalie John Oakes. The game was fairly even - Jesse got White on the board first but then Blue managed to knock a few past Russ Cole to take the lead. It was a seesaw battle from there on, I think about 6-5 going into the third period. By then everyone was tired and it was just a matter of who could connect and hold on. White had chances but Blue made them count and took home a well deserved 9-7 win. Dave Sabatino had about 3 of the White goals and Jesse had the other 4. Chris Baldwin, Tony Pompo, Germain LaPointe, and Dan Jervis were among the scorers for Blue.... In other news, the new schedules are posted and of note is the fact that we have no hockey the day after Thanksgiving.... Also, the alternate jersey idea has been tossed around but we'd still appreciate some more input on that.... A few B and C players have talked to me informally about Montreal but if we're going to send 2 teams we'll need a few more than that. It's a good time and I hope more guys will consider it....Finally, Cavy sent a letter which I posted in the Ice Chips section. It sounds like he's improving and anxious to make his return. We hope the good news continues..... See you Friday! 11/08/05 - Some pretty good action on the ice this week and a pretty good turnout in the stands as well... Maybe it was due to all the pre-game hype but I'm pretty sure that the opening game of the evening, Blue vs Orange shattered previous FNHL attendance records. At one point there were as many as six spectators including Mike Masello's wife (with her ever present novel) and Len's girlfriend Heather (rooting for Blue of course). Well a "Rigg Roast" was promised and since it was me who promised the feast I felt obligated to not only cook, but also stuff and carve the fledgling Orange netminder. Thanks in large part to the hustle of linemates Dave Stage and Germain Lapointe (making his Blue debut) the plan came together early and before Mike's wife could finish a chapter, Blue jumped out to a 3 or 4 to nothing lead in the first period. It would have been easy for Orange to let the wheels fall off at that point but much to their credit, they did not allow that to happen. Jamie Shuler and (to my dismay) Len Slack (still bouncing weak goals off other peoples legs) paced a nice comeback while the aforementioned goalie Dave Rigg buckled down and held the fort. I don't remember the score at the end of two periods but I know it was close. The key point in the game occurred in the 3rd period when Orange sub Bob LaBarre (how perfect is that?!) mishandled the puck at the blueline and allowed me a breakaway which somehow just got past Rigg and into the Orange net. The final score was Blue 10 - Orange 8. Stage, Lapointe, Tom Gridley and George Fleischmann each scored a goal for Blue. I'm not sure who else scored for Orange but they got some strong play from Jamie Sassenbury, Scott Budynas and Steve Olson. A good win for Blue but a pretty good outing for Orange as well. They are starting to develop some chemistry as a team and should have success down the road if it continues...... I was hoping for another installment of The Napkin to fill in the details for the second game - White vs Red but unfortunately the demands of new fatherhood seem to have gotten the best of our ace reporter "Smith". I did hear in the bar that White was the winner and a special guest appearance by Dave Cornell helped to keep the Pompo brothers in check. We're still seeking a new ace to fill the semi vacant reporter spot so if you'd like to give it a shot just send me an e-mail with whatever you think was worth mentioning and I'll post it.... The final game of the night was Yellow vs Black. Surprisingly Yellow had their complete roster in attendance while, not surprisingly, Black did not. When you're facing the high powered Yellow offense and at least half your undermanned team of 8 has already played a game (including all 3 defensemen), you know it's going to be an uphill battle. Black was bolstered by the addition of speedy Dave Sabatino who scored a couple of goals in his FNHL return. But Yellow was hustling and moving the puck well and took the early lead. I'm not sure who all scored for Yellow - I think Chip, Matt Marchitto, Jesse, and Pete Thompson were a few. Black made a good comeback attempt in the 2nd and drew the game to within a goal (6-5) on goals by Sabatino and Lapointe. I even managed to bounce a "Slackian" goal off someone's skate to cut the deficit to one. But the 3rd period was pretty much a disaster for Black as Yellow rattled off several quick goals to put the game out of reach. The final score was about 11-7. Although they don't score a lot of points, the hustle of Yellow players like the Matyasik brothers, Drew Liszewski and Mike Comartos certainly helped wear down Black and secure the win for their team. All things considered it was a fitting end to the evening...... In other news, the ABC rosters and schedule for this week are posted. Please make sure that anyone who doesn't have access to the web knows what time they are playing and let me know if anyone can't make it.... Finally I am beginning to think about the Montreal tournament team for 2006. Last year's FNHL entry made it all the way to the finals in their division and I see no reason they can't win it all this time around. I don't have any specifics yet as far as dates go but it is usually the last weekend in April or the first weekend in May. If you are interested in playing this year please let me know. The tournament has many different divisions including novice and if there is enough interest we can even enter two teams. From past experience we know that it's always a lot of fun and the competition has been pretty evenly matched. The cost is usually about $165 plus hotel, etc..... Well it's about 85 degrees here in Houston and tomorrow will probably mean more sunshine so I will muddle through as well as possible until I can fly back to cold weather and grey skies.... No further news on Cavy but I will pass along whatever I hear in the future. See you Friday! 11/07/05 - The rosters and schedule for the ABC week this Friday are posted. Note: There is a distinct shortage of true C players. As always I have attempted to get three good games together and did not intend to offend anyone by their placement. For the C game specifically there are several players who could easily compete in the B game. I tried to balance them on each team so that the game is competitive. If you are not on the list but feel you should be, please e-mail me. Also if you can't make it this Friday please let me know that as well. The regular weekly update will be posted later in the week. 11/02/05 - Hopefully everyone enjoyed their week off. We are back to business this Friday and I know the Blue team is looking forward to their primetime matchup with Orange. Blue has promised to deliver a "Rigg Roast" and I wouldn't bet against them... Another sub-plot for the evening will feature Len (hands of granite) Slack squaring off against yours truly.... Len's girlfriend Heather has promised to be in attendance - but who will she be rooting for?? My money's on Blue..... In other news, Bob LaBarre is still old and bald and Cavy is still injured but fortunately getting at least a bit better. We were happy to see him at the rink last week and look forward to a return visit Friday.... The poll has ended and by the slimmest of margins the ABC games emerged victorious. I will be posting lineups and schedules for them as soon as George and I confirm the rosters. As always if you already know you can't make it next week (November 11th) please let me know asap. If you are not on the regular rosters but would like to be considered available to sub that week let me know that as well..... We have had discussions recently about getting an alternate jersey FNHL jersey made. Steps are already being taken to make that happen and we are looking for artistic type people to submit ideas for a new FNHL logo to be used on these jerseys and also featured here on the website. George has said that there will be some prize awarded to the designer of the winning logo but we haven't finalized the details yet. Of course you don't have to be an FNHL player to submit a design. Once all the ideas have been submitted I will post them here on the site (I can scan a drawing if necessary) and the winner will be decided by vote.... Finally, there was some positive feedback submitted regarding Nick Julian's suggestion about using real ref's and a timekeeper for the ABC week. Due to the short time frame I've decided against that for this session but I'd really like to get some additional feedback in time to schedule it next time (if that's an idea more people want to try). See you Friday! 10/26/05 - The rosters for Friday at 10:15 were finalized this afternoon. Teams are as follows - White - Germain Lapointe, George Fleischmann, Dan Jervis, Brian Banks, Duane Pardee, Chris Baldwin, Mike Tully, Terry King, Steve Olson, Rich Fleischmann, Dave Rigg (G). Blue - Brian Pompo, Brad Beran, Chip O'Connor, Del Hoyt, Bill Hopkins, Nick Smith, Bill Wood, Stef Boutin, Bob LaBarre, Gregg Evans, Chuck Austin (G). Unfortunately we only have the one slot which filled up quickly. One other quick note for the Sunday morning group. George confirmed tonight that we do have our regular slot this week at 7am. The rink has been kicking us off promptly at 8:30 so we really need to get started as early as possible. 10/25/05 - After a nice visit in Jacksonville I arrived back in Syracuse about 12 hours before my next flight on Monday to Connecticut (which is where I am now). For those of you from the Montreal group, Pete and Cinker and the rest of the Jax crew send their regards. I did get a couple of updates from last weeks action so, as promised, here they are. Too many subs on Blue to write up a report, I'm sure someone will fill you in on the Blue details. Score was about White-9 over Blue-5. Pretty close most of game, except for a part of the 2nd when white scored on several consecutive shifts. Blue seemed to be tiring, but got their wind back and played well in the 3rd. John Albanese and Chris Baldwin had hat tricks, Jason Vogel, Darren Karn, and Matt Hysell scored singles. John was player of the game: besides the hat trick, he flat out hustled, including going down to block a shot. Thanks to "Smith" for that update, not quite a "Napkin" but certainly more than a tissue... and now on to what could be the next big thing here at the website as Rigg checks in "From the Crease".. From the Crease - The Yellow Team beat the Orange Team in a game where two periods (the first and third) were evenly played, but the second period was owned by the Yellow Team, and was the difference in the game. The game started quickly, and at the end of the first period the score was 2 to 3 (favor Yellow). However, Yellow ran away with it in the second, and kept the Orange back on their heels. In the second period Yellow outscored Orange approximately 6 to 1. The third period was evenly played, with each team scoring 2 or 3 goals. Scoring for the Yellow was evenly distributed, and Jesse was held to only 2 goals but lots of assists. Pete Thomson scored a couple, and Mike and Matt may have also scored a few. For the Orange Team, Bill "the Sniper" Wood fired in a couple bullets. The Orange Team defense including Brett, Wayne, and the "subs" did a great job of holding the Yellow Team in check and preventing a blow-out. Despite all the scoring, both goalies (Phil for Yellow, Rigger for Orange) played well. Not a bad effort for a forward turned goalie... Thanks Rigg for taking the time to send in the report. Hopefully he can be convinced to join the staff here on a weekly basis. I did get an update on Dave Cavallaro and spoke to him myself recently. Unfortunately in addition to the bruised kidneys Dave also severely tore his groin and will be out for an extended period of time. As always, our thoughts are with him and we hope that his recovery will be complete regardless of how long it takes. Finally, the good news is that we do have the 10:15 slot this Friday, the bad news is that there are only 3 spots left to fill. The next three people to e-mail me will get them and after that I can only send regrets. If you want in, please don't wait any longer to let me know....As soon as the roster is set I will e-mail that group the teams. See you Friday! 10/18/05 - A word of advice. If you have a cruise scheduled shortly after an FNHL game you may want to consider taking that week off. Having personally taken a cruise in a cast in 2002 and then this summer narrowly escaping disaster in the form of an epic FNHL collision the week before my departure, I speak from experience. If there are any doubters left out there then I must present exhibit #3, my good friend Dave Cavallaro. It seems that Cavy and his wife Megan were scheduled to depart last Saturday morning for a cruise to celebrate their 1st anniversary. But of course before that departure was our regular FNHL game at 9:30. As fate would have it, disaster struck. Early in the game Cavy was trying to chase down a pass near the end boards in the Red team's zone when he lost his balance and crashed hard into those boards. I was still in the locker room and even from there the thud was sickening. Sadly, Cavy suffered a bruised kidney and at least two other injuries. Needless to say, the trip insurance came in handy and the cruise will have to be rescheduled. Was it glare from Bob's bald head? Chips on the ice from Lenny's hands of stone? We may never know for sure what caused the accident... but the lesson is clear - cruisers beware..... The bottom line this week is that after our friend went down, the rest of the action pretty much became irrelevant. Red and Blue did finish their game with Mike Tully, Chuck Austin and the Pompo brothers leading Red to a 6 - 3 victory. The D for Red was very solid as well. John Oakes and the Blue D were very good but the team simply had no spark..... I didn't see either of the other games last week. It was reported that Yellow took the early game over White and Orange got their first win as a franchise over Black. If anyone would like to add the details for either game, feel free to drop me an e-mail and I will post them..... I will be out of town this week so there will be a break in the updates unless someone volunteers to step in.... The new poll is going strong and I will have to wrap it up soon. If you haven't had a chance to vote yet, please take a moment and do so. Along those lines there have been a couple of interesting suggestions made for possible alternatives to the "ABC" week. To date I haven't gotten much feedback on them. As a follow-up to Nick Julian's suggestion I recently got an e-mail from Liam Curry offering to help arrange the refs if that's the way the group wants to go. I have to make a decision on this session very soon so if you've got an opinion on the subject please share it..... The deadline for getting something together for the Hawaii tournament is quickly approaching. At this point there has been some interest but not enough to commit to it.... As the schedule notes, we are off next Friday, October 28th. No word yet from George if there will be a 10:15 slot available. Not much more to say at this point. Last update was that Cavy will be out of action for at least a couple of months. On behalf of the entire FNHL I'd like to wish Dave a speedy recovery. We all realize that risk of injury comes with the territory but that never makes it any easier when something really unfortunate occurs. See you in a few weeks...! 10/11/05 - The good, the bad and the ugly. This was the theme of last week's games and not a reference to beer, Lenny's hands and Bob LaBarre's bald head... ok well maybe them too. First up on the recap list this week is The Good and it came in the form of our opening contest, Yellow vs Blue. Surprisingly, both teams were playing with their regular rosters. It was the first time that has happened in a very long time. Yellow started strong and directed a lot of pucks at Blue goalie John Oakes but Oakes was up to the challenge and kept his team in the game. Jesse did finally manage to get a couple of goals late in the first or early in the second period but things stayed close. On the other side, Russ Cole didn't see much action in the Yellow goal as the Blue offense had trouble getting the puck on net. When Yellow defenseman Matt Marchitto put one past Oakes midway through the second period for a 3-0 Yellow lead the game looked like it might turn bad or ugly, but Blue was not done yet. Thanks to Oakes and some very solid defense by Gracz, Kokkoris, Fleischmann and Pardee the powerful Yellow attack was held at bay. Tom Gridley finally got Blue on the board followed by two from Dave Cavallaro. Yellow got some strong play from Pete Thompson and the returning Mike Matyasik while Jesse added two more goals to his tally for the night and the score was 5-3 in favor of Yellow late in the third period when things got even more interesting. With a few minutes to go in the game Dan Jervis beat Russ Cole with a backhander to the top corner and we had a one goal game. Then with only about a minute left on the clock the puck went to the corner deep in the Yellow zone to the left of their net. Chip O'Connor picked up the puck for Yellow and was immediately pressured by Cavy and Rich Fleischmann. Chip went to calmly flip the puck out of the zone but failed to notice yours truly, Dan Jervis lurking at the top of the circle to glove the clearing attempt. Two steps and one quick shot later the game was tied and this Game of the Week classic went into the books that way. A great game all the way around and a lot of fun to be a part of.... Game #2 by all accounts was not a bad game per say, but when the powerful White team has only half their team in attendance, that's bad. And when Bob LaBarre is on the other side, that's automatically ugly. Since I was slated to play again in the late game I didn't get to see much of this one. Although I did see a nice one-timer goal for White by a new sub who's name I have already forgotten. Apparently there were not enough highlights for the sub-laden White Boyz who ended up on the short end of an 11-8 score..... So we've reviewed the good, the bad and some of the ugly but with the final game of the night following a teen night brawl on the Olympic ice there was sure to be more.... and there was. Orange with newly converted goalie Dave Rigg faced off against Red with newly converted sub-goalie Del Hoyt playing for the absent Chuck Austin. Orange had inadvertently scheduled an extra sub for the evening and after the first shift I was traded to Red. So you have the Pompo brothers, the Olympic ice and two rookie goaltenders - which, you might think could lead to a high scoring game.... and you would be correct. This one got ugly in a hurry as Orange goalie Rigg struggled and the Pompo brothers soared. By the end of the first period I think the score was already 7 (or 9) to 2 for Red. The second period didn't get much better for Orange because they simply couldn't seem to get the puck past Del and into the net. Lenny (hands of granite) Slack, Jamie Shuler, Scott Budynas and Jamie Sassenbury all seemed to take turns hitting Del squarely in the chest or shooting wide. By the end of period two this game was all but over. Orange did make a bit of a comeback in the final period and Rigg settled down in goal but by then it was far too little, far too late. The final score is anyone's guess but since this is my column I'll guess it was about 18-8 and, at least for this week, Red was on the winning end of a shootout..... and yes, it was ugly!....... In other news, we were disappointed by the second straight week of absence for Len's girlfriend, Heather and the proposed scantily clad FNHL cheerleaders but were happy to welcome back Tom Gridley's wife Kathy. Mike Masello's wife was also in attendance, novel in hand, to cheer on the Blue team. Finally it occurred to me as I sat down to write the column this week that I have been consistently forgetting to mention the continued presence and support of the lovely Patty Ryan. My apologies to Patty for the oversight. Anyone who can watch our games week in and week out and then go home to Bob's bald head certainly should be considered a candidate for sainthood (or therapy... or both)..... I am back in Houston this week so hopefully the flights will be on time and I will see you Friday! 10/04/05 - The new session started with much anticipation and sub-plots galore so let's get right to it. In the opener we saw the debut of John Albanese for the White team, ironically (or intentionally???) facing his old mates from the former Green team, now known as Orange. On the other side we've got newly converted full-time goalie Dave Rigg in his first game as the regular Orange netminder against none other than his former teammates in White. Also veteran Jamie Sassenbury returned to the ice after a lengthy absence to take over the captain's duties for the quasi-expansion Orange now featuring Steve Olson, Wayne Morse and Bill Wood. Since I was (and still am) expecting a Bar Napkin Report on this one I must confess to taking no notes. But since I've always said that the truth will never interfere with a good story the show will go on. The game, as I recall was pretty good and relatively even for the first period. The newly formed line of John Albanese, Chris Baldwin and Gregg Evans clicked immediately for a couple of goals and Darren Karn and Bill Hopkins kept the pressure on from the blueline as well. Orange goalie Rigg played well but seemed to be under almost constant fire. In the other net, Rob Conrad also had a good game stopping most of the very few shots Orange could get through Hopkins, Karn, Jason Vogel and sub Dave Cavallaro. By the middle of the second period, White was up by quite a few and it looked very bad for Orange. But to their credit they did not give up and showed a lot of heart in mounting a comeback. Scott Budynas, Jamie Sassenbury, (sub) Dan Jervis and Bill Wood (I think) were able to light the lamp for Orange. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Lenny (Romeo) Slack who chose this game to end his improbable consecutive game scoring streak. In the end White held on for a well deserved 11-9 win. John Albanese figured prominently in the scoring for White while Dave Rigg had a solid, if not completely successful debut in goal. White looks to be a real powerhouse this session if they can keep up the strong play. Orange has good potential but needs to find consistent offense in order to end up on the winning side of the scoreboard. Notable by her absence was newly crowned season ticket holder #001 - Len's girlfriend Heather. Last time I spoke to her, she had some really good ideas for how to spice up the FNHL including scantily clad cheerleaders (in addition to scantily clad bartenders) and team names that were a little less boring than our colors of the rainbow... Hopefully she will be back next week...... The second game was Blue missing George Fleischmann and Tom Gridley, taking on Black missing.... well pretty much everyone. They say "Once you go Black you never go back" but in this case a better saying would be "Once you go Black you rarely show up." At least captain Bob LaBarre was happy to get some phone calls this time so he had time to beg, borrow and otherwise shanghai a colorful cast of subs including Len Slack and Gregg Evans. Most notable in this one was the long awaited return to the ice for Mark Schumacher. Mark had been out for several months after suffering a serious shoulder injury in his last FNHL game. It didn't take long for him to resurrect the "Schumachian" goal, not once but twice - the only twist was that this time the goals were from a bit further out than his usual six inches. On the Blue side, Rich Fleischmann, Dave Cavallaro and Dan Jervis were reunited as a line - and yes it did feel so good. Each player scored two goals and had other opportunities stopped by either Black goalie Rick Cummings, or the post(s). Mike Masello also had a pair for Blue, but the goal of the night had to be Steve Kokkoris' shot from the blueline that somehow found it's way through a screen and into the top corner of the Black net. As with the opener, the team trailing (in this case Black) refused to go away. Sub Len Slack did nab two very weak goals for Black but Blue had just enough gas in the tank to keep Black blue and send them home with a 9-8 loss.... I didn't see the last game Red vs Yellow but I got two very different opinions on how that one went. It was agreed that Yellow scored an insane number of goals and trounced Red by a score that isn't even worth repeating. From the Red point of view the game was not much fun because a certain Yellow player was determined to run up the score. From the Yellow perspective they did all they could to even things out by moving their forwards to D. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle but who knows. All we are left with is a "he said - he said" standoff and the knowledge that there will be more hockey and beer this week......I did get a couple of letters that I will post later in the week..... The new poll is going well and if you haven't had a chance to vote, please register your opinion asap. See you Friday! 09/27/05 - Since we were off last week this will be a quick update. Most importantly, the new schedule is posted. Please note that this week we will be delayed on the NHL side due to a junior game. We expect to start around 9:00pm with the second game at about 10:30pm. George will be out of town this weekend so please don't call him on Friday afternoon to say you can't make it. If there is a last minute problem either call your team captain or call me at 246-2940. We are pleased to announce that the new Orange team has its first captain. Veteran Jamie Sassenbury returns after a one session break and will take over the leadership role. John Albanese, the longtime captain of the team (when it was known as Green) will make his debut in White this Friday. I saw John last week at the 10:15 pickup game and he looked like a new man. White jersey, clean shaven - I hardly recognized him. Anyway, it's nice to see John embrace his "Whiteness" and I'm sure he will find the move a good one. See you Friday! 09/20/05 - The Goalies Choice games went pretty well. Some were more
competitive than others but the general feedback from the group was
positive. Once again, thanks to everyone who helped put things together. The
opening game was Team Rigg in white vs Team Oakes in Blue and of all the
games last week it was the most lopsided. Team Oakes added sub Dave
Cavallaro in place of Greg Sniffen and that coupled with the return of Jamie
Shuler proved to be too much speed and savvy for the hard working Team Rigg
defense to handle. Cavy and Shuler teamed up with Gregg Evans to lead the
impressive and relentless Blue attack but they were not the only scorers
that night. Scott Budynas, who has picked up his play lately, also scored
and Del Hoyt even managed to knock in a pair from close range. Del would
have had a hat-trick but fell victim to the Hands of Lenny curse and
deposited a point blank shot with the goalie out of position into the boards
behind the gaping net. On the other side, Team Rigg had no answers
offensively and John Oakes solid in goal when called upon. Though I was able
to muster a couple of goals, my most impressive move was probably a brief
dance with Del at the blueline. Neither of us fell, but we couldn't decide
who should lead so we quickly went our separate ways. Stef Boutin and Wayne
Morse did score for Team Rigg late in the game but it was long over by then.
