Rocky Mountain High, Part II

So, it's that time of year again, when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of...pond hockey. The Ice Holes have had some changes since last I posted, with the most significant being that we've lost one of our long-time compadres. No, no, don't panic - we didn't lose him THAT way. Chris Dewar (that's Buddha to those of us that know and love him), accepted a new position with his company that relocated him overseas to Singapore for a period of three years, or until he is extridited back to the US. We were all sorry to have him go, but, judging from his posts on FaceBook, he has basically become The Anthony Bordain of the beer league hockey world - swimming with whale sharks, riding elephants, and eating exotic foods, all while under the auspices of "working" for a company that none of us is really sure what it does. The "Center for Creative Leadership"? I mean, come on - that has to be a front for some devious purposes. I suspect Dr Evil is listed as the CEO.

Anyway, I'm off topic. The point being, Buddha is not with us this year. We also had another casualty (again, quick panicking - it's not that kind of casualty), as Old Steve's knees finally told him they'd had enough of his hockey habit, and OS has had to semi-retire. So, when it came to putting together a couple of pond hockey teams for this year's trip, we had some filling-in to do. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I should probably mention that, after having a great time in Colorado last year, we decided to repeat the trip, only hopefully without the blizzards and travel headaches. And like last year, a portion of us made plans to stay and do a little skiing.

So who's on the rosters this year? I'm glad you aksed. First up, we'll discuss Kent's team (Kent having taken over for Buddha as the defacto "captain"). Mac lobbied hard for the postition, but was edged out at the last minute by a late push by Grubbs. Kent's team includes: Kent, Mac, Big John, Scott, Jim, and Chris Vrettacos. Holes' fans and readers of this post might recognize Big John as one of the original "ponders", and legendary pond-hockey goalie. John was sidelined for a time as both of his knees were replaced with Iron Man-like bionic implants, but is back in action and making the trip with us again.

The second team is captained by myself, and includes Brett, Erik, Jack (Fester), as well as newcomers Jarrett Sherron and Chip Burch. Keeping in line with last year when I chose to go with a different team name than Ice Holes 2 or some such, we have chosen "Broad Street Buddhas" as a tip of the hat to our Singaporean expatriate. A new set of tournament jerseys was procured with a new logo

Sorry to cut it off here, but they are calling for passengers right now, so gotta go.

More later.