Pond Hockey With A Little Maple Flavor

It's February folks, and that means it's time for another Ice Holes' road trip!  After three glorious years making an impression on Eagle River, WI, the Holes' Pond Hockey Selection Committee decided to take a departure from the northwoods and try something new.  Following careful consideration of hundreds of possible destinations (well, okay, there were really like, three - four, maybe, tops) this year's winner is Colchester, Vermont, and the Lake Champlain Pond Hockey Classic.

So along with the excitement of a new tournament and new locals to make an impression on, there comes some concerns.  Namely, this is a much smaller tournament, which means there are fewer skill divisions.  Which means the tournament doesn't have a division that's one step higher that "Over 40 and Boy Do They Stink".  The closest we could manage was an "35 Plus - Just For Fun".  Now, I'm hoping the "Fun" part of "Just For Fun" means that we won't be facing skaters who, at any time during their hockey playing days, have been paid for their hockey talent, hail from Canada, or don't have at least one artificial hip or knee.  We would be quite content facing opponents who have extremely limited hockey experience and just decided, on a whim, to go enter a pond hockey tournament.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

On to this year's teams.  Most of the group are veterans of past pond hockey outings, with a couple newbies.  Filling out the roster of team "Ice Holes" is yours truly, Jim "Z" Zaleski, Rich "Sue 'Em All" Keshian, Brett "LeDouche" Ross, and newcomers (to the pond trip, at least) Steve "OS" Reinhalter and Jack "24" Lauer.  (By the way, "OS" stands for "Old Steve", which is not to say that he's THAT old - we just once had two Steves on the team, and OS was the older of the two.  Also, by the way, his wife, Linda - a lovely, sweet lady - hates that nickname, so in consideration of her feelings, we will probably be using it even more than usual in this writeup.)

Filling out the roster of "Ice Holes Number 2" (I know, really original, huh?) is Chris "Buddha" Dewar, Kent "Good With Wood" Grubbs, Erik "Woo-Hoo" Rasmussen, Mac "Mac" McGovern, Scott "Gellin" Gelenberg, and Chris "Akmed" Vrettacos.

Most of us will be flying out Thursday morning, which leaves me a day to cram all of my hockey gear plus any clothes that will also fit into my hockey bag, hoping it all weighs under 50 pounds so the airline doesn't slap me with an "oversize/weight" baggage fee.  Having done this before, I've gotten fairly good at hovering at the 49lb mark.

As in the past, keep a lookout for contributions from our special correspondent, Buddha, who I hope will be able to post now and then.  He's actually driving up, accompanied by his dad, so he may have some "tales from the road" while you're waiting for the rest of us to arrive in Vermont.

We'll also be Tweeting and Facebooking for more of that live reporting feel, so be sure to follow us for the play by play reporting.  The links to our accounts can be found on the team's website at www.holeshockey.com. 

Stay tuned - it should be another memorable Holes' road trip, complete with a plethora of inappropriate quotes from Mac.

Namaste, my b*tches!