Oops

Below, you will find two versions of Sunday morning's events documented below. Both contain elements of truth. I will let the readers decide which version they would like to subscribe to. Unfortunately, due to the extremely cold nature of, well, mother nature, that morning, and to the fact that both of the Holes' principle photogs were participating in the event, there is no photographic record of the event (although it is rumored that there may be some bootleg video shot, thought this has yet to be substantiated).

Version 1:

Folllowing the completion of the preliminary games, we thought that neither team had a good enough record to advance, considering that several sources, including some associated with the tournament, indicated that you would probably need at least a 3-1 record to advance. However, we made sure to look at the results on the tournament web site to just double check to make sure, and were pleasantly surprised to find that the Number 2 team had just made the cut and would be facing the Boll Weevils (the team the Ice Holes faced for their first game on Friday) in the play-in quarterfinals at 9:40am. The 2's showed up ready to put it all on the line. They battled valiently, but in the end, lost the quarterfinal game, 15-0.

Version 2:

After a night of revelry on Church Street, most of us had a slow start to Sunday morning. We had made plans the night before to play our traditional Teal and White game around 10:30am on an unused rink at the lake. It was wicked cold in the morning, so all of us put on some extra layers and rolled out to the lake. As we were walking down the boat ramp, we could see the tournament's playoff games going on. It was then that several of the Boll Weevils team members (the first team that the Ice Holes faced on Friday) came up and asked, "Where were you guys? We were supposed to play you at 9:40 this morning for the quarterfinal play-in game", to which we replied, "What???!!!". We checked with the tournament officials, and, yes, indeed, the Number 2's made the play-in game, but since they didn't show, they lost by forfeit 15-0.

 

Whatever version you choose to accept, the rest of this writeup is factual and can be independently verified by an anonymous bystander. We did end up playing the Teal and White game, with the Ice Holes going white and the Number 2's going teal. The ice this morning was much better than it was for yesterday's games, owing to the fact that they flooded the rinks the night before. Even at that, we had a new challenge - the wind. It wasn't a constant wind, but the gusts could about stop you in your tracks as you tried to skate. Both teams stayed neck and neck for the first fifteen minutes or so, but then the white went on a scoring tear, notching 4-5 unanswered goals that proved too much for the teal to overcome. There was one point toward the end of the game when the captain of the teal team suggested, "next goal wins". The problem was, everyone was so worn out at that point, no one seemed to be capable of scoring a single additional goal. So, tired to the point of exhaustion, we shook hands and packed up our gear.

The grill at Al's French Frys

Following our Teal and White game, most of us headed up the street to a place called Al's French Frys - an old-fashioned diner that has been a staple here in Burlington since the 1940's. Obviously, fries (or "frys") are the specialty of the place, but they carry an assortment of burgers, patty melts, and brats/dogs. Everything was pretty good, but the fries really were the star.

Seven of our group were headed out on Sunday afternoon/evening. Mac was the first casualty, as he had plans to drive to Maine to visit some relatives before heading back to NC. Brett, Jim, Erik, Jack, Rich, and Scott were the next to head out, as they had a flight around 7pm, leaving Buddha, Kent, OS, Vrettacos, and me. The five of us had plans to go skiing on Monday at Sugarbush, a ski resort southeast of Burlington. OS stayed with friends Sunday night, so the four remaining, plus Buddha's dad, grabbed some dinner at Chicken Charlie's up the street, then returned to the hotel, where we watched "Skyfall" and hit the hay in anticipation of our hitting the slopes in the morning.