The final score was Team Oakes 11 - Team Rigg 4. New goalie Dave Rigg played
much better than the score would indicate and despite the outcome, it was
fun to be a part of team Rigg - great hustle and attitude all the way
around. Some days you just get beat by a better team. Good thing there's
always plenty of beer upstairs.... The second game was Team Cummings in
White vs Team Conrad in Blue. I wasn't able to watch this one so I can only
relay the few details I got in the bar afterward. It was reported as a 9 - 6
victory for Team Conrad with Mike Masello, Adam Rufa and Tony Pompo leading
the winning attack. Defenders Duane Pardee and Terry King also chipped in
with a goal. On the other side it was agreed that Matt Marchitto had a
notable game for Team Cummings scoring 4 goals from his defensive position.
I am hoping that this positive comment may win me some "brownie points" with
Matt's wife (hint, hint)..... With two games in the books it was left to
Team Cole in Blue and Team Austin in White to provide the finale. A little
subplot developed before the game as Chip O'Connor and Darren Karn couldn't
make it for Team Cole and were replaced by subs George Fleischmann and yours
truly, Dan Jervis. This meant another game for me vs the infamous Man with
Hands of Stone - Lenny Slack. Too add to the drama, Len's girlfriend Heather
(who has recently been promoted to the coveted season ticket-holder #001
slot) was in attendance. Could this extra inspiration help Lenny and Team
Austin to victory??? No - no way, no how. Lenny did manage to squeak yet
another weak goal in to extend his improbable scoring streak but Team Cole
was just too strong to be denied. Jesse Nistico was the catalyst on offense
for Team Cole scoring three goals while Matt Hysell, Jason Vogel and Dan
Jervis added the rest. Nistico, Jervis and Hysell worked especially well
together in the 1st period to help Blue jump out to a big early lead. Dave
Cavallaro and Brian Pompo tried to spark a comeback netting three goals to
add to the weak one Lenny got but it was not enough. The final score was
Team Cole 7 - Team Austin 5. In the bar after the game Len failed to score
points yet again by arguing against the merits of taking ones girlfriend out
to dinner. Not a smart move when she is standing right there Romeo...... In
other news, the 10:15 slot available for this Friday is filling up fast
(remember we have no regular hockey this week). Once the last few spots are
filled the list will be closed so if you want to play please e-mail me
immediately. Our next regular session will begin the following Friday, 9/30
and with the new session comes the question of what to do with the "ABC
week." I would really appreciate some feedback on this question. Would the
group prefer to go back to the ABC format (if so I think we need to re-vote
on the rankings) or should we do a re-match of the Goalies Choice games? or
should we try something else? E-mail me and let me know what you think.
Finally, just when you thought this update was finally over - it's not - not
even close. I am pleased to announce that "Smith" is back - with a vengeance
as he recently submitted the following memorable edition of the famous Bar
Napkin Report. I will sign off for now and leave you with the unedited
version, in all it's glory. Have a good week!
09/17/05 - Just a couple of quick notes for now. First of all, the final player changes have been made for the next session and new rosters are posted. Veteran John Albanese moves from his role as captain of the Green team and joins Bill Hopkins and company on White. Steve Olson will replace John on the roster and this team will now be officially known as the Orange team. A captain will be announced shortly. Also, remember that there is no regular FNHL hockey next Friday (9/23) so the new session will begin on 9/30. For those of you in the Sunday group there is no hockey tomorrow 9/18 or the following week 9/25. George was able to get the 10:15pm slot for next Friday 9/23 so if you want to skate, please e-mail me asap and I will add you to the list. The first 20 players to contact me will be in. A new poll will be added very soon regarding what to do with the extra game for the upcoming sessions. I've already gotten a few suggestions and welcome any additional comments on the subject. 09/13/05 - Sadly, it looks like the return of The Napkin was a limited engagement. I'm sure with the new family responsibilities "Smith" has had to make some choices. Of course if and when he is able to resume his prolific writing career there will always be a place for him here. This does increase the need for a new "Ace Reporter" to supplement the increasingly aimless ramblings of yours truly. Insomniacs, the unemployed and the mentally and/or emotionally unstable (or any combination thereof) are encouraged to apply. Literacy is preferred but not required, substance abuse is optional. As for the games last week, the pattern of games following patterns followed that same pattern yet again. The first game featured the Blue team taking on the remnants of the team formerly known as the Green team. Notable at the start was the fact that Dan Jennings and Dave Cavallaro, former Green standouts, were both wearing Blue for this one. It wasn't a bad game overall, Blue jumped out to an early lead on a nice goal by George Fleischmann. Tom Gridley, Dave Cavallaro and Dan Jervis also scored in the first or early second period to increase the lead. But Green wasn't quite done. Lenny Slack continued his incredibly improbable scoring streak by bouncing a weak shot off the legs of several players in front for a Green goal and Bill Wood buried a nice wrist shot to close the gap to 4-3. But that was as close as it got, Blue goalie John Oakes was tough throughout and held Green to a lone goal in the third while Cavy and Dan Jervis netted three more for Blue and Tom Gridley finished off the night with a sweet shot off the post and in. Final score was Blue 8 - Green (Orange??) 4. Perhaps the highlight of the night was Dan Jennings now in Blue sparring with former protege Keith Benjamin..... I didn't see the next game - White vs Red so I've got little to offer as far as highlights. The Red team was severely undermanned with only 1 sub on the bench most of the game but I heard in the bar that they still managed to pull off the win thanks to the scoring of Brian Pompo.... The last game of the evening Black vs Yellow went much like the first. Black had several subs and seemed poised to take a run at their Chipless opponents. But they learned very quickly that it is difficult to win a game when you consistently put the puck in your own net, Bob LaBarre led the scoring for Yellow with two goals into his own net while George Fleischmann and Frank Rathburn added one each. Of the players actually in uniform for Yellow, Adam Rufa was outstanding scoring a couple of restaurant quality goals and Jesse Nistico notched a couple as well. I spent most of the game picking myself up off the ice after repeated collisions with Mike Comartos and Matt Marchitto. Black made a brief run in the 2nd period but it was too little, too late and Yellow rolled to a 12-6 win..... So far I have only heard from one person (Darren Karn) who will not be there this Friday. As I mentioned previously, the goalies choice rosters are already thin so if you won't be there or know of someone else who can't make it, please let me know asap. If you are not scheduled for the games this week but would like to play please contact me as well and I will try to find you a spot. I am in Houston this week and will be in transit on Friday so please don't wait until the last minute.... Another reminder that the Hawaii tournament info has arrived. Several people have expressed interest in this once in a lifetime trip and if we're going to do it we should make plans soon. I did a little checking on the web and flight prices look like about $700 if you don't have frequent flier miles to use.... The schedule for the new session beginning Sept 30th will be posted soon. Remember we are off on Sept 23rd. See you Friday! 09/10/05 - The rosters for next weeks "Goalies Choice" games are now posted. Since we are already a few guys short for these games, please notify me as soon as possible if you cannot make it. If you were inadvertently left off the list for these games, let me know and I will find you a spot. These rosters should be pretty firm but I will let everyone know if any adjustments need to be made due to no-shows and/or add ons. Thanks to everyone who participated in getting these games together. There were certainly some surprises on draft day but all in all, the teams are well distributed and hopefully we can have some fun with the matchups next Friday. Also, the rosters for the next session are tentatively posted but there are likely to be a few more changes before we get underway on September 30th (remember we are off on Friday the 23rd). I will post the rest of the regular update later in the week. 09/08/05 - Two important items - The goalies choice draft for next Friday is getting underway (slowly). If you are not going to be able to play or you know someone on your team who can't play next Friday the 16th please let me know right away. Also there are still a couple of goalies I haven't heard from yet. If possible, give me a call on my cellphone 246-2940 as I won't be in the office tomorrow. Secondly, George was advised recently that there will be no hockey the following Friday the 23rd so the next session won't start until September 30th. 09/07/05 - The vacation was nice and needed, but it's always good to get back on the ice after some time off. The action was pretty good for this last week of summer vacation but with all the subs involved it just keeps getting more difficult to remember who actually played in what game. I apologize in advance for the numerous inaccuracies to follow...... The opener was Black vs Red and in this case, No Pompo = No Problem for a Red team that hadn't had much success over the summer. Things seemed to be going well for Black at the start as they jumped out to an early 2 - 0 lead but then the Black offense sputtered, the Red offense started to click and Chuck Austin buckled down in the Red goal. The final score was about 10-5 in favor of Red. I have little recollection of who scored for either team but I believe Brian Banks and sub Chip O'Connor scored for Red.... Game number two was Yellow with Del Hoyt subbing in goal vs what remains of the team formerly known as the Green team. I was only able to see the first period of this one but it was a good period that ended up tied 3-3. Lenny Slack continued his unprecedented hot scoring run by getting Green on the board first. Billy Cummings also scored for Green by crashing the net and poking a rebound past Del. Jesse and Chip promptly answered for Yellow. The report in the bar afterward was that Yellow eventually prevailed by an approximate score of 10-8. There have been some suggestions that the Green team label be officially retired and a new color chosen (maybe Orange?). Clearly a change of some sort is in order as the mojo just isn't there anymore..... This week we saved the best for last. I was hoping for a Bar Napkin Report on this one, but so far none has arrived. The White team was missing captain Bill Hopkins and Chris Baldwin but who needs skaters when "The Rigg" is in goal? On the other side, Blue was equally shorthanded and fell behind early (3 or 4 to 1) thanks to some nice offense by Gregg Evans and other White players whose specific names I cannot recall. John Oakes had a rough start in the nets for Blue but settled down by the second period and gave Blue the opportunity to get back into the game, which they did - slowly, VERY slowly. Late in the third period White still lead 6-5. I had personally thrown everything including the kitchen sink at Rigg but to no avail. Then with about 42 seconds left, Dave Cavallaro took a nice pass from Mike Masello (I think) and beat Rigg low to the glove side to tie the score at the end of regulation time. But a game this good could not be allowed to end in a tie so a 5 minute OT was started and Blue had the momentum. About two minutes into the OT George Fleischmann hit yours truly, Dan Jervis in stride and a few quick seconds later the puck was in the White net and Blue celebrated a dramatic, come from behind, Game of the Week, victory....... In other news, MONEY IS DUE THIS WEEK. I believe the plan is for each team to pay their captain and the captains will pay George. Please make sure to take care of this promptly. Last session there were far too many spots unpaid and George even had to contribute from his own pocket to cover the temporary shortage. Obviously this should not have to happen and we can't expect to continue on that basis.... I am working on the rosters for the Goalies Choice games and will post them as soon as they are finalized. There should be quite a few roster changes for the next session and several suggestions have been made including a complete re-shuffle of the rosters or at least of a few teams. If you are planning to return to the FNHL or take time off please make sure to see George to verify your status and team for next session. Also if any of our readers have suggestions or comments on how to best revise the current rosters please send me an e-mail. All suggestions/comments will be confidential unless you ask me to post them. One recent suggestion was to establish a volunteer Board of Directors whose job it would be to handle the day to day operations of the FNHL and address any problems that come up to take some stress off George's back. It is certainly worth considering... Finally I did get the information packet from the tournament in Hawaii. The dates are April 23rd through 26th of 2006. The costs are very reasonable as far as tournament fee and hotel goes (I'd estimate about $375 per player based on double occupancy). Of course the airfare is something that could be a challenge but I know there are discount fares to Oahu and some of you may have frequent flier miles to use as well. Several people have approached me on this already and I think it would be a blast to make it happen. The tournament has several different divisions and I'm confident that they will match us up appropriately based on the players we bring. Please let me know if you think you might be interested. If we're going to make it a reality I need to have a commitment and deposit by the end of the year but please don't wait until New Years Eve to let me know. See you Friday! 08/27/05 - Well I am back in the Continental USA and with any luck, tomorrow night will be home. My apologies for the lack of updates lately, between my usual travels, family emergency and the vacation it's been very hectic to say the least. Since I haven't been at the rink lately I can't offer any game updates, but "Smith" has been in da house and I am happy to present not one, but two episodes of the famous Bar Napkin Report covering the last two weeks. So, without further adieu.... MEN IN BLACK – 9 There have been several blowouts for one side or the other in the relatively even in terms of W-L series between Light and Dark. The 9:30 game looked to be another one as a loaded Dark Side team jumped to about a 5-1 lead after the first and dominated play through most of the 2nd. However, White goalie Rob Conrad shook off the slow start and made some big saves and his forwards threw in two goals on the last shift of the period, stealing the round and cutting the lead to 6-3 at the intermission. A re-invigorated White team saw that they were still in it and managed to pull within two goals in the third. But then Black dug down as well and pulled ahead to preserve the victory. Ron Schlict, “Pesky” Jermaine Leclaire, and Mike Pardee shot in two apiece for Black, while Greg Schiccitano, Andre Chamberlain, and Greg Sniffen also scored for the Blackjacks. Mike had the goal of the game in a sequence where his stick was knocked out of his hands by the White D, he kicked it forward as he skated by the D, picked it up, regained control of the puck and fired it home. The Black defensive unit of Bob Labarre, Frank Rathburn, Duane Pardee, and George Fleischmann stifled several White chances, with Frank playing a particularly strong game. The White Trash forwards had a tough time getting the puck past sub goalie Chris Rousseau (making a surprise return to the ice after a long absence), as half of their scoring came from defensemen Bill Hopkins, Dan Jennings, and Jason Vogel. Darren Karn-age mangaged a pair and newcomer Matt Hysell fought off the urge to revisit his Happy Hour hordeuvres (at least until after the game) and earned a goal in his FNHL debut. There was a decent crowd upstairs and an even bigger crowd on the NHL rink after the game, as the long-awaited re-lining of the ice got underway. It looked like an Amish barn razing/bring your own tool party out there, with people going to town with torches, shovels, lawn mowers, and the zamboni – should be interesting to see how it turns out. Ashley relayed a story of how she gave a Russian Sleigh Ride (no takers on her offer to demonstrate) to some perv that was in the bar earlier in the week. In the process, she revealed that she wears some sort of frilly granny panties under her mini-skirts. Note on gripes about the accuracy of these reports: Like Dan, I never let the facts get in the way of a good story and the number of goals claimed by players rarely matches the final score of the games. Some teams have been updating the scoreboard after each goal, which helps keep the count more accurate than just doing it between periods (plus controversies are addressed right away). It’s not perfect, as usually only a couple players per team can figure out the rocket science of the scoreboard (unless someone’s 10 year old kids are on hand to man it). So some goals don’t get marked right away if the operator is on the ice, but they usually go up eventually after the next shift change. So the final scores are getting more accurate lately, but I don’t know what to do about people who don’t remember how many goals they scored (wish I had that problem) or when 8 players claim goals when their team only scored 5. Would be nice to see some more detailed accounts from the other teams so some of the blanks could be filled in. (and now from the week before) White Boyz – 13 The White Boyz dug themselves out of a big hole for a stunning come-from-behind victory over the sub-laden Greenies in the early game. Due to a travel commitment, Jesse Nestico was traded to Green for one night only and made an immediate impact, notching 6 or 7 goals in the first period, which ended at about 9-2 in favor of the shorthanded Green Machine. It looked to get worse as Green started to accumulate subs in the second (Bob Labarre) and third (Dan Jervis) periods. However, White whittled away at the lead, and finally tied the game with about 5 minutes to go in the third. Ron Maydole then slapped home an easy goal after a goalie miscue, which was soon followed by another goal for the Boyz. Green cut the margin to one in the closing minute or so, but time ran out before they could mount a comeback. About 5 minutes of game time were lost due to a running clock between periods while the goalies took their time getting in position and during a minor altercation during an intense third period. After a horrid first period, Rob Conrad woke up and turned in an outstanding performance in net for the Boyz, limiting Soylent Green to only 4 goals the rest of the way. Russ “Diva” Cole was solid in net for Green, except for a couple mis-timed handlings of the puck (and excessive primping between periods). Darren Karn-age and Chris Baldwin each had hat tricks for the Fightin’ Whitey’s, while Dave Neuner notched a pair, and Jason Vogel, Steve Saya, Nick Smith, Terry “The Instigator” Young scored singletons, in addition to Ron’s game winner. Jesse scored most of the goals for the Green Machine, but Scott Budynas and Dan Jervis (and maybe John Albanese) also found the net. The story of the night for Green would have to be the scoring outburst of the beleaguered Len Slack, who scored a pair of goals, but was foiled in his bid for a hat trick when his nemesis “Jinx” Jervis stepped onto the ice to help fill out Greens roster. There was a pretty light crowd up in the bar and Ashley was feeling a little lonely. I had to leave early, so hopefully it picked up after the later games ended. I’ve heard a rumor that approximately half the league has yet to pay up for this session. C’mon people, it was due three weeks ago!! Look for a new collection system to be implemented and possibly some players to be replaced if this doesn’t improve. Thanks, as always to "Smith" for his usual fine set of reports. I would like to second his suggestion that some additional info on the other games (from someone other than me) would be appreciated. We're not asking for a lifetime commitment here, just an e-mail with a few details. Anyway, I know that when I left there were some problems with payments, player drop-outs, and "no-show, no call (or very late call)" guys. These were understandably causing George a great deal of stress and frustration. Hopefully things are already starting to work themselves out, but we all need to step up and do what we have to to make this league work. George already has more than a full-time job running his business and there's no good reason that he should have to spend so much time and energy putting out fires for the FNHL. Pay on time, show up or call as far in advance as possible, have a few beers, etc - not difficult stuff....... but we, as a group need to get it together..... I'm hoping to hold the draft for the upcoming "goalies choice" games as soon as possible. If you are one of the goalies for week 6 of this session, please send me an a-mail or catch me in the bar next Friday. See you Friday (finally!!!) 