Top Twelve: “Happy” Hockey, Happy Canada, (Happy Donuts)

Last week I asked co-workers about earworms. “Happy,” someone said, but the song gets too much airplay.

AMHL Tuesday Champs: The Penguins

Never heard of it.

But now that I’ve listened to Pharrell Williams’s hit, the song has stuck itself to my psyche and has prompted my fingers to Google the heck out of “Happy,” hockey, Canada (and donuts). The investigation spawned these personal reflections about gratitude, so I present—may sound unreal what I’m ‘bout to reveal—these Top Twelve “Happy” highlights:

1.      Team Italy Sledge Hockey: They could complain about their missing limbs but instead have chosen to be “Happy.”

2.      Happy in Kelowna: Happy (and a hockey player) beats hate.

3.      The Happy Donut: Free Fritter Friday makes me smile like the blue-eyed donut logo. Myrtle Creek, Oregon is on my to-donut list.

4.      Happy Hockey in Hingham (MA): An eleven-or twelve-year old, awarded a penalty shot, juked the goalie—and himself. The goalie flopped, and the skater toppled before the latter could shoot. As the forlorn youth skated to his bench, an opponent skated behind him and offered encouragement or empathy or some “Happy” thought. At least I hope that’s what happened.

5.      Happy for Can-Am Connection # 1: Our friends from PEI, attending the Hingham hockey tournament, paid for dinner. Good times talking about hockey and (lemon) donuts.

6.      Bruins vs. Canadiens: I’m happy that Shawn Thornton accepted P. K. Subban’s apology.

7.      Happy in Montreal: McGill students go overboard in Underground City.

8.      Happy in Halifax: The patients and staff at the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre find their “Happy” place. I especially enjoyed the Hula-Hoopers.

9.      Happy to read about St. Andrews, NB in the Boston Globe: See you, St. Andrews—the safe house, Niger Reef and Honeybeans, in six weeks.

10.  Happy Youth Hockey: Jay Atkinson’s piece in the Boston Globe Magazine highlights the need for more fun, less fighting for a scholarship.

11.  Happy for Can-Am Connection #2: The AMHL Photographer and I will return to Montreal next weekend. Round Two between the Bruins and Canadiens will be over, but Puckbite and I will still be friends.

12.   AMHL Championship: Happy to hear that Tim Cook won his first-ever AMHL championship as a goalie, leading his Penguins to a 3–2 victory over the Leafs.

13.  (Baker’s Dozen) Happy to be writing: Not so much on this site as I’m writing offline to rebuild Seamus J. O’Sheehan’s Castle.

The Bruins Test

“Congratulations! You are most similar to:

Milan Lucic

Left Wing

You're easy-going but physically imposing when challenged, and pressure situations never faze you.”

That’s the message I saw at Boston.com, after I took the “Which Bruins player are you” quiz. My wife administered the ten-question, multiple-choice assessment minutes after the B’s dispatched the Black Hawks, 2–1 in OT of Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final.

It was close. With a little more luck, Chicago might have won; with a little more thought on the questions, I might have selected different answers to questions such as these: What’s your favorite Boston neighborhood? What do you think of Justin Bieber? How do you answer questions about Tim Thomas? What’s your favorite city to visit? What do you do for lunch? What’s your source for Bruins news?

I tend to bring my lunch to work AND snack lightly throughout the day. And I get my Bruins news from multiple sources. But the quiz allows you to pick but one answer.

No offense to Number 17, but I’m not a punch-you-in-the-mouth, run-you-over type guy. Power to the people, not power forward. So I waited a day or two and took the test again.

In most cases, I made the same choices. Different answers on two questions, though, yielded a different result:

“Congratulations! You are most similar to:

Andrew Ference

Defenseman

You're a selfless free-thinker who believes small gestures can add up to great achievements.”

I bring home my plastic recyclables from work and flatten my Kashi cereal boxes so that they too can be recycled. I’m a defense-first sort of dude that loves the North End.

I don’t live in that neighborhood, but enjoying breakfast with my wife at Boston Common or a few slices at Regina Pizzeria—where Number 21 brought the Cup in 2011—liberates me from my worries and infuses me with purpose. Love life and help others. Support the Bruins, win or lose.

Winning at least one more game in Chicago will be a test. I trust that Lucic and Ference, and all of us like them, will prevail.

Breathe, B's Fans

April 17, 2011
Concord, MA

“I'm not leaving without a fight.”


-“The Outsiders” by Need to Breathe

As this song played at my favorite Dunkin’ Donuts on Sunday morning (less than twelve hours after the Bruins lost Game Two to the Canadiens) , I chose to scan— rather than read every word, as I’m wont to do—every story about Boston’s Bruins in the Boston Globe. I plucked from amongst the rubble of negativity, a few positive points to include below.

