Saturday, February 09, 2008

AMHL Thursday: Crunch Time


Thursday, February 7, 2008

Fresh off a 3–3 tie with the Panthers, I join my Avalanche teammate Doug Wight in the donut room.

The usual finger food fare—donuts, Munchkins, bagels—is accompanied by a Louisiana Crunch Cake, which Entenmanns describes as “a crunchy, nutty southern sensation with a decadent coconut glaze.”

“Watch out for the crawdads,” Doug says.

Dave “Mr. Hockey” Losier, who scored a late goal for us to send the game into OT, asks me who’s the only NHL player born in Louisiana.

I have no idea. I don’t think Dave does either; he’s making it up.

Or is he?

Saturday, February 09, 2008

After scouring the Internet, I can’t find a single mention of an NHler, past of present, born in the Pelican State. But that’s not because hockey’s not big in Cajun country.

Some minor league teams have come and—BAM!—gone: the New Orleans Brass, the Baton Rouge Kingfish, and the Louisiana IceGators. But the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs are still alive and well.

In fact, when it has come to crunch time, the Mudbugs (slang for crayfish, crawfish, or crawdad) have crushed the competition. They’ve won a few cups since they were founded in 1997—much like what the AMHL Avalanche intend to do this season, even if no cake (or donut) will be named in our honor if we win the Koffey Cup.

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