08/09/05 - There was a twist in this sessions "ABC" games as the teams (for the first two games at least) were comprised mainly of younger players vs older players. Would wisdom and experience triumph over youth and exuberance??? ..... well, no. Sadly for those of us in the (well) over 30 crowd, what we learned was that chasing a bunch of younger players around the ice is challenging for about 20 minutes and then it just gets old - fast. The opening game looked like it might stay competitive thanks primarily to the heroics of Blue goalie Russ Cole. Chip O'Conner scored the game's first goal to put the older Blue Team in front but I'm pretty sure that was our only lead of the night. Andre, Jesse, Cavy, Brian Pompo, Adam Rufa, etc, etc, etc were all flying (especially Andre who continues to be a boy among men). This resulted in too much time spent by White in the Blue zone and too few opportunities for Blue once they did manage to clear the puck. Midway through the second period the score was about 8-3 for White. But somehow, little by little, Blue did manage to make a game of it by capitalizing on a good percentage of the chances they did muster. Chip, Tony Pompo, Dan Jervis and Chris Baldwin led the offense and even managed to tie the score at 10 midway through the 3rd period. If we could have called the game at that point I think we would have. But the game went on and the young punks proceeded to punk out the valiant veterans. Cavy, Jesse and Andre went on a scoring rampage and the final score was about 14 (or 15) - 10 (or 11). Blue defensemen Dave Cornell, Bill Hopkins and George Fleischmann did their best but collectively lost about 47 pounds by the final buzzer. Game number two followed the same format and not surprisingly, ended up with a similar result. Defense was the order of the day in this one as the young White team was led by the Marchitto brothers, Jason Vogel and Steve Smorol. Those four individually and collectively managed to keep the Blue forwards away from their goalie Chuck Austin for most of the game. Austin made the most of the unusual show of support by stopping the Blue chances that did get through. Only (sub) Dan Jervis and Brian Banks were able to find the back of the net and, as the saying goes, you won't win an FNHL game if you only score two goals. Offensively, the White team was led by Stef Boutin, Bill Wood and Steve Olson. Ironically, Stef was traded from Blue to White shortly before the game began. The final score was about 8-2 for White. Perhaps the biggest news of all from this game was the realization that the "Curse of Lenny" has now ended. Len Slack had not been on a winning team in months and though he did all he could to keep the streak alive by passing when he should have shot and missing open nets when he did shoot, it was all for naught. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, on this night, Lenny was a winner.... At least Blue did convincingly win the tripping contest for the evening. Steve Olson was dumped at least 37 times by the Blue defenders with Lenny a close second at about 29 times. So we move on to the late game which was not able to be put in the old vs young format since most of those players are already pushing Bob LaBarre for the title of Oldest Player Ever (just kidding Bob - no one even comes close to you in that dept). While "Smith" was not in the house due to the recent birth of his baby daughter, which we congratulate him on, there was another ace reporter in the house. So without further adieu, we are happy to present a guest column - spell checked for your protection and "Rigged" for your pleasure..... The "C" The C game was a battle that left both benches exhausted. Blue team jumped out to a quick lead with an end-to-end rush by Pete Thompson, a topshelfer from the circle by Pete Thompson, a breakaway by Pete Thompson (you get the picture). Brad Beran also tapped in a bouncer from in close. The blue team was up 4-0 and it looked as though the home team would be hitting the showers early. That was when Rick Cummings decided to shut things down, he got in the groove, and stymied the Blue team. Terry "The Instigator" Young started running people down, and Nick Julian Sr. gave some rebel yells that would have sent the bluecoats running off of Little Roundtop. The White guns started firing their cannons, and the momentum shifted. I am not sure who got the goals for White, but I know that Rich Fleischmann got one, Scott Budynas fired a laser over Rob's shoulder from the blueline, and the defense trio (Mr. Boston College guy, Joe Grazc, and Number 18) may have gotten a few as well. The Blue team would not be denied victory, however, and came back with a goal by Terry King, who intercepted a pass (and I mean intercepted), tucked the puck under his arm like a cornerback, ran the length of the field, and put the puck down at the 5-yard line before firing in the shot. Rigger also scored on a nice feed from Brad, beating Ricky over the glove (I think the water bottle may even have moved a little). Defense on both sides kept things close. Steve, Keith, and Terry were awesome at anchoring the D for the Blue Team, while Joe Gracz, Mr. Boston College guy, and Number 18 dude broke up plays for the White guys. Final (Approximate) Score: Blue Team 7; White Team 4. Thanks to the ace cub reporter who "Rigged" that entertaining combination of hockey and history..... Perhaps the most memorable thing about the evening was the true family atmosphere on display last week. Our attendance was through the roof thanks to the Marchitto family who turned out in force for the festivities. I had the pleasure of meeting the entire family in the bar after the game. If I hadn't made the mistake of inviting Matt to the Hawaii tournament it would have been a perfect evening. Thanks to my well intentioned but ill timed invitation, Matt's wife has vowed that there will be no more brownies for me.... go figure. I offer paradise and get no brownie points for it. We also once again enjoyed the presence of the Pompo children, and Chip's son was there as well. They had a great time as always. I'm pretty sure the Cornell family was also in the stands and maybe a couple of others but I can't remember them all for sure. To me, this sense of community is what makes our league stand out and a big part of the reason we come out week after week (thanks George). Finally, along those lines, we got an e-mail and some pictures from Duane Pardee who is traveling out west with his wife and also some pictures of the new baby from Melissa Fleischmann. Duane's letter is posted in the Ice Chips section and all of the pictures are posted in the Fun Photo Gallery. George has sent me the new schedules but he also said that we need several players to fill the the next session and quite a few people still owe him money which is disappointing. If you are in this group, please square this away with George immediately. See you Friday! 08/02/05 - The rosters for this week's games are now posted. You may notice that I have totally abandoned the use of the "AB" terms because at this point they really don't mean much. There are quite a few players in each game who could easily fit into the "A" or "B" categories and this includes the goalies. The goal, as always, was to create interesting and competitive matchups. This week's theme is to match up teams of primarily younger players against teams of their older (wiser??) peers and also to mix up some of the usual FNHL combinations and goaltender assignments. Since I don't know everyone's age I had to make some educated guesses. I have no doubt that some will turn out to be incorrect and apologize in advance for any misplacements. You will also notice that as of this writing, the second game is overbooked by one player per team and there is one open slot in the last game. Please let me or George know asap if you won't be able to make it this week so that the rosters can be adjusted. Next session I'm considering a "goalies choice" format which would involve knowing who the goalies were going to be and having them draft their own "dream teams" from across the entire FNHL. The matchups would be determined in reverse order of the draft itself. For example if Chuck Austin drafted last, he would have first choice of opponent. Anyway, that's the idea, feel free to let me know what you think. Last week "Smith" was out of town so The Bar Napkin Report goes back on hiatus as well. I'm sure both will return for this week's action. On the ice our "Summer of Subs" was still going strong as each game included many players not on the regular rosters. The opening game was Red vs Black and Red started out strong in this one jumping out to a nice lead (5-2??) on the scoring of the Pompo Brothers and Dan Jervis. But then the bottom just fell out and Black came roaring back. I wish I could remember who did all the damage but at the moment I'm drawing a partial blank. I'm pretty sure Germain Lapointe scored a few as well as Mike Pardee, Rob Niemier and Pat Salvador. Bottom line was Black took a three goal lead and each time Red would score to cut it to two, Black would answer. Only in the closing seconds was Red finally able to cut the lead to a single goal but by then it was too late. Red takes another tough defeat and their summer of frustration continues. The final was a one-goal (12-11??) victory for Black.... Game #2 was Yellow vs Green and it was a meeting of two other teams that have not had a lot of success this summer. Yellow was "Chipless" for the contest but added one of their regular younger subs who was able to find the net early and often. Green was without new dad Jamie Shuler and just couldn't seem to get their offense in gear. Lenny Slack managed to get back from Dallas in time for the entire game but the black cloud that has been following him for months was still very much in place. I left after the first period with Yellow already leading about 5-1. It was reported to me afterwards that the final score was about 13-5 in favor of Yellow. The nightcap saw White with sub Bob LaBarre but minus captain Bill Hopkins and Nick Smith take on a bizarre variation of the Blue team that included a sub who hadn't played in 20 years and two other subs who weren't even 20 years old. Throw in Del Hoyt as the sub Blue goalie and you've got the makings of a very unusual contest to say the least. Blue started out strong thanks in no small part to Andre who continues to be a boy among (old and slow) men. The line of Cavy, Andre, and Dan Jervis threw in several goals and midway through the second period Blue looked like they would walk away with it leading 9-4. But in true bizarro fashion, one bad (really, really bad) shift later we have a tie game. From that point on, the goals just kept on coming for both teams. With only a few ticks left on the clock White was leading 17-16 and Blue was swarming. Dan Jervis takes a backhand shot from close range that could go in the net but White defenseman Jason Vogel is lying in the crease. Jason blocks the shot then covers the puck with his hands and rolls on top of it. In what's sure to go down as one of the most controversial finishes in FNHL history a rare penalty shot is awarded and Andre deposits that behind White goalie Rob Conrad to tie the game at 17. A few seconds later the game is over........but the controversy rages on. Was it a fair and reasonable outcome?? I don't know, but the truth is that it really doesn't matter - it was fun to play and beer was served afterward.... which is really what the FNHL is all about. In other news, I did get an e-mail from injured FNHL legend Mark Schumacher saying that his shoulder injury is progressing and he hopes to be back in action for Black before too long. We look forward to the Mark's return and the opportunity to once again use the term "Schumachian Goal". Finally it was brought to my attention that in some cases, the final scores reported here may not always be accurate. Though I do try to get as much correct info into this column as possible it is entirely possible that some details may be reported to me incorrectly and/or I may not be able to remember the details myself when I sit down to write the updates. Rest assured that I will never let the truth get in the way of a good story and certainly do not mean to slight any player or team through inaccurate reporting (except Bob LaBarre and Lenny of course). George and I have discussed getting a small voice recorder to help out a bit in this area but it's doubtful that these pages will ever contain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. See you Friday!! 07/27/05 - It was good to be back on the ice last week. I've been on the road so much lately that I can hardly keep up with things back home (hence the late update this week). As is the norm this time of year, last weeks games were filled with subs and the action was good at times and just plain ugly at others. In the opening game it was a match-up of White vs Red and we are very pleased to announce that "Smith" looks like he may be back to stay. He was in attendance for the game and filed the ever popular Bar Napkin Report. WHITE BOYZ – 14 or 15 Subs-a-plenty as the White Trash ran away with a victory over the Rednecks in an 8 on 8 game (after the Whiteys exiled sub Alex Ryan to the Commies) at 8 o’clock. White jumped to a big lead in the first period, weathered a brief red run in the 2nd, and held onto a healthy lead to seal the deal. The ice was in much better shape than the previous week, which contributed to some fast-paced play. White was impressive on the ice, as well as in the locker room – just ask the hockey moms who came in to help their kids from the earlier game that put their gear in the wrong room. Greg Evans and Darren Karn threw in 3 or 4 goals apiece, Dave Rigg had a pair (including the goal of the game on an airborne 2nd attempt after a breakaway) while Terry “The Instigator” Young, Bill Hopkins, Matt “Fricken” Frackelton, and Nick Smith rounded out the scoring for the Fightin’ Whiteys. A refreshed Rob Conrad made his return to the nets after a couple week break and the Red Rockers for most of the night (especially after they got a read on the Toe Drag). “Bubbles” Frackelton also looked sharp considering he hadn’t skated since March, or even taken his moldy gear out of his hockey bag. After being stymied by Goalie-For-Hire John Oakes in last weeks game, the Boyz had a better read on him this week. John still made a bunch of big saves to prevent the game from getting further out of reach. Brian Pompo put in his share for the Red Rockers, as did Mark Lasinski, and Brian Banks was an offensive threat from the blue line. A few more players for Red stood out, but I don’t know their names yet (and the rosters are out of date so I couldn’t figure them out – sorry). Since all of the games seemed to be shorthanded, there wasn’t much of a crowd in the bar. Most of the people that hung around the rink were playing in multiple games. Those that made it upstairs either watched the late games or an Austin Powers flick and were also treated to another story of Ashley losing clothes while tubing. The teams are always missing players over the summer. However, I’ve seen weeks where subs wanting to play were turned away because the usual teams they sub for are full. We should look into new ways of matching subs with teams, maybe captains could post an e-mail on the website if they know they will be short and the subs could contact them. This assumes that the no-show players are letting someone know that they won’t be making it. Unfortunately from what I hear, many people aren’t providing this simple courtesy to their teammates and we end up with games like the 6 on 6 on the big ice like they had in the late game. Thanks, as always, to "Smith" for another fine installment of The Napkin. We are certainly glad he decided to make a comeback...... In the other games last week Yellow and Blue squared off on the NHL ice and the stars (players with only 1 name) were out in force. Jesse and Chip were ready to change the fortunes of the Yellow squad which have been on the decline lately. Unfortunately for them, Andre never got the memo. The Blue team has certainly enjoyed Andre's presence on the ice and this game was a prime example. Andre and I combined to score a total of 8 goals on the night (I had 2). John Oakes was solid in goal and Joe Gracz and Steve Kokkoris continued their steady work on defense. On the other side, Jesse managed to set the modern record for most goalposts hit in a single game (about 27) but those are technically not even shots on goal. Sub goalie Dave Rigg was really the lone bright spot for Yellow. Rigg was impressive, squaring up to the Blue shooters and he even threw in a few "Hasek" style sprawl saves for good measure. But despite his best efforts the outcome was never really in doubt. Blue was up about 8-3 after two periods and coasted home to about an 8 or 9 - 6 win. The conclusion of that game brought some needed reinforcements to the late game which was already in progress with 6 skaters aside. Dan Jervis and Dave Cavallaro joined the Black side while Andre (and ??) joined Green who was without Ron Morgan and trailing by quite a few goals. The portion of the game that I saw was pretty even. Jamie Shuler had a nice goal for Green and Andre did his best to try to aid in the comeback but they were too little, too late. Germain Lapointe showed some nice speed for Black and Ron Schlicht continues to have the hot scoring touch. I have no idea what the actual final score was, but it was probably around 10 - 6 for Black. So ends another week in the FNHL..... In other news, the rosters for the "ABC" games should be posted soon. I'm considering mixing things up a bit this session but I need to get the rosters from George before anything is finalized. It might be interesting to try to match up a group of the better young players in the league vs a group of the grizzled old veterans. Along those lines, if you already know that you won't be there for the games on 8/5/05 please e-mail me or let George know asap.... Also, if you think you might be interested in the Hawaii tournament next April please let me know. I am in Houston again this week so hopefully the flights will land on time. See you Friday!! 07/21/05 - I did get another "amazin" update in the e-mail yesterday. It said FYI, the Blue team defeated the Green in the 8 PM game 7-6. No Andre, so we had to play with 3 D. The curse of Lenny continues for the Green, even though he didn't show up until the 3rd period. And the 10:15 game had to end with 15 minutes left in the 3rd period because the rink operators said their time was up (around 11:45). Yellow was losing at the time. So you might want to post a message for everyone to be ready at 10 PM for the late game and have a quick warm-up so the games can end on time going forward. Thanks to our anonymous "amazin" contributor for "graczing" us with that info. So many new questions are raised by it... Will the Curse of Lenny ever end??? Where was he for the first two periods??? Since their game was called - did the Yellow team officially lose....again?? What is the rink thinking - kicking us off at 11:45??? Will they also finally take control of the ridiculous traffic in front of the building at 10pm??? Stay tuned folks.... 