Top Twelve Reasons to Believe in our Bruins

1. Comebacks: In best-of-seven series, the team down 0-2 has come back thirty-seven times to win that series.

2. Number 37: Patrice Bergeron won fifty-three percent of his face-offs, got a goal, and had six shots on goal.

3. Shots on Goal: Sixty-six in two games. Keep shooting and they will go in.

4. Ding Dong: Our shots that have been hitting a post, which don’t count as shots on goal, will go in, too.

5. Tomas Kaberle: The much-maligned defenseman was a plus-1 in Game Two.

6. The Power Play: The Devils, in 1993, were the dregs of man-advantage play in the regular season. They also won the Cup.

7. Hit the Road: The Bruins won two dozen games on the road this season, two more than they did at home.

8. Puttin’ on the Hits: Bruins, 35; Habs: 27.

9. Stranger Things: If the Penguins can go 15–10–4 sans Sidney Crosby and minus Evgeni Malkin, the Bruins can win this series.

10. Rebounds: The Bruins have strung together consecutive wins together after having lost two in a row.

11. Remember 2008: Down two games then, we can get this series to Game Seven.

12. Big Zed: Claude Julien says it's "looking good" for Chara to play in Game Three.

We need to breathe, Boston. Let’s back our Bruins.

Bruins, Brogues, and Bread

Main Street, Melrose, MA
March 19, 2011

Barry’s Tea, an Irish favorite, is what Tim Moynihan, wearing a Bruins cap, serves me from the counter of Breads ‘N’ Bits of Ireland. The gray-haired gentleman has already prepared two egg sandwiches, one for me and the other for the AMHL Photographer, who’s still seated at the back of this family-owned and -operated shop.

Mr. Moynihan places the teapot and then two thick slices of toasted Irish bread on my tray as we conclude our conversation—his brogue as strong as a salmon’s heart—about Irish jaunting cars, ponyback rides, and storytellers in Ireland. I thank the Killarney native and then join my wife.

I’ve already read the Boston Globe sports section (the Bruins’ power play has been unplugged, good hockey game between BC and Northeastern), and now focus on my food and surroundings: My green-eyed lass across the table; behind her, the framed poster of a traditional Irish dresser; and to the left, the real version whose shelves hold family pictures and a poem about friendship.

The couple to my left is readingb the newspaper when a contemporary joins them to discuss last night’s Hockey East action. The BC Eagles beat the NU Huskies, 5–4. “Northeastern is good,” the upright friend says. They wonder how Merrimack will fair against favored BC tonight. His seated pal predicts an upset.

My best friend and I finish brekkie and then drive home, where tonight we’ll watch Recchi and Kelly and the lads from Boston against the Leafs in Toronto. Win or lose, I reckon I’ll enjoy a slice of soda bread Mr. Moynihan sold us, sip tea, and wonder if Barry Melrose is watching the game, too.

Around the Globe: Hockey Heroes and Helping Hands

The anxiety I felt about unresolved issues dissipated as I navigated today’s Boston Globe.

Kevin Cullen’s front-page piece about Sudbury’s Scott Milley, a hockey player, isn’t so much about hockey as it is Millen’s sacrifice and his family’s grief.

If that story touches your heart, if not your tear ducts, then Cindy Cantrell’s Metro West story about Kasey, a Helping Hands miracle monkey, might make you laugh. I did. Couple the capuchin’s personality with her purpose, to rescue not only a once-athletic Concord kid but also his family, and you’ve got a story to boost slumping spirits. The story also made me think of Travis Roy.

Concord’s own (via Buffalo), Kevin Paul Dupont, reflects upon the inherent rigors of building a backyard rink. Impossible for hockey enthusiasts and storytellers like me to not to think of Jack Falla, who consulted on KPD’s  project but who is not to blame for the debacle, to be grateful for fond Falla memories.

Still in Sports, Dupes delivers a dose of sadness about a fun man: On page C9, amidst the hockey news, is a snippet about Buffalo-based hockey writer Jim Kelley, who was claimed by cancer. Sad for Dupes, who knew Kelley well, and for me, even if I never met him.

Then again, I never met Scott Milley. But reading these stories has helped me surrender my self pity. They gave me, you might say, a helping hand.

One Month: An Ocean of Emotion

“Let it go, let it go, this is smaller than you know…”

“Let it Go” – Great Big Sea, (Something Beautiful)

On March 18, as the Boston Bruins were about to lose to Matt Cooke and the Pittsburgh Penguins, anger’s undertow threatened to drag me down into the dark water of discontent. My frustration wasn’t with the players but rather with the fans who jeered—“the Bronx Cheer” at Tuukka Rask, after he made a routine save.

A friend told me to take the fans’ reaction with a grain of salt. They’re just frustrated, he wrote in an e-mail.

His comment made sense, but as the Bruins play improved after that 0–3 loss, waves of frustration crashed over me; some fans persisted in booing Dennis Wideman, seemingly every time the defenseman touched the puck.

Deep breaths, walk away from the radio and the commentary, I would tell myself. Just a game.

But this resentment has been like a red tide, ebbing and flowing, often sneaking up on me. Letting go, only to be surprised by its toxic return.

Why has the negativity bothered me? Booing strikes me as lazy. Uncreative. Unproductive.

