The last day

Sunday morning. The start of our last full day in Eagle River. The day was wide open, with no particular plans. There was an extensive discussion on going snowmobiling, but the plans were finally axed due to time and budgetary restrictions. It was decided instead to head back over to the lake to watch the finals, and maybe see if we could get back on the ice for a "Teal and White" scrimmage between the 40+ Holes and the 21+ Holes. It turned out to be a great idea.

When we arrived, we got hit up one more time by the local NBC affiliate for an interview. This guy was the sports director, and was particularly interested in the origin of the Ice Holes' name. As is usually the case, he was obviously drawn to my aura of natural leadership, and wanted to put me on camera. (No, I am not a media whore!) I explained the reference to Roman Moroni out of the movie Johnny Dangerously. "I put your bells in a sling, you ice holes...fargin' bastages." It turns out he was quite familiar with the movie and was a big fan. He said the bit would be carried on the 10pm news that evening.

Other Kent had actually told us goodbye at the hotel before we left for the lake, as he was headed back home. He just couldn't bear the thought of missing the last game, though, and showed up in time to play with us one more time. (Actually, I think his wife told him she was busy until later in the day, and not to come home so early.) We suited up, scrapped off an empty rink, and gathered a pile of pucks. It was a hard-fought clash of the titans, with neither team getting much of an upper hand. We called a halftime when most of the participants looked like they were about to fall over. Some did fall over. (Have you noticed there seems to be a running theme with the pictures of guys on the ice? Especially "special" guys?)

We all had some Gatorade to replenish fluids and carbs for the second half. Okay, it wasn't Gatorade, it was more beer, but we had a lot to finish up. The 40+ team came out like gangbusters and got an early lead, but the 21+ team slowly came back, and in the end, the official scorekeeper declared the game a tie. I don't know if that was accurate, or done just to keep the peace and get us to pack it in, already. I guess we'll have to decide this one next year.

We cleaned up back at the hotel, and had another soak in the hot tub, which included a rather disturbing scene involving Mac, a trenchcoat, and a Speedo. We've all taken an unspoken oath not to talk about it...ever. We ate dinner at a bar and grill in downtown Eagle River, called BBT. They had a nice porterhouse steak special, which most of the gang took advantage of. The local ale on tap was pretty good, too. Oh...and we finally got a chance to sample the cheese curds we had heard so much about. 9 out of 10 Holes thought they were very good. The one thought they tasted like dirty socks, but what does he know?

After dinner, we stopped at the bowling alley on the way back to the hotel. Unwilling to let bygones be bygones, the competitive spirit ensued and the 21+ team faced off against the 40+ team, with Georgia filling in for "other Kent", who had finally gone home. The first game was close, with the advantage going to the 40 Holes.

In the second game, a strategic injury to one of the 40+ players lead to a line change that seemed to shift the tide in favor of the older Holes. With the exception of Doogie, who almost had a hat trick of strikes on the final few frames ("What up, bee-atches!"), the rest of us on the younger Holes pretty much stank like Mac's knee-highs.

We finally retired to the hotel lounge to wait for the 10pm news, and see what the tail end of our fifteen minutes of fame would bring. We also had some beer to finish off, since, as you know, they won't allow more than 3 ounces of any fluid to be carried onto the plane anymore. As we killed time watching a reality show on jockeys (the horse riders, not the underpants), we had to endure one last tirade of cussing from Doogie, who was trying to get it all out of his system before going home to his 5 month old daughter and wife. I sure hope she's not reading this blog... (oops!).

The piece was actually pretty good. The anchor for the night was none other than the gal that had interviewed us previously. When the sports guy got done with his bit, she talked for a second about how she had met us and how much fun we were. I guess everybody loves a Hole.

If you'd like to see the piece, you can click on the link below. Warning: I have had trouble opening this video using Firefox as a browser - it seems to open fine in Internet Explorer.

http://www.triadhockey.com/images/Ice%20Holes%20Images/WJFW%20Sports%20Report%20320.240.wmv

Tomorrow morning will come early. We plan on leaving the hotel around 7am to get to Wausau in plenty of time to get everyone's gear safely stowed on the plane. We've got a 5 hour layover in Detroit tomorrow, but other than the long layover, hopefully everything will go smoothly tomorrow.