07/19/05 - First and foremost I'd like to send out congratulations to Rich and Melissa Fleischmann (and family) on the birth of their son Richard Paul Fleischmann who was born Monday and weighed in at 9lbs 1 oz (wow, I guess he takes after his dad for sure!). Rich has really become quite the "scorer" since he joined my line. You might remember that just over a year ago, Rich and Mel celebrated the birth of daughter Rosemary. No pictures of baby Richard yet (Bob) but I'm sure there will be at some point. The only question left is will they go for the "Hat Trick" and have another one next summer???..... Since I am out of town this week there's not much else to say. Fortunately for all you FNHL News junkies, "Smith" did come through yet again and file the Bar Napkin Report. MEN IN BLACK – 8 The Dark Side used a balanced attack to take it to the Fightin’ Whiteys in a physical matchup in the 9:30 game. The ice condition was horrible (some sections still probably haven’t frozen over yet), leading to a lot of bouncing pucks that all seemed to hop over the white sticks and land on the black ones. Ron Schlict, Pat Salvadore, Rob Niemier (on a nice breakaway), and Greg Schiccitano (empty netter) scored for Black, among others. Didn’t catch all of the scoring for the Blackjacks since so many different players found the nets, some of them being new faces as well. Steve ___(?) also played a very good game and put one or two in the nets. The White Trash forwards had a frustrating night, as all of their scoring came from defensemen. Dave Cornell had a pair of goals, while Bill Hopkins and Jason Vogel notched singletons. Each team used sub goalies as Russ Cole and John Oakes faced off for the second time that night. Although Russ played well, John was absolutely on fire after looking a little shaky in the opening minutes and notched the victory. The hit of the night award goes to Bob Labarre, either for his center ice collision with Terry “The Instigator” Young or his goal crease pileup with Greg Schiccitano and Ron “Zamboni” Maydole that left Bob wearing the proverbial crimson mask when his visor slammed into his nose. There was a decent crowd upstairs but not much highlight worthy action, just the guys (and Ashley) hanging out. Aside from the ice condition, the beer cooler was another casualty of the power outage earlier in the week, as the Labatts drinkers found out the hard way. Luckily, there was ample cold Molsons to go around. Thanks to "Smith" for keeping the faithful at least partially up to date. If anyone has info on the other games feel free to send me an e-mail and I will post it. There is a chance that I will be back in town by Friday but given the condition of my leg it's still doubtful (or at least questionable) that I can play. Hopefully the ice will be frozen by then. Have a great week! 07/13/05 - Sorry for the late update, my internet connection was out last night. That's pretty typical considering the way the last week has gone. We were back in action last Friday and the new look Blue team seemed to be moving in the right direction. Black was the opponent and for the first period it was all systems go. Dave Cavallaro connected twice and Andre also found the twine to give Blue the early 4-1 lead. But then the wheels fell off... Not just the wheels, really it was the entire vehicle. Sub Dan Jennings was traded to Black to even out the sides and the momentum shifted. I apologize because I can't remember the actual scorers for Black (it was all pretty much a blur) but by the end of the 2nd period Black was in the lead by about 7-5. Ricky had a good two periods in goal for Black and Blue could not recover. Some late pressure made it interesting and there were a couple of disputed plays that Blue thought might have gone in, but it just wasn't meant to be. Black went home with a well deserved come from behind 9-8 victory.... The second game of the night was Red vs Green. Green was still looking for their first win since the recent player movements were made. Well, they found it - in a big way. The key to this game had to have been the now famous "Curse of Lenny" which was transferred this week to me (since I was subbing for him). Just before the start of the game I was traded to the Red team and on paper it looked like an even matchup. But on paper and on the ice turned out to be two totally different things. Ron Morgan and Jamie Shuler were "N Snyc" from the start for Green and each scored quite a few goals. Scott Budynas scored two early but was unable to complete the hat trick. Even Billy Cummings got into the action netting a goal of his own. On the other side, Red just could not get things started. New dad (for the 3rd time) Brian Pompo did manage to find his mojo in the third period but when you're trailing 12-3 after two, there's not much more that can be done. Russ Cole was solid for Green in the nets while Chuck Austin was thrown to the wolves on the other side... The final score is anyone's guess. Probably about 15-6 in favor of Green, but by that time no one could remember or care. Good thing we have plenty of beer in the bar..... Speaking of the bar I am pleased to present another installment of the famous Bar Napkin Report. This most popular feature disappeared a few weeks ago and was fondly missed. Will this be a one shot deal or does it signal a full return for the mysterious "Smith"?? Only time will tell. White Boyz (and Girlz) – 9 On the same day that Michelle Wie fell just short on the PGA Tour, another teenage girl showed that she could hang with the men of the FNHL. With goalie Rob Conrad missing, fourteen year-old phenom Carly Dominick-Sobol (aka “The Wall”) stepped into the nets and led the Fightin’ Whiteys to a shocking victory over league power Yellow on the big ice. Carly was not intimidated at all by the Yellow lineup, stuffing Jesse Nestico on at least one breakaway attempt and snagging several hard shots. After White jumped to a 3-0 lead, Yellow scored in the closing seconds of the first to cut the margin to 2. They never got any closer as the teams traded goals the rest of the way in a very well-played and intense game. The Boyz top line of Chris Baldwin, Greg Evans, and Jason Vogel continued their resurgence after a recent slump, notching 7 of White’s 9 goals, including hat tricks for Baldy and Vo-Diggity. Terry “The Instigator” Young and Darren Karn tallied the other two goals. The key to the game was the strong play of the White defensive unit of Bill Hopkins, Dave Cornell, and Darren Karn. Those three stepped up big time to support The Wall, clearing any loose pucks and not allowing many clear chances by the Yellow skill players. Adam Rufa scored half of Yellow’s goals with a hat trick, while Jesse Nestico (2 goals) and Chip O’Connor rounded out the scoring for Mellow Yellow. Pete Thomson played a pretty strong game along the boards as well. Substitute Yellow goalie Rick Cummings made some nice saves – usually holding a team under 10 goals is a good night in the FNHL, but it wasn’t enough tonight. Up in the bar, Ashley told how she accidentally showed off her tan lines over the holiday break, followed by invitations to go tubing by every boat owner in the league. Sounds like she’s only into California guys though, sorry hosers. Thanks as always to "Smith" for his fine report..... I will be out of action for the next two Fridays due to some laser surgery that I had yesterday on my right leg. If anyone is able to send me the recaps I will post them. The rink had a compressor problem on Sunday which cancelled our usual session but as far as I know, everything has been fixed. Finally, there is a tournament held in Hawaii every year and I asked them to send me the info. The dates next year are April 23rd - 26th. I've mentioned this to a couple of people who said they want to go. It would be awesome if we were able to actually put a team in this event. Let me know if this is something you might be interested in. They have a website at www.icepalacehawaii.com . Have a good two weeks and I will see everyone on 7/29!!! 06/30/05 - Just a quick note. I got a letter from Tony Pompo letting us know that Brian Pompo's wife Amourelle gave birth to the couples 3rd child - a girl named Isabella. The letter is posted in the Ice Chips Section. On behalf of the FNHL I'd like to send congratulations and best wishes to the Pompo family. I'm sure we'll see Isabella in the scorers bench before too long cheering on her dad and uncle. 06/28/05 - It was the start of a new session for the FNHL and there were quite a few new faces and/or old faces with new teams. The theme for this week's action was lots of goals but few scorers. For the most part, those who did manage to connect did so early and often. The opening game was the debut of the new look Blue team vs Red. With Duane Pardee on an extended leave of absence and "General" Ron Morgan now captured and serving time in the Green POW camp all eyes were on the reinforcements Cavy and Andre. At the start of the game the Blue discussion was focused on what the new lines should be and Tom Gridley insisted that his line with Mike Masello and Brad Beran (fearsome combination that it is) be left intact. That request was granted and Gridley immediately proved that he was 100% correct by scoring the first goal of the game. But he wasn't done there, not by a longshot. Gridley proceeded to score three more times for a total of 4 on the evening. Only his wife was possibly disappointed as the 50+ forward left everything on the ice that evening. Andre and Cavy did both perform well in their debuts but neither scored as many as Gridley. Blue jumped out to a huge 8-2 lead before Red managed to muster a "too little, too late" comeback attempt. Brian Pompo did most of the scoring for Red and they were cheered on by the Pompo childrens choir from the scorers bench, but no amount of Pompo could solve the Gridlock. The final score was about 11-9 for Blue. I didn't see the second game of the night which was Yellow vs Black so I have few details to report. I was told that Yellow won and Chip took a puck in the back of the head courtesy of his own teammate (we hope he is ok). Anyway, it appears that Yellow did manage to avenge their loss to Black from a few weeks ago, The final game of the night marked the debut of the new look Green team led by the line of Ron (Corporal) Morgan, Jamie Shuler and John Albanese. On the other side was White with new defenseman Darren Karn and your truly subbing in on a line with Gregg Evans and Chris Baldwin. This started out to be a very close game as the teams had very evenly matched lines. Things started to look good for Green in the 1st period as Morgan, Shuler and Albanese (twice) all found the back of the net. White had been slumping as of late and trailing 4-1 was not their idea of how to best start this matchup. But White hung in there and goalie Rob Conrad (who had a great night) made some big saves to allow them to get back in the game, The line of Baldwin, Evans and Jervis started to click and that was bad for the Greenies. By the end of the first the score was tied 4-4. The second period belonged mostly to Conrad and the White defense which managed to hold Green scoreless. Morgan and Shuler were denied the opportunity to move freely with the puck and new addition Lenny (my shirts are Polo but my hands are Granite) Slack passed when he should have shot and hit either the goalie or the boards when he did shoot. On the other side, Jervis and Baldwin continued to beat Green goalie Russ Cole like a rented goalie including a sweet top shelf goal by Baldy that brought the crowd to its feet. At the end of 2 the White team led 7-4. Probably the pivotal moment of the game happened at the start of the 3rd when White gambled and changed the line matchups. That gamble paid off big with a back breaking goal to give them an 8-4 lead. Scott Budynas and Bill Wood did score for Green but Darren Karn notched a couple for White on top of his nice job defensively and this one was history. Only three players scored for White but together they scored 11 times (Jervis 5, Baldwin 4, Karn 2) and that was good for an 11-6 victory..... One big item in other news - we are off this week due to a tournament at the rink. No hockey Friday or Sunday. Hopefully the heat wave will pass and we can all enjoy a weekend off. We will be back in action on Friday 7/8/05. Have a great holiday! 06/21/05 - By all accounts, the 3rd Annual FNHL Golf Tournament was a huge success, The weather cooperated with us even if our swings (and my sense of direction) didn't. For the few of you who may not have heard yet, I had the dubious distinction of leading my foursome onto the wrong course at the start of the tournament and we ended up playing 4 holes before we realized the problem. What can I say... No nets on the holes, no goalies... how's a forward supposed to know where to be?? Anyway, we had a total of 18 foursomes, significant quantities of beer, good food, LOTS of nice door prizes and a some nice bonus prizes including - a new cell phone graciously donated by Mike Masello and Cingular Wireless. I don't have all the official results here but I do remember that the winning mens team was led by John Oakes and Ian Webber. Jesse Nistico won the mens longest drive competition with a monstrous shot on a par 4 that actually reached the green and my team, despite the strange start, managed to win the mixed division thanks to a tiebreaker. Bottom line is that this was the perfect finish to what was already a great FNHL weekend based on the ABC games.... Speaking of those ABC games, since I was in the late game I don't really have a lot of details about the first two games but there was a lot of positive things said in the bar afterward, The B game opened the show and ended in a 7-7 tie. There were quite a few subs in this one and Lenny Slack, though held scoreless, was happy to break his personal losing streak. His winless streak continues however.... Next up was the C game and there were quite a few new faces scheduled here as well. As I said last week, because we really don't have enough C players anymore, this game was more of a mixed BC game and it also was quite competitive. There seemed to be some controversy about the final score in the bar later that night. It was either the second 7-7 tie of the night, or an 8-7 final. "Smith" was in attendance and said that he might just resurrect the Bar Napkin Report for this one. If he does, I will post it right away... With two good games complete it was up to the A group to make it 3 for 3 and they did not disappoint. Things didn't look good early as the Blue team led by Jesse, Chris Baldwin, Mark Lasinski and Andre jumped all over White early. The score was 4 or 5 to 1 for Blue before White woke up and found the back of the net. The line of Ron Morgan, Jamie Shuler and Dan Jervis scored a bunch of goals from in close (Shuler had 4 and Morgan 3 on the night). Not to be outdone, the Pompo Brothers and Dave (Pompo) Cavallaro also pumped in a few of their own (when they weren't busy watching Jesse and Andre score that is). Even the defenseman on both sides got on the scoresheet in this with with George Fleischmann scoring for Blue while Bill Hopkins, Rob Griffin and Dave Cornell (2) tallied for White. If this is starting to sound like a lot of goals, it should, because it was a LOT of goals. After Blue took their big lead, White chipped away until early in the 3rd period when Morgan, Shuler and Jervis took the ice for White trailing 12-9 and left the ice tied 12-12 at the end of the shift. By the time the final buzzer sounded, both goalies (Austin for Blue and Oakes for White) were in therapy and the score was tied 15-15. But there was no way the drunken horde upstairs was going to leave without seeing a winner. So the teams played a 5 minute sudden death session. Blue had good chances early in OT but Oakes was equal to the challenge. With about a minute left Brian Pompo finally put an end to the game and an exclamation point on the evening converting a pass from brother Tony to give White the improbable come from behind victory 16-15. The only thing missing from this shootout was the OK Corral..... Finally, the new schedules are posted and there are some big roster moves to note as well. The Green team will have a new look next session as Ron Morgan and Len Slack join the team along with a friend of Ron's. Jamie Sassenbury and Dan Jennings are taking the next 6 weeks off and Dave Cavallaro goes to the Blue team to join Andre who is taking the place of the vacationing Duane Pardee. Also newcomer Darren Karn joins White and Germain Lapointe will be added to the Black squad in place of Ian Webber who is taking some time off. I know there are a few more changes and I'll post complete updated rosters as soon as I get them. For now it's past 3am and I am tired so - that's all folks... Have a good week! 06/13/05 - The rosters for this week are posted. Due to players coming and going it's getting harder to consider these true "A,B,C" games anymore. There are quite a few guys playing in a different game than they are used to. The goal was to create three balanced games based on the players available and not to inflate or deflate anyone's ego. As always, these rosters will probably change based on who cannot make it. If you are not going to be there or know of someone listed who can't make it, please e-mail me or call George immediately and I will update the rosters. Also if I missed anyone who expected to play, let me know that as well.... The 3rd Annual FNHL Golf Tournament is all set for this Saturday, June 18th. If you still owe George money (for hockey or golf) please make sure to bring it Friday or pay here on the web via credit card. The golf tourney is always a good time and we look forward to seeing everyone there at the Greenview Golf Course in Central Square. Arrival time should be about 12:30pm so we can start on time. Thanks again to George for all the work he puts in to make it happen. Since I was in Toronto last weekend getting my butt kicked all over the ice by guys younger than my daughter I don't have much to offer as far as game recaps go. I did hear that Yellow defeated Blue (mainly because Blue failed to trade Lenny again) and that White lost again - this week to a new look Red team. Reliable sources blame the slumping 1st line for Whites sudden lack of spark. Also I have heard a strong rumor that there will be a blockbuster trade announced for the next session. We'll just have to see where the chips fall on that one... I am back in Houston so hopefully the plane will land on time. See you Friday (and Saturday)!! 