On The Slopes

 

I inadvertantly deleted a post while trying to update the blog this morning, and have not been able to find a way to "undelete" it. It basically recapped the Buddhas losing our last game, had a couple of pics of the guys playing poker, and a pic of the Buddhas. I've reposted the team pic here, and as soon as I get a chance back home, I'll post all of the pictures to the team's Shutterfly account.

The trip over to the Winter Park area went off without a hitch. Along the way, we stopped off at the Kremmling Meat Market, which is known in the area for its fresh cuts of beef, but also for its very fine beef jerky. Unfortunately, they were out of the buffalo jerky (which I can attest is first rate), but they had some of the spicy variety as well as some of the beef sticks. If you ever find yourself in Kremmling, Colorado during business hours, you ought to stop by.

Tuesday morning was a bit overcast (as was most of the day), but the skiing was superb. Due to the weather, I didn't get much in the way of pictures the first day of skiing. Wednesday morning was a different look, though, starting with a beautiful sunrise:

Jarrett spent much of Tuesday getting aquainted with snowboarding (he'd never been before) and took a lesson that took up most of the day. Wednesday, he was ready to leave the lesson hill behind and hit the main slopes with the rest of us idiots.

 

 

 

Scotty held the Ice Holes' torch high, donning the teal to represent on the slopes of Winter Park.

Here are some more pics from Wednesday:

At the base of Winter Park

The view from the top of the Parsenn Bowl (12,000 ft)

Scott shreddin'

Chris drops off the edge

Kent gets some air

Brett proving he's not a ____

And here's the whole group on the last night, when we enjoyed a great pork tenderloin meal, courtesy of Chip and his secret maranade.

 

Out Of Service

So I hear I've been catching a lot of flack lately on the lack of posts. All I can do is offer my apologies and ask that you remember keeping this group running is a lot of work, what with meal preparation, tying shoe laces, and making sure Mac has a steady supply of Tiger Balm. I promise I will write a wrap up of the trip soon with some pics from our last days up here in Colorado. I believe everyone made it back home safe last night. When I finally get home, I will post all the pictures, and hopefully video, from the trip for you to peruse. 

Thank you for your support and patience.  In the meantime, here are a few pics to whet your appetite:

 

New Snow

The snowfall has stopped and left a little new snow on the peaks. Not a substantial amount, even though it snowed from about 10:30am until 4:30pm. Tomorrow's got 1-3 inches in the forecast for both Silverthorne and Winter Park. Probably not enough to cause travel problems, but it will be good for the slopes. 

The spaghetti's almost ready. Chow time!

Sunday Morning Report

As reported earlier, the Holes got started bright and early this morning, and the good news was, the ice was in good shape. The results of the game have already been reported, so I won't dwell on that, but here are some pictures from the game:

 

Vrettacos takes on most of the Puck Dynasty team, single handed

The Buddhas' morning game started at 9:00am, so we had a little time to kill, and we did it by watching the other teams play. They truly have some fun themes going on. Here's another sampling of the other uniforms:

The Buddhas were facing whatever. No, that was the name of the team - "Whatever". It was a competitive game from the git go, following much the same pattern as our first game on Saturday, with neither team getting more than a one goal lead on the other. At half, it was tied up. In the second half, we fell to our same Achilles Heel - fatigue. As we slowed down, the other team (most of them from Denver, so they live at altitude), pulled away, with their two best players controlling the game. In the end, we lost by a handful of goals. We felt good about the game, though. Certainly better than our experience the previous night. Here's some pics from our game:

The Ice Holes' last game of the day (and the tournament) was 10:30am against North Country Road Sodas. Based on their record and us having seen them play a little bit, we felt like this game might be the Holes' best chance at digging out a victory. Although the game started on a bad note with another self-inflicted goal, the Holes turned it around and started putting some pucks in the box at the other end. The Sodas, however, were right on their heels. At halftime, the Holes held a one-goal lead. Shortly into the second half, though, the Sodas pushed back hard and were able to catch up and overtake the Holes, putting several goals between the Holes and victory. Although the Holes rallied at the end, the gap was too great, and they ended up ceding to the Sodas. Some game pics:

Your 2015 PBR Ice Holes

We're all back at the house now, having showered, changed clothes, and finished off the remaining meatloaf from last night for lunch. The boys are settled in playing poker, and Jim is busy playing chef for our evening meal. Spaghetti is on tap for tonight. We should be able to get in a nice meal, digest a bit, then suit up for our (Buddhas) final game at 8:30pm.

 

Ice Holes, Game Three

Ice Holes had their third game this morning against Puck Dynasty.  Their opponents got the jump on them right off the puck drop and had a couple of goals on our boys. Kent and crew started pushing back, though, and made up some ground, closing the differential to two. We had high hopes they would pull it out, but then a couple of ill-advised passes in their own defensive zone gave Dynasty a couple of freebies. Final score was 10-6, though each team actually scored the same number of goals. I'll let you think about that. 

Pregame

Preparing for the 7am game. 

Saturday Wrap-Up

With both teams not playing until 10pm, we had a lot of down time Saturday afternoon. As you probably saw earlier, most of the guys spent the time playing poker. I think Jack was the eventual winner in a game that lasted several hours. I spent the time getting dinner ready. On the menu for tonight: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and steamed broccoli.

Following dinner, we watched the Carolina Hurricanes lose to the Minnesota Wild (on the iPad) and watched the Avalanche beating my Dallas Stars, up until the point where we had to go get ready for our games.

 

In the games tonight, my team was facing "Bombs and Wrenches", while Kent's team was taking on "JD's Bait Shop". Before we get to the results, I'd like to point out the good news was, the ice had actually held up fairly well after the rather warm afternoon. It was certainly far from the worst ice surface we've played on. Now, the bad news. I don't think either team had an ice rink's chance in Hades of winning our games. The Bombs and Wrenches came out firing on all cylinders and never slowed down. Halftime arrived and we still didn't have a goal. In fact, it was about halfway through the second half before we got a goal (thank you Jack for erasing that ugly goose-egg). Brett got another, so the final in the game was a lot to two.

The Ice Holes' goal differential was better than ours on paper (8-1), but I have received several first-hand reports that their opponents were definitely holding back. Sorry, no pics from either game tonight, as both Scotty (the second unit photog) and I were playing at the same time. Pictures would've been difficult anyway, as the rinks were a bit dim tonight. I had a hard time seeing the puck, at times. They could've used a few more floodlights out there.

Everyone is sacking out, now, getting some sleep before the conclusion of the games tomorrow. Kent's team plays at 7am and again at 10:30am, while my team plays at 9am, then has a big break until 8:30pm Sunday evening. Once more, lots of down time.

More tomorrow.

Namaste from the Holes and the BS Buddhas.

 

 

I'm truly sorry that I can't be with the boys on this year's Colorado trip. Although, the blog helps me feel like I'm there. I'm glad to see that Mac is finally getting the recognition he deserves as the tournament's elder statesman.

The rule is..."what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room." Mac's use of Tiger Balm is exempt from this rule because you can smell it when you enter the rink. Many holes fans may not be aware that the home for Tiger Balm is here in Singapore. I snapped this selfie at the company's headquarters in honor of Mac. When I told them I knew Mac they invited me in, gave me lunch, and offered to pay for my kid's college tuition. It's who you know.

Go Holes and Broad Street Buddhas!

"Poker? I hardly..."

A Texas Hold 'Em rematch.