Friday Ice Lights

Mallet Bay

If you've seen my Tweets from earlier, you'll know already how we did on the ice, so you can skip these next few paragraphs. Of course, if you'd like some further details, or just enjoy the witty journalistic brilliance of the blog's author - read on. After partaking of a hearty breakfast in the hotel's lobby, we loaded up the cars and headed to the lake. A couple of scenic detours and about twenty minutes later, we arrived at Champlain Marina and got our first look at our Vermont pond hockey rinks. There were 10 rinks laid out in Mallet Bay, right alongside the boat docks, which I must say added a little character. It was a balmy 38 degrees this morning, so much of the conditioned ice had a wet sheen to it, with some puddles here and there. We still had some good cloud cover, but I feared that if the sun made an appearance we might be water skiing more than skating. Luckily, the sun held off for most of the day.

In the warming tent

We got ourselves situated, checked on the rink assignments, and headed out to our 8am games. Both teams were playing concurrently today - at 8am and again at 10:40am. Whenever you have a division like "Just For Fun", you tend to get a lot of variety. There are teams that are truly "C" level, with no high-level standouts that are there to have a good time and hopefully put up some good games. Then there are the teams that consist of guys that think they're in it "Just For Fun", but have fun mostly by running up the score, acting out their Broad Street Bullies fantasies, and generally being a bunch of tools. We've played both of these types of teams, and I much prefer to play the first variety, even if they are much better than us at times. Luckily 3 out of 4 teams this morning were the first variety.

Buddha's very good friend

The Ice Holes first game went fairly well, though we had a bit of a learning curve in the first half. We had two newbies on the roster, and I firmly place all blame on them as to why we were down 5-0 to the Boll Weevils going into the second half. (The Boll Weevils hail from Wake Forest, NC.) Actually, we improved as the game went on, and we rallied in the second half, closing to within two goals of tying it up. We outscored the other team 5-4 in the second frame, but still lost 9-5. The Number 2 Team got a bit of a present in that their opponent, Oscar & The Grouches, didn't have enough of their skaters show up until six minutes into the game. Word was that Big Bird had some problems getting through TSA at the airport. Rules of the tournament gave our boys a point for every minute the game was delayed, so the 2's got a nice 6 point buffer. It turns out they wouldn't have needed it, outscoring their opponents 17-5 for the win.

We just hung out on the rinks until 10:40, and our next set of games started. This time for the Ice Holes, it was Frozen Assets. Having one game of experience under our belt, we hit the ice like a dominating, well-oiled machine, and very soon had a one goal lead. By the time the carnage ended, we amassed a 9-3 victory. The Number 2's second game didn't go as well. They played the Vipers, and at halftime, we leading 4-2. This, despite some reservations we had regarding their skill level as we watched them warm up. In the second half, though, those reservations proved true as the team showed us that they fit in the second category of "Just For Fun" teams. Kent ended up particularly molested, I think. Final score, 10-4.

Following the games, and a jump-start to get Buddha's car going, we headed downtown to get some grub and see what we could see. We ate at a place called Ken's Pizza Pub, after bailing on our original choice when it was discovered the cheapest item on the menu was a grilled cheese for $13. Ken's turned out to be a great place. Kent wholeheartedly recommends the meatball parmesean sandwich and the pizza that Vrettacos, Mac, and I split was very good. In wandering around the area, we found a charming little store that specializes in "specialty" things (think pariphenalia). There, we found Mac a midget - oh, sorry - little person inflatable companion to keep him company.

Most of the group crashed for a few hours at the hotel, and are now assembling for our evening excursion. I think an Italian place is on tap for eats, followed probably by more consumption of beer, somewhere. There seem to be a variety of bars to choose from.

Namaste'

Yes, that's Mac with Ron Jeremy in the background