06/07/05 - The golf tournament is less than 2 weeks away and I know that there are quite a few payments still due. Please get them in this week. Also I believe we may still need a team or two in order to reach a full roster and allow them to close the course for us. If you know of anyone who might be interested please contact George immediately. Last week saw some pretty good action overall. The first game was Blue vs White and Blue was happy to welcome back Dave Stage for a special guest appearance. They were even more happy because they remembered to trade Lenny Slack to White before the game started. Both moves worked out well for Blue. Stage promptly scored the game's first goal and Lenny endured yet another night of frustration hitting the post solidly and failing to score despite several point blank opportunities. The line of Morgan, Fleischmann and Jervis had another solid outing scoring 9 of Blue's 12 goals. John Oakes was steady in goal as usual and got a lot of help from his defensemen Joe (Amazin) Gracz, Duane Pardee, George Fleischmann and Steve Kokkoris. Over on the White side it's tough to pinpoint exactly what went wrong. Chris Baldwin was back and had a nice game including at least one goal, They fell behind early 5-0 and just never got the ship righted. Hopkins, Cornell, Evans, etc were all there - the lights were on but there was no one home. Final score was about 12-4 for Blue, It's probably just easiest to blame it on Lenny.... The second game of the evening was a classic and I was fortunate enough to be able to participate. Normally Yellow vs Black = bad day for Black. But this week was one of those rare exceptions that keep us coming back for more week in and week out. Black goalie Rick Cummings played an inspired game and I found out afterward that he had good reason. His infant granddaughter Jade is battling a serious illness and he dedicated this game to her. Black jumped out to an early lead paced by the first time line pairing of Ron Schlicht, Steve Olson and (sub) Dan Jervis. Pat Salvador also got a nice goal for Black with an assist from Bob LaBarre. Mike Pardee was a defensive force throughout the game frustrating Yellow forwards over and over. Yellow had scoring chances early on but could not find a way to get the puck past Ricky (how often do you hear that???). The score kept going up and at about 5-0 the Black bench sensed that this upset could really happen. But anytime you play Yellow you know that with Jesse and Chip on the ice defeat can be snatched from the jaws of victory at any time. As the game progressed Yellow did finally manage to get a few goals. Jesse scored most of them but Chip and an unknown younger sub also found the twine. Early in the 3rd period the big Black lead had dwindled to a 2 goal margin. At this point it looked like it was only a matter of time before Yellow finished the comeback and 9 out of 10 times they probably would have - but not tonight. The Black D (LaBarre, Rathburn, Schiccitano and Mike Pardee) got tough and Ricky buckled down and it was lights out for Yellow. I thought the final score was 9-7 although I heard a few different opinions in the bar. Bottom line in this one - Black got a total team effort and beat Yellow to the puck, to the net and on the scoreboard for a rare, sweet and well deserved Game of the Week victory. One other nice personal note on this one. Chip's son was in attendance for the game and looked like he had a great time. I'm pretty sure I even saw Chip smile once or twice....... I didn't see the last game and it appears that was a good thing. Green played Red and rumor has it that things got ugly due primarily to a goalie's slashing incident and a lack of self control on his part. Hopefully whatever action is necessary to prevent future problems will be taken. The game itself was not close with Red taking the big win. Green probably did not help their cause at the start by trading speedy sub Chris Gonyea to the undermanned Red. There seemed to be a lot of frustration in the bar about this one and I think there is an answer as long as people hang in there. Speaking of the bar, our official NYS licensed massage therapist Patty Ryan was in the house and got rave reviews for her 10 minute chair massage sessions. I can personally recommend that if you haven't tried one, it's well worth it. Patty will probably be there most weeks so tell her Dan sent you. I will be out of town this week so if anyone has a chance to send in game recaps I will print them. Also I will talk to George this week about the rosters for 6/17. Have a good week! 05/31/05 - First and foremost we need to send out congratulations to the Shuler family. Jamie, of the Green team e-mailed me this week to say that Ryan James Shuler was born on 5/25/05 at 9:39am. He was 8lbs 8oz and as far as I know, mother and baby are both doing well. I will post the pictures he sent in the fun photo gallery later this week. Sorry Bob, no time to fit you in.....yet. As for the burning question, I still have no answer. Another week has passed and there is no Napkin to be found. If this is the end, it's a dark day indeed for the FNHL. We still hold out hope that "Smith" will come through.... The golf tournament is right around the corner and we still need a couple of teams. If you are on the fence, it's time to get down, go to the computer and register. Also, George has asked me to remind everyone that the money is due for the golf tournament this Friday. Please remember to bring your money or you can pay here with a credit card via Paypal. Just go to our payments page. It has worked out well so far. The games last week either went very well, or horribly wrong depending on which jersey you were wearing. In the opener it was Green vs Blue. Oddsmakers in Vegas had this as a "no-brainer". Blue has been riding high and destroyed Black just a week ago, Green has been in disarray and just lost their regular goalie, not to mention that Jamie Shuler was not available. But that's why we play the games - well that and the beer of course. Blue started strong with Jervis, Morgan and special guest star Brad Beran finding the net early and often. But Green was far from done. They had a couple of secret weapons this week with Andre and Bob LaBarre subbing in and new goalie Mark (??) between the pipes. They settled down and got back in the game. Cavy started the comeback with a nice top-shelf goal and Billy Cummings tapped in a rebound. Bill Wood had a strong game defensively. The game became a seesaw battle with Green moving ahead only to have Jervis and Morgan tie it up and then give Blue the lead in the 3rd by a 7-6 score. But Green goalie Mark buckled down, stopped some tough chances and Andre added a goal or two and Green retook the lead for good midway through the 3rd. The final score was about 9-7 Green and they earned it. Even though Andre was in the house, this was not his game. The entire team, including the new goalie stepped up. So much for the start of my weekend.... Game #2 was Black vs Red and I only saw a period which ended with Red up 2-0. I was told in the bar later that Brian Pompo had a great game and Red went to on win by a few goals. Not a lot of details on that one but if anyone has anything to add, feel free to e-mail me. The last game was just plain ugly. If there is anything worse than LaBarre in a speedo ugly, this was it. White met Yellow and just could not catch a break, or a pass, or anything else for that matter. Thank goodness they didn't have to catch a plane because I'm sure they would have missed that too. Yellow, on the other hand, was sharp even though Chipless and playing with only 6 or 7 skaters but they managed to continually knock the puck past goalie Rob Conrad. I don't have too much in the way of details but I'm pretty sure that just about everyone scored a goal. The final score was bad and that's all I can tell you for sure. Sorry to cut this one short but it's quite late.... See you Friday! 05/24/05 - The question I'm sure is on everyone's mind will not be answered here tonight. Does the Bar Napkin Report live??? I don't know... I saw "Smith" last Friday and he promised a double-shot to make up for last week's absence but so far this week - nothing, zip, nada. We can only hope for the best.... Since I had the late game I also cannot answer other burning questions of the week. How did Red fare against Yellow?? I don't know (although you can probably figure this one out fairly easily). Did Green manage to pull it together and beat White?? I don't know.... I did hear that Andre made his FNHL debut as a goalie this week for Green but how did he do?? I don't know... I think you're sensing the pattern by now so I'll move on to what I do know even though Bob LaBarre wishes I didn't. Blue played Black in the aforementioned late game and this one was not pretty folks. I'm talking LaBarre in a speedo ugly. The Blue line of Ron (The General) Morgan, Rich (The Sniper) Flesichmann and Dan Jervis was finally reunited and yes, it did feel so good. For the second consecutive week Jervis played the role of garbage man and returned five pucks to their rightful place in the back of the net. Morgan and Flesichmann had a ton of assists and four goals or so. Tom Gridley made a successful return to the ice after taking a session off and tallied a nice goal. To make things worse for Black, John Oakes was solid in goal and rode a shutout for almost two full periods supported by solid defense from Joe (Amazin) Gracz, Duane Pardee and Steve Kokkoris. Black was simply undermanned, outworked, outplayed, outwitted and outlasted. Even the second straight week of jersey swapping by Lenny (Polo) Slack did little to change the outcome - proving that a Slack in Black yields little extra power in either AC or DC. Sub Matt Marchitto did finally break the shutout with a nice shot late in the 2nd period and I think they got another one in the 3rd but by that time even the cleaning crew had packed up and gone home. So what was the final score?? I don't know.... In other news, the golf tournament registrations continue to trickle in but I am pretty certain we still need a few more foursomes to fill out the roster. If you are still waiting to register, please don't wait any longer. Just click here and register now. Finally, the planned Skills Competition has been postponed for now because it was going to be held on Father's Day. George will let us know the new date as soon as it is determined. I should have an update soon on the ABC week rosters for this session. I'm in Houston again this week trying to survive excessive sunshine and 80+ degree temperatures. Hopefully the flight on Friday will land on time. Have a good week! 05/17/05 - Well it was back to regular action this week after our long break and, if this week's games are any indication, it will take a while to get the legs back. The opener was White vs Black and I was not in attendance. I thought "Smith" might have been there but since there was no Napkin in the mailbox he may not have been. I think Black was the winner in this one but I'm not even sure about that. I will post any updates that come in later this week. Game #2 was a meeting of Blue and Red. Red was quite shorthanded missing Tony Pompo, John Griffith and Stef Boutin. To their credit, especially that of goalie Chuck Austin, the Red team hung tough. They got a little extra manpower during the game as Len Slack and Brad Beran switched jerseys to help even out the sides. But the bottom line in this one was that Red had no answer for the line of Dan Jervis, Ron Morgan and (sub) Gregg Evans. That line moved the puck well for Blue and I was in the right place at the right time five times to help put the game out of reach. Morgan and Evans each added one for a total of 7 for the line on the night. Len Slack also scored for Blue before "jumping ship." The final score was about 11 or 12 to 8 but it could have been a lot worse if not for the heroics of the newly unattached Austin (aka Kim Who). The final game of the evening brought together the Yellow and Green teams. Most notable in this one was the fact that both Jesse and Chip were absent for Yellow. But that turned out to be no problem as Andre was back, in Yellow and he was flying. Not even the late addition of both Dan Jervis and Ron Morgan could do anything to change the outcome here. I'm not sure of the final score but it was similar to the 12-8 result in game #2. After the game it was rumored that Green goalie Rouss has decided to call it quits. I haven't been able to confirm that but if it's true we thank Rouss for his contributions to the FNHL over the years and wish him the only the best for the future. He is truly "one of a kind"!!.... Up in the bar we had a new bartender but the big story was the birthday celebration for the lovely Patty Ryan, our favorite licensed massage therapist and the long suffering companion of Bob (Disco Ball) LaBarre. Happy Birthday Patty from all of your friends here at the FNHL!!!.... In other news, I have spoken to George recently and there is a possibility that we may need to shuffle a few players for this summer session in order to maintain the stability of the league and the competitive balance. If this is necessary, George will contact the players individually.... Finally and last but not least we are getting down to crunch time for the golf tournament. At the moment we have registered just slightly over half of the foursomes needed to fill out the roster. Based on the last poll, there should be more people out there who are planning to go so please register right away. This has always been a good time, one of the few that we get to enjoy away from the rink together and, as always, George has done a heck of a lot of extra work to get the event planned. Let's get moving and help make it a success. Also there was a lot of interest in an FNHL Skills Competition and I know that George has spoken to the rink about getting ice on Sunday, June 19th (the day after the tournament) so we could have it. Since I posted the announcement, no one has come forward to confirm that they want to participate or to help plan it. We really need some immediate feedback on this so we know whether or not to actually go ahead with it.... Thanks in advance for your response! Have a good week!! 05/03/05 - Maximum hockey was accomplished this past weekend at the Montreal Tournament as both teams made it to the finals in their respective divisions and earned rematches with the teams that had beaten them in the round robin. Unfortunately the puck did not bounce either teams way on Sunday. Jacksonville went first this time and faced the "Flyers" from Toronto who were relatively young, quick and hungover. They were also missing a goalie for the first few minutes of the game. That should have been enough to jumpstart things but Jacksonville was equally hungover but not as quick and failed to capitalize. The game turned into a very even and fast paced battle. The Flyers led 3-2 midway through the 3rd period when Jax's Sandy Chapin passed to Dan Jervis in the slot who put it home for the tie. After the rest of regulation and a 5 minute OT failed to yield another goal the game went to shootout where the Flyers finally won the battle 2 goals to one. Next up was our own FNHL team facing the Greyhounds also from Toronto which I joined already in progress. The score was 2-1 in favor of Toronto when I arrived, Jesse Nistico had our goal. Then in the 2nd period, Dave Cavallaro buried a one-timer and the score was tied. Both teams battled and had scoring opportunities for the remainder of the game but neither could capitalize until there were about 7 minutes left and Toronto scored on a point blank shot. Despite a great effort from the FNHL team, they could not knock in another one and Toronto iced the game with about a minute and a half left for the 4-2 win. Despite the fact that neither team was able to pull it out on Sunday I'd have to call this as a very fun and successful event for all who went. I have some pictures to post soon and I'd also like to experiment with posting some video clips as well. Thanks to everyone who participated and I'm already looking forward to next year.... In other news, George e-mailed me to say that we do have the 10:15pm slot this Friday and he has room for 20 skaters. Call him or e-mail me here asap if you want to get a spot. We will resume our regular FNHL schedule on Friday, May 13th. 04/30/05 - The Montreal Tournament has been a lot of fun and a great success for our teams. Friday, after a long and interesting day of travel (ask Chip about his "detour") the FNHL team faced a team from Toronto and took an early lead only to lose steam and fall to a 5-2 defeat. I can't add much detail because I was playing on the other rink at the same time with basically the same result. Team Jacksonville started strong but could not solve the goalie from Toronto and lost 4-2. So both teams backs were against the wall going into this mornings action and both teams responded well. FNHL went first and put together a solid effort against a team from (???) parts unknown and skated away with a 4-0 victory. Chuck Austin pitched the shutout and Jesse Nistico, Chip O'Connor and Ron Morgan (I think) all scored for the FNHL. It was an unusual game because the opposing goalie was injured late in the 2nd period and the opposition had to play with an extra skater but no goalie for the remainder of the game. Next up was game two for Jacksonville vs a tough team from NYC and by the slimmest of margins, Jacksonville held on for a 2-1 win. The opposing goalie in this one was outstanding and kept his team in the game. None other than yours truly, Dan Jervis notched the game winner for Jacksonville from in close - a very "Schumachian" goal. Round two on Saturday once again was led off by the FNHL and with the chance to advance to the finals tomorrow on the line they responded with a total team effort. John Albanese had an outstanding game defensively and Jesse, Chip, Ron Morgan and Cavy took care of the scoring. The final score was 6-2 but it was never really that close. Also Chuck Austin was solid in goal and the defense of Dan Jennings, Bob LaBarre, George Fleischmann and Pete Klemm made sure that this team from Welland Ontario would have very few chances to score. To finish the evening it was up to Jacksonville to make it 4 for 4 on the night and they responded in a big way against a very fast and young team from Ontario wearing Mighty Ducks jerseys. Dan Jervis opened the scoring for Jacksonville with his second of the tournament from in close. Trailing 3-1 after a brief letdown in the 2nd, the line of Pete Jervis, Mike Marcinkiewicz and Craig Taucher let loose a flurry to ensure a 6-3 victory. Not a bad day for our groups overall, 4 games, 4 wins, 2 trips to the finals - Maximum Hockey!. Special thanks to Patty who brought her massage table and has done a lot to make sure that the boys are able to answer the bell. 04/21/05 - The new schedules are posted. I spoke to George yesterday and it seems that a significant number of people still owe him from two weeks ago. Please get this cleared up immediately and do not wait until we are back in action!!! If necessary you can even pay here via credit card on our payments page. Also I have the Montreal schedule for both Cicero and Jacksonville. It is as follows; Cicero FNHL - C Division Friday - 4/29/05 - 7:15pm vs Toronto On Greyhounds - Rink #3 Team Jacksonville - 35+ B Division Friday - 4/29/05 - 7:15pm vs Toronto On Flyers - Rink #2 04/20/05 - As the headline on the main page says, we are on an involuntary spring break until May 13th due to tournaments and tryouts at the rink. I have the new schedule and will post it later this week. There may be ice available in the 10:15pm slot on the days we are off although I am pretty sure there are no spots for this week. Next week many of us are in Montreal so George will be looking for someone to coordinate the Friday 10:15pm slot if it is available. Registrations for the golf tournament are starting to come in, but very slowly. If you are planning to participate, please don't wait until the last minute to register. Since I was out of town last week I don't have anything to offer as far as updates. "Smith" was in attendance and checked in with the Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. White Boyz – 4 After suffering a stunning loss in the prior meeting, Yellow got some payback in a major way over the White Boyz on the big ice Friday night. The game didn’t look good on paper (Yellow dressed a lineup of exclusively A and B players against a White team consisting of 4 C-players, 2-A’s and a couple of B’s) and was never in doubt on the ice as Yellow ended the 1st with 8 or 9 goals and continued to pump in goals for the rest of the game. White only had one goal in the first two periods, and tacked on three more meaningless goals in the 3rd by emulating the cherry-picking strategy used so successfully by their opponents. Yellow got their usual bunch of goals from Jesse Nestico and Chip O’Connor, including a few nice ones nestled in with the 3 line pass breakaways. Several of the Boyz mentioned that Adam Rufa played a very strong game as well. Yellow goalie Russ Cole pretty much stymied any White scoring chances, although Dave Rigg managed to convert a couple long bomb passes in the third into a pair of goals. Sub Dave Neuner and Matt “Fricken” Frackelton chipped in singletons to round out the Boyz scoring. Up in the bar, ESPN was replaying the same K-1 kickboxing tournament that seems to be on every week, where are the NHL playoffs when you need them? Most everyone feasted on treats provided for Dan’s “celebration”. Gonna have to do some extra roadwork to be ready to play after the upcoming two week layoff. Thanks to "Smith" for another excellent report. A few of you have sent in letters and/or pictures for the Ice Chips section and I hope to get that up to date later this week as well. 04/12/05 - Once again the ABC games were quite successful. The first game was the B game with a twist as neither of the scheduled goalies could make it. Fortunately John Oakes and Chuck Austin were able to pull a double, double and the crisis was solved. The game was close the whole way. Mike Tully continued his unheard of scoring antics notching two goals for White, and they got a couple more goals that went in off Blue players in front (I'm not sure who gets credit for those). But the big story and the difference in this game was the solid play of the Blue defense. Greg Schiccitano, Brett Boismenu, Jason Vogel and Mike Comartos consistently frustrated the White attackers and, Chuck Austin was there to make the saves when needed. Blue got two goals each from Pete Thompson, Jamie Sassenbury and Scott Budynas (I think) on route to a 7-5 victory. Game #2 was the C game and "Smith" was in attendance and returns with gusto to filed his own, un-ghostwritten blow by blow description of the events. Here, as always, is the unedited version.
The C-Game BLUE GOONS – 9 The Goons (wearing blue) finally got off the schneid and defeated the Grinders (in white) to get their first victory in the fourth game of the series between these C-Level squads. The Goons used their size advantage to rough up the smaller, but faster Grinders. Stretches of this game looked more like a rugby scrum with 10 guys clustered around the puck, but some sweet plays were also made once the teams decided to use the whole ice. The Triple X Line for the Goons finally gelled, with Len Matyasik and Nick Smith scoring a pair of goals apiece and Dave Rigg chipping in one, as this line spent most of their ice time in the offensive zone. Len served as the setup man on all of his linemates goals with a display of pinpoint passing not usually seen in this game. Team captain Brad Beran had the goal of the game smashing Rob’s cookie jar on the top shelf, and Sunday Morning call-up Chris Hoyt buried one as well. Scott Powlin made his FNHL debut and hustled into position for several good scoring chances and came oh so close, but couldn’t quite find the back of the net. Despite the offensive production, the key to the game was the strong play of the Goons defensive unit of Frank Rathburn, Joe Gracz, and enforcer Keith Benjamin. Those three smothered most of the Grinders rushes and made the puck carriers pay, especially anyone named Terry. On the few defensive miscues made by the Goons, Rick Cummings was there to back up the D in the nets, making some big saves that got the crowd in attendance (well, the players on the bench) whooping it up. Frank also popped in a pair of goals, including an empty netter to seal the deal at the end. Terry “The Instigator” Young led the Grinders with two goals, including a nice end-to-end rush. After his hat trick in the prior C-game, the Goons put a shadow on Dan “The Reverend” McCarthy (the Grinders Sunday morning representative), and held him to a single goal. Drew Liszewski rounded out the scoring for the White C’s, while Del Hoyt and Ron “Zamboni” Maydole worked the boards (Ron – is it too late to take you up on the wager for this game?). Not sure what was up with Ron jumping on Riggy’s back – save it for the showers, guys. Terry King, Steve Kokkoris and Nick “Senior” Julian worked hard in the defensive zone keeping the Blue onslaught away from goalie Rob Conrad. Rob stopped a bunch of pucks, only letting some well-placed shots get by him. The bar had a decent crowd as usual after the ABC games, but was relatively quiet as most of the players were pretty spent and Jessica’s perkiness wasn’t enough to get the dead crowd going. Cavy took over the leg breaking duties while George was out, collecting the fees for the next session (pay up soon if you haven’t yet). The main talk of the night concerned whether we can continue the ABC games over the summer sessions, when up to about a third of the players are missing on any given night and the subs might outnumber the regulars on some teams. We can work around this on this for regular games since the rosters are well-sorted skill-wise and a few subs here or there won’t skew the balance of power like they would in the ABC games. The top idea at this point is to select six captains to redraft the teams for a week, possibly appointing all of the captains from the same regular FNHL team to ensure that the rosters will be mixed up. Injury update on Mark Schumacher: Some cartilage damage was found in his shoulder during the MRI and he will have to go under the knife. This will keep him out of action over the summer while he recovers from the surgery. Hopefully all will go well and we’ll see Schu slamming them home from the goal mouth next fall. Thanks to Smith for that fine report. Last week's special guest columnists were great, but, as the song says, there's nothing like the real thing baby.... Now on to the final game of the evening where Austin and Oakes were ready for round two. Looking back in the archives I found that White had not yet won a game in this series and also that after our last loss, I guaranteed that the rematch would be better. Fortunately for my long forgotten guarantee, it was. Jamie Shuler personally made sure of that. Our resident MD turned into White's resident scoring expert notching four goals on the evening. Chris Baldwin and Tony Pompo added two goals each for White as well. Those eight goals, combined with some clutch goaltending by Oakes down the stretch proved to be just enough as Blue kept the pressure on right until the final buzzer. Jesse Nistico had three goals for Blue, Mark Lasinski had two and Adam Rufa also had two on some very nice tip in plays. The final score White 8 - Blue 7 and by the slimmest of margins, White is finally on the scoreboard for the series. In other news, the Golf Tournament info and registrations page is up and should be running. Please don't wait until the last minute to sign up. Also since we are planning to have an NHL style skills competition that Sunday, June 19th, we could use a few volunteers to help set up and run it. Please send me an e-mail if you are interested. We will have a signup sheet for that online once the framework is in place. Finally, I have added two new payments to our Payments Page. One for the Golf Tournament and one for regular FNHL 6 week sessions. Keep in mind that there is a small additional fee that we are charged by PayPal for the service so the actual amount you pay will be slightly higher to cover it. Many schools are on break and it sounds like we may be missing quite a few players this week. Please remember to call someone as soon as you know you can't make it to a game. It's very frustrating for George and the captains to scramble for subs at the last minute. I will be away starting tomorrow to join my brother at the USA Hockey 30+ National Championships in Tampa FL so hopefully someone will e-mail me with the game updates. Have a good week!! 04/06/05 - The Bar Napkin Report has arrived. Though "Smith" was not in attendance for last week's festivities a couple of very capable ghost writers "Hopped" to it and "Rigged" this weeks version for your information and pleasure. Here, as always, is the unedited version. Bar Napkin Report - Late Edition Fightin’ Whitey’s – 7 The Fightin’ Whitey’s fell behind early to the Red Menace and looked to spoil the debut of Rigg, “the goalie”. Griffith and Tony Pompo both blasted the puck into the net behind the rookie early in the game and it looked like Red was off to the races. Red skaters were minus the Pompo Combo but still had the horses to run away with the game. The Whitey’s never lost hope though and made a few adjustments between the first and second periods hoping to tip the ice back to level. Meanwhile, Rigg figured out where the goal posts were and played respectfully for the remainder of the game. Helping out the Whitey’s was Gregg “the tax man” Evans making an appearance during his 6-game self imposed hiatus. Also helping out for the Whitey’s was Sal Giolando in town for the much anticipated BBL vs. OBG game the following day. A mad flurry of goals in the second and third periods for the Whitey’s found them on top by a couple late in the game. Red pulled Chuck for a last minute attempt at pulling even, but White would not be denied. 4 goals by Chris Baldwin and one each for Ron Maydole, Dave Cornell and Gregg Evans kept Chuck busy for the Red especially in the third period. Red goals were by Griffith, Tony Pompo, Jamie Shuler and others not remembered by the Whites as they came in fast at times. Rigg is certain that he shut Mike Tully down though even with the pre-game taunting and threats. Stay tuned for the future return of Rigg between the pipes. Bar action saw Ashley subbing in for Jessica. Reports of a rat behind the bar were not founded as the only rat in the place could be found at the opposite end of the string. A feeble attempt by any stretch. Thanks to our anonymous special guest columnists for maintaining the fine tradition of The Napkin. I must however take exception to the nickname bestowed on Gregg Evans. The next time White meets Blue, Len and I will be sure to conduct a very thorough audit. 04/05/05 - Last week I mentioned that many of our weeks seem to follow a similar pattern. This was true again last Friday (at least in two of the games). The first game of the night was a meeting of the suddenly rejuvenated Green team taking on the largely absent Black who may now be known as "sub central". Absent for a second straight week was none other than our favorite elder statesman, Bob LaBarre. The cry of "where is LaBarre" continues.... anyway it started out as a pretty good game with both teams finding the net often. Green was led by Jamie Shuler Dan Jennings and Dave Cavallaro who were flying. Scott Budynas also had another strong game and Defenseman Bill Wood was solid as well. Black got nice performances from newcomer Steve Olson along with Rob Niemeier and Pat Salvador and at the end of two periods the game was close or tied (about 7-7). But that was as good as it got for Black on the evening. As they have done lately, Green came out and dominated the third period. Rouss, whose first and second period performances were "a little pitchy," was right on key in the 3rd and he brought the house down on Black. Final score was about 13-8 and no voting by America was necessary to determine the winner..... Game #2 was Red vs White and much to our collective dismay, "Smith" was not able to attend. Due to this unfortunate turn of events I have no Bar Napkin Report to present, as always, in an unedited version. An update was promised in the bar and it was rumored to have been "Rigged", but nothing has appeared in my inbox to date. If it does show up later this week, I will post it here. I did hear that White was the winner in a close game but that's about all I've got for now...... The nightcap pitted Blue against Yellow and what might have been the marquee matchup (Ron Morgan vs Jesse Nistico) didn't happen because neither of them were there. We know that Ron is still recovering from surgery but no word on Jesse. The assumption in the Blue lockerroom was that he must have been just plain scared. Despite that, the game was well played and competitive, for two periods at least. Yellow was undermanned with only 7 but they hung in there and had quite a few good scoring chances. Drew Liszewski scored on a nice one-timer and Pete Thompson and Adam Rufa also found the back of the net. But the big guns for Yellow, Chip O'Connor and sub Dave Cavallaro were held scoreless by John Oakes. In the third period, following the pattern set in game 1, Blue finally solved the Russ Cole riddle, took a 3-3 or 4-3 game and ran away for an 8-3 win. Dan Jervis, Duane Pardee, George Fleischmann and Mike Masello each had two goals for Blue. In other news, the ABC rosters have been revised yet again and they are probably not done. I would REALLY appreciate it if everyone would look them over and let me know who can't make it. If you know of some guys who don't usually check the web, someone please give them a call and confirm as well. Right now I still have two players not placed on a squad. One way or another, I will get them on the ice and I'd rather not have to "overbook" the B game, but it's either do that or screw up the C game by moving a couple of B players down. There are always a couple of guys who can't make it each session and I just need to find out who they are this week. Thanks in advance for some help on this one..... Also, I added a Payments Page to the website so that people who want to pay for things by credit card can do so via PayPal. The Montreal tournament is the first event there and as long as there are no snags, I will add the regular FNHL ice payment and the Golf Tournament there soon. Since PayPal charges me a small fee for the service, I've had to include that in the cost...... The Montreal tournament team is all set but there are still quite a few people who owe me for the first night's hotel deposit. I need that this Friday please!!..... George mentioned that the Golf Tournament is all set for Saturday, June 18th at 12:30pm. It will be at the same course in Central Square but on the other 18 than we've played in the past. The cost will be $50 and includes a steak bake. This has always been a great event (rain or shine) and this year should be no exception. As always there will be plenty of door prizes and it should be a lot of fun. Thanks to George for all his hard work in planning this and we hope to see you all there. As an added bonus that weekend we are also planning to have the long anticipated FNHL Skills Competition that Sunday afternoon, June 19th. We may even move that session's ABC games to Friday the 17th to make it a full scale gala weekend event (won't our wives love that!!). In the next few weeks I will post some additional pages with all the details as well as registration pages and credit card payment options.......Money is due this week and George will be out of town. Cavy from the Green team will be collecting in his absence..... Finally, I believe that congratulations are in order for Blue team long term sub Len Slack who was the winner in our office NCAA pool. Guess who's buying the beer this week Lenny??? See you Friday! 03/30/05 - We got back to business this week in the FNHL and, all in all, business was good. It's kind of strange the way that many of our weeks turn out 3 different games that all seem to be following the same basic script. Such was the case this week. In the opener it was Blue, still without "The General" Ron Morgan who is recovering from surgery, taking on White. "Smith" was in the house and checks in with the ever popular Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. BLUE MAN GROUP – 10 The Blue Men won their second in a row against White after suffering a prolonged losing streak to the Boyz. White jumped out to an early lead against an undermanned Blue squad, but once the late-arriving Blues Travelers got on the ice, it was a different game. There wasn’t much fight in the Fightin’ Whiteys and Blue took advantage of every White miscue to jump out to an insurmountable lead. Not sure on the scoring for Blue, but Mike Massello played a good game and John Oakes was his usual solid self in goal. I’m sure Dan will have more details on the game in his write up. Also, according to a certain Blue sub, his play in the game warrants a change in nickname from “Butterfly” to “Terror”. However, the Bar Napkin does not utilize self-made nicknames, so I’ll have to go with Mike “Mothman” Tully. For the Whitey’s, Steve Beam stopped into town to assimilate with his teammates in the upcoming BBL-OBG game (see below) and popped in four goals in his first on-ice action in quite a while. I think Baldwin and Cornell had the remainders, but it didn’t really matter as White just didn’t have it tonight. A decent turnout, but not a lot of action up in the bar. Most of the attention was directed toward the NCAA games, although Jessica regaled the non-hoops fans with her tales of Jello wrestling exploits. The fourth annual BBL-OBG game will be played on Saturday April 2nd at 1:45 – see the posters at the rink. Several FNHL players will be competing for one of these two teams and the chance to get their names on the prized Aroclor Cup. The proceeds of this game benefit the John J. LaManche Memorial Scholarship Fund at Marcellus High School, established for John (a former OBG employee) who unexpectedly passed away much too young three years ago. There will be raffles, giveaways, and, new this year, there will be a skills shootout in the shooting room across from the bar, where you can purchase pucks and will have 45 seconds to shoot at a points board. This competition is open to kids and fans in attendance, while players in the game will be in their own category. Contact Rob Niemier from the Black team if you have any questions about this game or would like to purchase raffle tickets to benefit this worthy cause. Thanks to "Smith" for his usual fine job of reporting. I must add that the reason "Smith" probably doesn't remember the specific scoring for Blue is because most of it was done by the unlikely line of Tully, Rich Fleischmann and Brad Beran. That unit accounted for 8 of Blue's 10 goals. Tully lead the way with 4, Fleischmann proved he is a "Sniper" with or without "The General" scoring 3 and Beran added 1. This game set the tone for the rest of the evening with both teams matching up lines. The "first lines" played basically even which was all that was needed, while the Blue "second line" simply dominated....... I didn't see the second game Black vs Yellow, but I was told later that it followed a similar pattern. In the end, Yellow was victorious by about an 11-8 margin (??). Most noteworthy about this game according to my sources were the surprise absences of Chip O'Connor for Yellow and Bob LaBarre for Black. Still, I am told that Yellow managed to be plenty chippy even though they were Chipless while Black was bare without LaBarre. This reporter just hopes that LaBarre is not still wandering the streets of Cicero trying to remember where the rink is. At his age......... Anyway, back to the action and the final game of the evening where Green was missing several players, most notably Captain John Albanese, for their game against Red. But the addition of subs from Blue helped fill in the gaps and yielded another good game. Red was ready to go and full of Pompo as the game began. Season ticket holder #001 Kim was in the bar (presumably watching boxing or basketball) and Chuck Austin was in goal. But the story on the ice to start the game was all about defense - specifically Red defenseman John Griffith who gave his best Bobby Orr impression scoring on not one, but two end to end rushes to electrify the crowd. The Pompo line was clicking also and added two or three goals. Despite all of these positives, the game would end badly for Red. I received an anonymous e-mail this week which pretty much spells out the particulars on how Green pulled off the win so here it is. New Captain Scores A WIN!!! There is a new captain for Green and his name is Dave Cavallaro. By unanimous decision John Albanese has been fired as one week away and green wins big. The subs were picked perfectly, the lines were matched up evenly and the chemistry was all there for green. Green blew past Chuck Austin winning 10-5. Green received big goals from Rich Fleischmann, Dan Jervis, Dan Jennings, and Jamie Sasenbury but who could forget the big game from Scott Budynas. With the score 5-5 going into the third period Rouss shut the door in the third period and had a solid game in nets. The morale of the green team was at an all time high!! So there you have it - and the burning question now becomes - do we have a "quarterback controversy" on the Green team?? Only time will tell...... I got an update from Mark Schumacher of the Black team who was injured a couple of weeks ago. Mark says that he is making some progress in his recovery but he still has a way to go. The knee is getting better, but the shoulder is still problematic. We continue to wish him well and hopefully he will be able to return to the FNHL in the not too distant future..... Finally I got word this week that we may have special guest referees at one of this weeks games. Liam Curry and Bob LaBarre will be refereeing the upcoming BBL-OBG game and want to work a game together prior to that, so they may show up for the 9:30 or 10:15 game this week (assuming poor Bob can actually find his way to the rink, of course). See you Friday!! 03/24/05 - It looks like I picked a good week to get out of town. Hopefully the snow will be over for good when I get back tomorrow.... Anyway, last week the focus was not on hockey but on people as the FNHL celebrated some milestones. George and Rich Fleischmann both have birthdays in March and with this year being 40 for George and 30 for Rich there was no way they were getting away quietly. Their wives and families planned and hosted a combined surprise birthday party at the rink which was well attended and a good time was had by all. Then on Saturday, I had the privilege of attending another surprise birthday party, this one (a big 5-oh) for Blue team member Tom Gridley and his wife Kathy. It was another great party and the couple was clearly touched by all of the love and support it represented. Congratulations to all from the FNHL and best wishes for many more happy years to come!!! After the festivities it was off to Jacksonville where I somehow managed to endure excessive amounts of sunshine and warm temperatures and still play a couple of games of hockey (and consume a few cold beverages). But now the visit to Oz is ending and it's back to reality. As long as my flights and my luggage both make it home on time I will see you all tomorrow. There's no place like home........Yeah Right..!!! 03/16/05 - After an off week, the FNHL roller coaster took a definite upward turn and we saw three very good games in a row. I'd love to give you all the details on the first game, where I know Yellow was upset by the resurging Red Devils but a promised update from one of our more Canadian players did not arrive.... The second game was another good one and "Smith" was there to file the famous Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version.
Gang Green – 8 or 9 Three games in one tonight as the Mean Green Machine pulls out a last second squeaker over the White Boyz in what would normally be a game of the night if there wasn’t an OT tie on the big ice later on. The first period was relatively even, then the Boyz jumped way ahead in the second but got a little complacent, thanks in part to a scoreboard error that showed them even further ahead than they actually were. The Greenies rallied in the third to tie the game late and put in the winner (with a little help from White captain Bill Hopkins) with three seconds left on the clock. Both goalies (Chris Rousseau for Green and Rob Conrad for White) played solid games with only a couple of lapses, as Rob saw his hot streak come to an end. Jamie Shuler and Dave Cavallaro scored most of the goals for the Green Machine, with Jamie playing a very good all-around game. Bill Wood and Scott Budynas also found the back of the net. Subs Mike “Butterfly” Tully and Tim Miller, making a return to the ice after about a year off notched hat tricks or close to it for the Fightin’ Whiteys, while Chris Baldwin, Matt “Fricken” Frackelton, and Dave Cornell also may have scored. [The goals don’t add up to the final score, but it’s the best I’ve got in my hazy recollection after a festive St. Pats Parade weekend. Sorry if I missed anybody.] Up in the bar, Ashley responded to Jessica’s jello wrestling challenge. She’s a little intimidated by Jessica’s gymnastics skills and prior experience (Quote: “She’d probably pull some Matrix stuff on me”), but suggested that if held, the match should be topless. Somebody make this happen. Thanks to Smith for his continued fine job on the Napkin....The final game of the evening looked like it would be anything but a Game of the Week. For two periods, the Blue team with "General" Ron Morgan and "Sniper" Rich Fleischmann back in the fold simply dominated the Black. Morgan and Jervis teamed for 5 goals and Masello and Beran added one each to lead 7-3 heading into the final period. But the funny thing about this game is that there are in fact 3 periods and not just two. Black obviously remembered that and launched a furious comeback to not only make it close but actually tie the score at 7. Rick Cummings, on the comeback trail for Black had a nice game and a great finish to make sure that Blue would not lead again on the evening. With the score tied at the end of regulation, a 5 minute OT was played and Cummings was again sharp and got just enough help from the post to keep it that way. Black got goals from six different players including Greg Schiccitano, Ian Webber, Rob Niemeier, Bob LaBarre (Oh how it hurts to say that!), Ron Schlicht and Pat Salvador (2). All in all it was a gutsy effort on the part of Black and, though I'd rather win, it was a good game and lots of fun to have been a part of. Based on the effort put forth by both teams, but especially the "Back in Black Comeback", this one is officially the Game of the Week. Remember that our regular session has been cancelled this week but George has the Olympic sheet at 10:15pm. Please e-mail me or call him to see if there's still space available. I am going back to Jacksonville next week so I won't be in the house next Friday 3/25/03. Hopefully someone will fill in the details for me in addition to the Napkin... Have a good week!! 03/08/05 - So after such an outstanding slate of games a week ago, what would the FNHL do for an encore??? Nothing....absolutely nothing. In the roller coaster world that is FNHL hockey, the past week was definitely a low point.... in fact it was more like being stuck in a loop on the tracks in the rain while the person stuck above you gets sick. Now that may seem just a bit over the top, even for this reporter, but I would submit that the combination of guys who failed to show and or call, the guys who remembered to call but still didn't show, and the guys who did show but forgot how to play hockey makes it a fairly accurate statement. The night started out on a bad note when I got a phone call from none other than "The General" Ron Morgan saying that he had a bothersome abdominal injury that would probably require surgery so he would miss our game this week and probably several more weeks.... All I can say is - get well soon Ron (VERY, VERY SOON!!!). On that note it was off to the rink where the opening game was already in progress. "Smith" happened to be in attendance and graciously comes through with another installment of the famous Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. WHITE BOYZ – 13 or 14 Baldy apparently applied a healthy dose of his infamous pixie dust to his stick and had lucky 7 for the Fightin’ Whiteys, including the goal of the game – weaving through several defenders and launching a backhander from behind the redline that had enough English on it to find the net. Dave Cornell, Matt “Fricken” Frackelton, Ron “Zamboni” Maydole (immediately after returning from a mid-period locker room "visit"), Nick Smith, and sub Pete Thomson rounded out the scoring (think I may have missed one also). Ian Webber and Bob Labarre put goals in for the Black Eyes, not sure who tallied the other two. Rick Cummings made a bunch of big glove saves, but White was able to capitalize on some rebounds and got a bunch of well-placed shots past him. Upstairs, the Boyz again came through with 100% attendance at the bar (once players that doubled up finished their 2nd games). Some of the other teams had pretty good turnouts as well. Bartender Jessica offered to perform some feats of gymnastics, but quickly raised her asking price once it became clear that the initial rate could be raised by passing the hat. Jessica also revealed that she was once a finalist in a Jello wrestling tournament and stated that she could take Ashley, at which point Art quickly left for Sam’s Club to grab an inflatable pool and a pallet of mix. Stay tuned to see how Ashley reacts to being called out. Thanks, as always to "Smith" for another fine report and thank God that all Art left to grab was an inflatable pool and a pallet of mix!! We will all wait anxiously to see how this drama in the bar unfolds. So after that one sided contest, there was another battle to be fought on the NHL ice, but as the saying goes - if you want to win the battle, shoot the officers first. Although the Red Devils couldn't take credit for it, the damage was already done as Blue team General (and Emperor in waiting) Ron Morgan was out of action. To make matters worse, Sniper Rich Fleischmann was also MIA. Gazing across the ice at a Red team stocked with Rob Griffin, Mark Lasinski, All three Pompo brothers, etc, etc, etc Blue knew it would be a long night - and it was. Red jumped out to a big lead early in the game and never really looked back. I wish I could remember the specific scorers and circumstances of their goals but I have managed to completely block that period out of my mind. Blue did manage to score a few goals and the impressive FNHL debut of sub Steve Olson, combined with some nice offensive play by George Flesichmann and Mike Masello were bright spots in an otherwise bleak night for Blue. The Red defense got a little relaxed towards the end of the game and settled for a 14-11 victory but the outcome was never really in doubt. When Red puts the lineup they had Friday night on the ice with Austin solid in goal, they can compete with any team in the league........ So we move to the nightcap and on the Olympic ice it was a severely undermanned Green team struggling to stay close with the powerful (and no longer Chipless) Yellow team. Despite the late addition of subs from the second game, this contest was another lopsided affair. Jesse and Chip paced the attack for Yellow while Russ Cole handled most of the opportunities Green could throw at him. The end result was a final score of (about) 9-3 in favor of Yellow. Outmanned, Outgunned and Outscored, Green - the (Yellow) tribe has spoken..... In other news, George confirmed that the regular session for Friday, March 18th has been cancelled. I am pretty sure he will be able to get the 10:15 slot that night so if you want to play, please e-mail me or contact George directly asap....Also, if you are in the Sunday morning group, this week's ice will be at 6:30am at Lysander.... The Montreal tournament is coming together and, as long as no other catastrophes occur, we should be set. I sent an e-mail yesterday regarding the hotel money so please remember it this week. The weather here is about 75 and sunny and there is actually green grass and trees in bloom.... See you Friday!! 03/01/05 - One of the best weeks we've had since I've been a part of the FNHL..... Three games, two relatively low scoring ones that ended tied and were decided by shootout and the other a one-goal game in regulation. By all accounts, the ABC format worked as intended and was a lot of fun to be a part of. Now I just hope I can remember enough details to do them justice.... In the opener it was the A game and both teams clearly brought their "A" games. The White team was riding a two game win streak so the teams colors were switched for the pivotal game 3. The jersey color didn't seem to matter initially as the new Blue team got off to an early lead. Jesse Nistico and Matt Marchitto got a few past White goalie John Oakes and the game could have easily turned into a runaway. But White kept skating and was finally able to get a couple by Chuck Austin. The line of Baldwin, Jervis and Evans combined for about four goals in the game and helped keep things from getting out of reach. By the middle part of the third period, the tables were turned and it looked like White just might pull out a win. But even late goals by Dave Cavallaro and Jamie Shuler were not enough to seal the deal for White as Greg Sniffen, Rob Griffin and Jesse Nistico answered for Blue and the game ended in a tie at 7-7. So it was on to our first ever shootout and after 5 shots apiece the tally was even at 2. But in the sudden death phase it was Adam Rufa who was the hero putting the game winner past Oakes and putting a dagger in the hearts of White fans worldwide..... I'm pretty sure even Bob LaBarre shed a tear at that finish. Bottom line on this one was - great game all the way around - goaltending, defense, offense etc.... The rematch will be even better - I guarantee it...... Next up on the NHL side was the C game and "Smith" was in attendance to file the Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. The C-Game WHITE GRINDERS – 5 In a classic contest of size versus speed, the Grinders (wearing white for a change) again defeated the Goons (in blue) to take a 3-0 lead in the series between these C-Level squads, with each victory by the slimmest of margins. This won’t win Game of the Night honors since both the Mid-Level and Fancy Boy games went to shootouts, but was another close matchup between these two teams. With a score this low on Friday nights, you know that the defense and goaltending played solid games and that was indeed the case here. Sunday Morning call-up Dan McCarthy tallied a hat trick for the Grinders (including a gift-wrapped empty-netter in the closing seconds). Somebody should sign this guy up on Fridays. Rounding out the scoring for the Grinders were Terry “The Instigator” Young and Ron “Zamboni” Maydole. Terry King, Steve Kokkoris and Nick “SR.” Julian manned the defensive zone for Blue and got some backchecking help from Del Hoyt, Al Moisan, and Drew Liszewski. No ringers were used by the Grinders for the Goons to point to this time around, unless you count late-arriving substitute A-Team goalie Chuck “Face Man” Austin (not sure who was in the nets for the first few minutes, B.A. Barracus maybe), who stopped several pucks. For the White Goons, team captain Brad Beran, Dave Rigg, and Nick Smith supplied the scoring (Way to represent White Boyz! Four out of the six goal scorers in the game!). Riggy had the goal of the night, sending Chuck’s water bottle flying, while Brad paid homage to injured Grinder Mark Schumacher with a backander from the goal crease that he eventually learned had found its way across the goal line. Len Matyasik and Rich Fleischman supplied the hustle for the Goons and did the dirty work that allowed these goals to happen, although The Sniper saw his personal scoring streak come to an end. Bill Cummings gave his all every time on the ice and made a bunch of nice plays despite needing the oxygen tank after each shift. The Goons defensive unit of Frank Rathburn, Joe Gracz, and enforcer Keith Benjamin worked the three-man rotation and kept the score down low enough to keep the Goons in contention. Frank especially stood out in his first C-Game. Rick Cummings made an impressive return to the ice after a lengthy stint on IR and stood tall in the nets, showing no rink rust and only letting in a couple well-placed shots. As usual after these events, the bar was pretty well packed this week. Ashley made an impressive Friday night debut behind the taps, probably convincing a few to try to play on Wednesday and Sunday nights when she usually works. The scuttlebutt of the night dealt with the increasing abuse of our ice times. Basically, people are getting on the ice late, taking too long to warm up, putting up more time per period than is available, then taking prolonged rests between periods. We’re lucky that no one is waiting for the ice after us or this could cause some problems. Look for George to take some proactive steps to keep the games moving on time before an issue develops with the rink. Thanks, as always to "Smith" for his usual fine job of reporting..... Those two great games were a pretty tough group to follow and given the shaky history of the B game it looked the game Game of The Week had already been played - on paper anyway. But that's why they play the games.... Things started off about the same as they had in the past with Blue jumping out to a quick lead on goals by Jamie Sassenbury, Pete Thompson and Scott Budynas (I think). The first period ended with a score of 3-1 for Blue. But the White team came to life in the second and stormed back to take a 4-3 lead. I wish I could remember the specific scorers - but I can't.... I'm pretty sure that Dan Jennings, Pat Salvador, Matt Frackelton and Bill Wood were involved. In addition to scoring three goals, White also held Blue scoreless for the period thanks in large part to an outstanding outing from goalie Chris Rousseau. So we go to the third period with White in the lead by a goal, but that wouldn't last long. First Blue ties the score and then gets a second goal in the period to retake the lead 5-4. But just as in the early game we were far from over. Matt Frackelton skated hard down the wing and slipped a pass in the slot to Pat Salvador and the game was tied and it would end that way. So for the second time on the night (and ever) we go to a shootout. Just as before in the early game, the regulation phase of the shootout ended in a 2-2 tie. And now it's time for someone to play hero and who, of all people, should step in to fill that role but Black team defenseman Greg Schiccitano. Schiccitano made a nice move and slipped the puck past Chris Rousseau to end the game and give Blue the Game of the Week win. After a rough start in this ABC format, it was especially nice to see the "B" game so close and well played throughout. Just a couple of other news items to mention this week. First of all, George has been advised by the rink that there is a conflict on March 18th and we will be out of action that week. We can probably rent the 10:15pm slot and George will let me know exactly what the details are as soon as they are confirmed. Also, if you are in the Montreal group, I still need rooming lists and hockey resumes from most of the team - like yesterday.... Have a good week! 02/21/05 - Just a very brief update since we were off last week. First of all, the rosters for the ABC games are in the process of being modified based on what I know about players who can't make it. Please check them a couple of times this week as there are still a few more changes to be made as soon as I am able to touch base with George. Also, the schedule for the next session has been posted. 02/15/05 - Not really a banner week both on and off the ice for the FNHL. First of all we'd like to extend our sincere condolences to Chris Rousseau's girlfriend Tonya, Rouss himself, and the family due to the recent passing of her mother after a long illness. Our hearts go out to all of you in this most difficult of times..... Also we'd like to wish a very speedy recovery to Black team member Mark Schumacher who was injured pretty seriously on Friday night. Mark got tangled up with a Green team player along the end boards and fell hard on his left side. I believe he suffered a dislocated shoulder and will be out for quite a while. I'll pass along any updates as they come in... Finally, as hopefully everyone is aware of by now, we have been bumped from our regular hockey this week due to a junior game. The ABC games will be played next Friday, 2/25/05. George will be renting one sheet at 10:15 this Friday and there was originally room for 20 skaters. At this point it is filling up very fast so don't wait to either e-mail me here or call George to see if there is still space available. There was some hockey played this week and though it wasn't necessarily the best we've seen here, it did have its moments. The opener was another installment of what may be the hottest FNHL rivalry at the present time - Yellow vs White. Fortunately, "Smith" was in attendance and filed the ever popular Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. White Boyz – 17 What started out as a possible Game of the Night turned into a rout as the White Boyz stormed back from a first period deficit to score a big victory over the Yellow Dogs. White’s first line gave Yellow goalie Bill Smithson a rude reception as he made his return following an extended layoff. Greg Evans and Chris Baldwin each scored 5 or 6 goals apiece and their linemate John Tardiff chipped in a pair of goals and about thirty falldowns (sorry John, but the "Zamboni" nickname is already taken). Dave Rigg (with a twofer), Dave Cornell, and Nick Smith, among others, rounded out the Boyz scoring. The Fightin’ Whitey’s also got some strong D-play from Cornell, Bill Hopkins, Jason Vogel, and Matt “Fricken” Frackelton, who was making his FNHL debut. Yellow got their usual bunch of goals from Jesse Nestico and Chip O’Connor, and Pete Thompson converted a sweet one as well – not sure on the rest of the Yellow scoring. Rob Conrad, who continued his run of coming up huge in the nets for the Whitey’s, was aided by his new bestest friend - Lefty McGoalpost - who also made a ton of saves (probably about a dozen on Jesse alone). Up in the bar, Jessica backed off from her “experimentation desires” expressed a couple weeks ago. Drinkers beware: she may snap a few candid shots with her picture phone and forward them to the website. Writers beware: she took down the link address and is going to check out the website [Dan – please rig up and post a new favorite bartender list ASAP]. Missed a bunch of bar time due to a special FNHL episode of Rescue 911, as Black garbage goal specialist Mark Schumacher was carted off the ice with assorted shoulder and knee injuries. I’ve heard about six different and very contradictory “eyewitness” accounts about what happened. But Mark ended up with a separated shoulder and no major damage to the knee, which is good news. Here’s to a speedy recovery. Payments for the next session were due last week, make sure you find George ASAP and settle up if you haven’t paid yet. Round III of the ABC games are up next, but when they will be played is in question – I’m sure Dan will have more details posted. Thanks to "Smith" for another fine report. Unfortunately, I don't have much info on Schu yet but if anyone gets the info I will post it here. The middle game was a meeting of Blue and Red. Rob Griffin was back for Red to add a little jump to their lineup but Chuck Austin was frolicking on the beach in Florida with our lone season ticket holder, Kim and Brian Pompo was absent due to illness. Unfortunately for the Red team, not enough Pompo usually = not enough goals on the scoreboard and this was proven true again in this game. Things started well enough for Red as Tony Pompo and Rob Griffin did manage to get them off to a nice 4-1 lead after one period. But that was as good as it got on the evening. Mike Masello scored the lone goal for Blue in the 1st on a sweet snap shot top shelf. The second period was a complete change as the Machine Gun line for Blue finally stopped misfiring and connected on several nice passing plays. The Sniper, Rich Fleischmann, Dan Jervis and The General, Ron Morgan combined for several goals in the period and all nine goals that Blue scored the rest of the way to complete the victory. I think the final score was about 10-7. Mike Tully scored late for Red but any possible comeback was stopped by goalie John Oakes who had a very solid outing after a shaky start.... The conclusion of the evening was the aforementioned game between Green and Black. I did not really see any of the game so there's little to say except that I heard it was a close game and, of course was not finished due to the injury to Mark Schumacher. Though I don't believe that Mark's injury was caused by any specific dirty play by the Green team, I did hear that the game seemed to be getting quite physical at times. I know that we all like to compete and sometimes things can get rough on the ice but I sincerely hope that everyone tries to keep in perspective the fact that what we do is strictly for fun. When someone goes down, regardless of the circumstances, it is not fun at all and can have a major impact on real life outside of our little hockey paradise..... just a thought. For those of you going to Montreal, I need to get the money collected asap. If you won't be around this week, please get in touch with me so we can make arrangements. Also I still need hockey resumes from almost everyone and a list of how many hotel rooms to reserve..... I should have a new schedule to post soon. George is still having some problems getting it finalized with the rink and fighting as hard as possible to keep us from getting bumped too often in March. For the Sunday morning group, that schedule has been updated. Have a good week!! 02/14/05 - I'll have the rest of the update tomorrow, but for now there is one very important announcement. George was just informed that the rink will be taking our NHL slots this week, 2/18/05 for a junior game. Therefore the ABC games will NOT be held until the following Friday - 2/25/05. George will be renting one sheet this Friday at 10:15pm on the Olympic and there is room for 20 skaters. Please e-mail us or call George immediately if you want to play. Also, since not everyone follows the website, please let everyone know about the switch. Thanks!! 02/03/05 - The rosters for the ABC games are posted. There have been a few changes, partially to keep things fresh and partially to accommodate the roster changes made during the last session. As always, no changes are made with the intention of slighting anyone nor should they be taken personally. Please contact us as soon as possible if you can't make it so we can arrange comparable subs. Also the last poll has ended and a new one started. We had a really good response to the last poll. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to participate. 01/31/05 - Since I was away last week suffering through 70 degree temperatures and all that damn sunshine, I have very little to report this week. I did hear that despite the absence of Jervis and Morgan, Blue managed to keep the score very close vs Yellow - but in the end, Jesse managed to chop out a win. Cavy did tell me the results of the Green vs Red game and I know it was also close but I can't remember who won. Bottom line is that if anyone wants to add some details feel free to e-mail me and I will post them here. I did manage to play some hockey last week and here is a link to the recap from the Jacksonville Hockey site. http://www.jaxhockey.com/9739.html. I realize that this report seems a little sketchy at the moment but fortunately "Smith" will now step in to save the day with the ever popular Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. WHITE BOYZ - 7 Prior to the game, the Big Race was held. In order to conserve energy, the contest was reduced to a simple up and back the length of the ice. Dave Cornell overcame a slow start off the line and skated to victory over Bill Hopkins and Chris Baldwin (in a distant 3rd). The Black players were rooting for an immediate re-match, but that will have to wait for another day. Challenges were made in the bar for another run – will anyone else step up to test Dave? In other news, the skills contest idea seems to have gotten a positive response and we should maybe discuss specifics on how to make it happen. Also, we’ve secured a radar gun to measure a hardest shot contest, so you can start working on cranking them out. [Note to Rouss: Looks like you’re off the hook. And by the way, you were only selected as a possible judge due to your innate puck stopping ability – otherwise we wouldn’t be able to tell the speed of shots that got by the goalie. It had nothing to do with how well the bruises would show up on your pasty white body.] To get a better image in your heads, bartender Jessica admitted that she’d like to go through an “experimental stage” for a bit after having some bad luck with recent boyfriends. Thanks to "Smith" for that fine piece of reporting. I agree that there has been decent interest in a skills competition. Sounds like a good topic for this week's after game bar discussion - that is unless Jessica is serious about her intentions anyway..... There should be another update later this week for the ABC games.... See you Friday! 01/26/05 - Sorry about the delayed update. This has been a busy week in the Sunshine State. Let's get right to the recaps....The first game last week was Green vs White and fortunately "Smith" was in attendance and has the details in the ever popular Bar Napkin Report. No "mailing it in" this week. Here, as always, is the unedited version. White Boyz – 7 or 8 On a cold night at the rink, the White Boyz took an early lead and pretty much held onto it the rest of the way for a win over the Greenies in a fairly evenly matched, but slow-paced game. Both goalies turned in strong showings, but while Chris Rousseau had a couple of lapses for Green, Rob Conrad turned in an outstanding performance in net for the Boyz and made some incredible saves to thwart some good scoring chances for the Gang. Bill Hopkins and Chris Baldwin each had a pair of goals for the Fightin’ Whitey’s, while Greg Evans (maybe 2?), Nick Smith, and Terry “The Instigator” Young notched singletons. Terry also backed up his nickname by tripping at least ¾ of the Green players during the course of the game. Dave Cavallaro scored most of the goals for the Green Machine, but Brett Boismenu and Jamie Shuler had the highlight reel goals though. There was a pretty good crowd up in the bar as Jessica put her stamp on the menu by concocting buffalo tenders (highly recommended). Former bartender update: Rumor has it that Nicole is expecting and due in June. If the baby is born bald, Bob LaBarre is gonna have some ‘splainin to do to Patty, based on the evidence in the fun photo archives. Thanks, as always to Smith for another fine report and though the Bob comment was good, we all know it's just not possible....right??? I shudder to even imagine.... Anyway, in other action, the Blue team has been on fire since the addition of The General, Ron Morgan and that roll continued this past week with a nice win over Black. The final score was 10-3 but it was never really as close as the score would indicate. The Machine Gun Line continued to click scoring about 7 of Blue's 10 goals. Marksman Rich Fleischmann continues to light it up from in close. The Line Formerly Known as the Civil War Veterans also chipped in two nice goals - Masello to Gridley on the first one and (I think) Beran had the second. The goal of the night was scored by none other than defenseman Joe (amazing) Gracz on a one-hopper from the point. Goalie John Oakes carried a shutout into the third period before Mark Schumacher scored on a breakaway to spoil it. Rob Niemier also scored for Black on a nice one-timer from Pat Salvador. Schumacher rounded out the scoring for Black with a typical Schumachian goal but by that time the game was long over. Blue faces Yellow this week and both Dan Jervis and Rich Fleischmann are out of town. It should be interesting and hopefully someone will send me a writeup......In the final game of the night Yellow was Chipless. I know they have been accused of this many times in the past but this week it was true. Red did their best to take advantage of this and kept it very close well into the 3rd period but it was not close enough. I only say a very small portion of the game but it was enough to see Yellow put the game away for good. Jeff Ward, Pete Thompson and Len Matyasik looked like they were having pretty good nights. I don't know what the final score was... maybe 10-6??? It was nice to see our one and only season ticket holder Kim back in attendance this week even if she only pretended to watch Chuck's game while the boxing match was on.......I will post the final ABC rosters very soon...... I'm skating with my brother's team tonight in "Game 8" of a seven game playoff series...no pressure there....Hopefully I will be back home by Saturday. Have a good week!! 01/17/05 - Even with the snow today, you've gotta love these long holiday weekends!! It was another good week for the FNHL so let's get right to the recaps. In the first game of the evening - delayed thanks to a junior game - the Green team took on Yellow. This was supposed to be the debut of Jamie Shuler against his old team but somehow he ended up playing for them. I'm still not clear on all the details but it appears that Green had 11 skaters so one person (Jamie) ended up going Yellow. This probably wasn't the best trade selection and made for a predictably lopsided result. I didn't see the game but heard that the final score was about 16-6 for Yellow. It was also reported that Pete Thompson and Len Matyasik played well for Yellow...... The second game of the night turned out to be the 10:15 game on the Olympic side. This was another rematch of a former player and team and fortunately Blue offered White no generous player returns. "General" (and soon to be "Emperor") Ron Morgan was in the house and quite simply this made White very blue indeed. Blue continued their rejuvenated play with a complete three period effort. The combination of passing, skating, defense, goaltending and even a smidgen of back-checking was just too much for the usually powerful White squad to respond to. The Machine Gun line was clicking again, led by Morgan with 4 or 5 goals, the unit chipped in a total of about 8 on the night. Rich Fleischmann nailed a couple from in front and has certainly been a big contributor on the line. Also The Line Formerly Known as the Civil War Veterans made their presence felt with a nice Masello to Gridley goal and a solid plus-minus rating. Oakes and the D were excellent as usual. I would usually offer some highlights for White as well but outside of some nice saves by Conrad and a goal by Al Mosian, they were just miserable. A demoralized "Smith" did manage to compile a Bar Napkin Report though he readily admits it is not one of his best. Here, as always, is the unedited version. Here the report (Whiteys - feel free to contact Dan with additions &/or rebuttals - I kinda mailed it in this week): BLUE MAN GROUP – 8 or 9 The Blue Men broke a losing streak to White that extended back to before the time that Dan began to guarantee wins. White rallied in the second period to pull close, but otherwise Blue just outworked White (except for Terry Young who was all over the place) on both ends of the ice. A lot was mad of Blue snagging Ron Morgan from the White roster, but he didn’t seem to be much of a factor. However, some guy named “Captain” Mmpophmod was clearly dominant on the ice teaming with Dan Jervis and Rich Fleischmann. I’m sure Dan will have more details on the game in his write up. Jessica made a strong debut behind the bar, revealing all of the vitals (age, piercings, undergarment preference, cheerleading background, etc.) and correctly guessing the ages of most customers (much to the dismay of the 40 and near 40-something crowd). Looks like she’ll fit right in if she sticks around. Place your bets now in the Hopkins/Cornell Challenge. It might’ve been the beer talking, but Bill Hopkins and Dave Cornell have agreed to a race next time both are around. It will be suicides, which after extensive negotiation will be goal line to red line and back, then to opposite goal line and back (I think). Chris Baldwin may have also joined in to create a three-way contest. Thanks, as always to "Smith". Even on a bad day you always appreciate The Napkin. This brings us to the final game of the night - Red vs Black (???). Although, due to the late start it turned out to be a meeting of Red vs 3 Black and 6 Green guys (and this time Shuler was with them). This game promised to be a strange one and if any fans had stayed late enough to see the ending, they wouldn't have been disappointed (except for maybe Chuck Austin's girlfriend Kim who was conspicuous by her absence). I joined the action late in the first period and at that point it was all Red. Brian Pompo had a new stick and for the first two periods he flat out owned Black goalie Russ Cole. I'm not sure, but I think that several of the moves Pompo put on Cole are still illegal in several Southern states. At the end of two periods the score was Red 9 (or 10) - Bleen 4 and we all thought it was over. But the Bleen team had other ideas and decided to perpetrate some goaltender abuse of their own. First it was Jamie Shuler (MD) who gave Red goalie Chuck Austin and his net a very thorough exam. Austin must have thought Shuler was wearing latex gloves under his hockey gloves. Suddenly the game was close and then it was Cavy's turn. Dave got more action from Austin in the last five minutes of this game than he's gotten in 4 months of marriage. Cavy notched a stunning natural hat-trick to close out the game and send Bob LaBarre home happy with an 11-9 (or 10) Game of the Week win. It was also good to see young Rob Griffin back in action for Red, despite the unfortunate outcome. Not much else to report this week. It looks like we will continue the ABC games based on the way the poll is going. George and I should have the rosters posted for that soon.... Ian Webber sent in a clip of a good hockey fight that I will try to post later in the week..... Finally we have heard some complaints recently (again) about some players who refuse to come off the ice during games. Frankly we are a bit uncertain of what (if any) action to take. George does a lot of work keeping the league running and it's not fair for a group of adults to ask him to also be a babysitter/policeman. On the other hand, since we are all here to have a good time and all pay the same amount of money to play it's completely unfair for some guys to refuse to come off the ice. I would like to get some feedback on this problem. Please e-mail us and tell us what you think. Can this situation be resolved internally by the affected team(s) or should the League (meaning George) take action??? Have a good week!! 01/10/05 - First of all, I just got word today that we will be delayed on
the NHL ice this week due to a junior game. Rather than cancel a full week,
George decided to just change the start times. The 8:00 game (1 vs 5) will
not begin until after the junior game - probably about 9:30pm. The next game
(2 vs 3) will be after that - probably about 11:00pm. We apologize for the
inconvenience but it was completely out of our control. Please make sure
that everyone on your team knows about the switch. Now, on to business....
It was back to action for the FNHL after a nice holiday break and there were
some changes to start the new year. Frustrated by a lack of promotional
opportunities on the White team "Captain" Ron Morgan abandoned ship and
signed a contract with the venerable Blue team for $3.75 million (old
Turkish Lira). Once on board, the "Captain" was immediately promoted to
"General" and he paid immediate dividends in their match up with Green. The
Green team was also sporting a new look with the welcome addition of Jamie
Shuler. All the signs pointed to a close game but it just never developed
that way. General Morgan teamed with Dan Jervis and Rich Fleischmann and the
new "Machine Gun" line clicked immediately scoring a total of 10 goals on
the night. Tom Gridley also added a nice tip in goal on a pass from new line
mate Mike Masello to round out the Blue scoring. Since Dave Stage has
retired and Masello replaced him on that line we must also retire the "Civil
War Veterans" nickname. They will now be called "The Line Formerly Known as
the Civil War Veterans". But I digress, anyway, back to the game - Green
actually played a decent game and their offense had numerous scoring chances
but couldn't seem to put the puck past Blue goalie John Oakes often enough.
Oakes was in his second game of the evening and won them both (with a pair
of 5's no less). Rouss made quite a few big saves for Green and got some
help from the post as well but the Machine Gun Line just fired too many
pucks his way. The difference in the game may have just been the defense.
Joe Gracz, George Fleischmann, Duane Pardee and Steve Kokkoris were very
solid for Blue. I can't quite remember who did score for Green, but I think
it was Cavy, Jamie Shuler, Dan Jennings and John Albanese. My apologies for
the bad memory, but I was a bit overwhelmed to be on the winning side of the
scoreboard for so long. The final score was 11-5 in favor of Blue. On a
personal note, I am happy to report that I have not been on a losing team so
far this year!..... In other games, the Yellow team with new defenseman Matt
Marchitto took on a frustrated Black squad and did nothing to help them
start the new year off right. I didn't see the game but I was told the final
score was about 16-7 in favor of Yellow, Jesse scored a ton of goals,
Schumacher was shut out and Black was missing at least Sniffen and Salvadore......
The other game, which was actually the first of the new year, was a rematch
of White vs Red. Fortunately "Smith" was in attendance and filed the ever
popular Bar Napkin Report. Here, as always, is the unedited version. WHITE BOYZ – 9 RED MENACE - 5
The White Boyz opened the new year with a victory over the Red Menace by a score of 9-5. Both teams appeared to have had too good of a time over the holiday break and it showed in the quality of play during the first period, with several missed passes and each team scoring off of a defensive miscue by the other. In the 2nd period, the “scoring” lines for each team were matched against the opposing “checking” line and the Boyz pulled away to a healthy lead. The final period saw another switch in the on-ice line matchups and the teams traded goals, with Red unable to reduce the deficit.
Chris Baldwin threw in 4 goals, while Dave Cornell, Greg Evans, Bill Hopkins, Al Moisan, and Nick Smith rounded out the scoring for the Fightin’ Whiteys. The real story of the game was the White defensive wall of Bill Hopkins, Dave Cornell, and George Fleischman that stymied the Red Rockers for most of the night (especially after they got a read on the Toe Drag). On the few occasions where Red managed to break past this unit, they then had to deal with Goalie-For-Hire John Oakes, who played an incredible game. One sequence in the second had John breakdancing in the net and making saves like the Labatt’s Blue Bear.
As usual, the Inbred Pompo Line racked up a bunch of goals for the Rednecks, with Brian carrying most of the load. Brian Banks also had a disputed goal and Terry King played a good game from the back lines. Chuck Austin stopped a lot of pucks in net, most of them with his left heel it seemed.
Michelle was definitely missed in the bar, although there was a decent crowd on hand and the beer was flowing nicely. Tina did make a brief visit, but only as a guest after working the door for the open skate. Thanks to Smith for his usual fine reporting. We look forward to another year with "The Napkin" on our tables. In other news, the Montreal Tournament team is almost full and based on the group committed so far, this should be a very good year for the FNHL. I got word from my brother that he is bringing a full team this year so the FNHL squad should include Jesse, Chip, Ron Morgan, Greg Evans, Jamie Shuler, Cavy, George and Chuck Austin. There are a couple of other guys that I'm not sure about so if your name is not on the list but you plan to go please contact me immediately. Also, as I've said all along, this tournament has a lot of divisions and there is always room for another team. You don't have to be an "A" player to participate. I know that Rouss (goalie) would like to go so if there are other players that want to sign up I will be happy to bring two teams. I'm sure that anyone who's gone in the past will tell you that they match up the competition very well and it's a lot of fun off the ice too. If that's going to happen though we need to get commitments asap........ George is looking into getting ice for the FNHL skills clinic. Hopefully we can put this together in February and it should be both fun and beneficial for all who attend. Our instructors Pete and Cinker both have pro hockey experience (Pete was a goalie), as well as coaching experience...... Dan Jennings also introduced me to a gal from the Utica area who is a power skating coach. She has offered to hold a power skating class for the FNHL in Westmoreland at some point if we want. Let Dan or I know if you'd like to go. The cost should be no more than $20....... The poll so far is running far in favor of keeping the ABC games format. I'll leave it up there for another week or so. If you haven't voted yet, now's the time. Thanks to everyone who has already voted...... |