A few weeks later, NESN commentator “Mad Mike” Milbury called out fans who continued to boo Wideman, saying “…It’s not working…the effort is there….” I sat in front of my TV and applauded, thus alerting my still-seething anger that its free-loading pal, pride, had surfaced.

Then, on April 10, Peter Chiarelli, his comments published in the Boston Globe, expressed the same disdain and disappointment in the booing, the singling-out of one player. And my faux friends surfaced once again, attempting to sink my spirit.

Shipwrecked, I asked myself again: Why is this bothering me?

What has nagged at me more than the jeering and booing has been my reaction to the negativity; I’ve been mad at myself for being mad at the angry people.

This absurdity prompted me to reach for my hockey bible: The Complete Hockey Player, by Dr. Saul Miller, and I was buoyed by these words on pages 28–29:

“The neck and shoulders are an area where most athletes tense when they experience fear…check your body for tension from time to time. If you notice it the neck, shoulders or hands, remember to release and breathe. Always release and breathe.”

As I inhaled and then exhaled, I could feel the tension drain from my deltoids.

Later that day—three short-handed goals and an empty-netter (against the Carolina Hurricanes) later—I was ecstatic that the Black-and-Gold clinched a playoff birth.

Now, almost a month after that loss to the Penguins, I find myself revisiting Dr. Miller’s book more regularly, to rediscover lessons I’ve learned but sometimes forget. For example, the good doctor references (pages 17–18) an NHL All-Star who says that praying for the people that trigger his anger prompts improved performance.

“You’ve got to find a way to focus on the positive,” the All-star says, “Prayer made the difference for me.”

Amen, brother. Letting go, a great big relief.

Gratitude and Latitude

Before the AMHL Photographer and I leave the Lower 48 to cross the 49th parallel (another mission), I recall the last dozen days or so and count my blessings.

1. The Dunkin’ Donuts in Weymouth, MA, where you can listen to a Buddy Holly song, make a call from a pay phone, and enjoy donuts baked on the premises.

2. John Van Boxmeer and Randy Pierce, Colorado Rockies—once and forever—who celebrated birthdays.

3. The Boston Bruins, who have won three straight (before tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild).

4. Patrice Bergeron: How does he know where the opponent is going to pass the puck just before the opponent does?

5. My local Shaw’s Supermarket, where they play great hockey songs like Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway”.

6. My iPod and Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration”, which always brings me back to about 1984 because that song was played after the North Stars scored at the Met Center. Good times.

7. Kenny “Kiss Fan” Tarr, who let me score two goals on about forty shots .

8. Challenges, for they serve as the platform of spiritual growth .

9. The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, whose work I follow (religiously) every Sunday morning.

10. Puck Daddy’s series of stories celebrating hockey’s greatness.

11. The leather Colorado Eagles jacket, which reminds me of Mike Chase, that my mom and dad gave me a few years ago.

12. Former (and hopefully future) AMHLer Mike Schneider and his commitment to November—I mean Movember.

The happiest of Thanksgivings to all--a bientot mes amis.

Loose Pucks: Pukka, Tuukka, and the Joys of Hockey (and Donuts)

A dozen recent observations:

Tired of the regular donut routine? Try the fresh apple cider donuts at Honey Pot Hill Orchard, where the AMHL Photographer and I stood in just the right place to savor these little beauties, their scent streaming out of the store/donut factory.

Last Sunday’s Boston Globe was fortified by irony: Vladimir Sobotka was the star not of the sports section but of Jan Freeman’s “The Word” in Ideas. In the Metro section was an ad for travel to places such as Quebec and Newfoundland. And below the “Here and there” heading in Globe West, Martin Pave mentions the Winnipeg Bombers of the Canadian Football League. (Also, not so much irony as happenstance: In the comics section, Darby Conley pokes fun at Canada.)

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day: Pukka is a first-class word. I like it because it reminds me of vulcanized rubber and rhymes Tuukka.

Tuukka Rask: Expect the youngster (looks like he’s about twelve years old, no?) to play twenty games this season. Timmy Thomas is still the man, though.

“Save by Thomas!” I’m glad Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley are back on the air, calling games for the Bruins, who last night beat the Hurricanes, 7–2.

Aaron Ward. I miss him. The former Bruin is not only a fierce competitor and supreme shot-blocker but also a goofball and a great interview. Pukka personified. Glad he got an assist on Scott Walker’s goal.

From NHL to AMHL, sort of. The Hurricanes, formerly the Hartford Whalers, are 0–2. The AMHL Whalers won their first game in their four-game history.

A free month of NHL Center Ice, which means Hockey Night in Canada is extended to Comcast viewers like me.

Don and Ron. Coach’s Corner. Bountiful banter. Cherry blasted the NHL Players Association for how it has handled the Paul Kelly situation and then cautioned youngsters to tape the tongues of their skates, lest they suffer an injury like Montreal’s Andrei Markov. Taping down the tongues: That’s what Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito did, and they never had their ankles sliced by another’s skate blade. MacLean wrapped up the segment by saying, “The moral of the story is that in the old days, Don had his tongue tied.”

From tongues to teeth. The next great hockey movie: Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson plays the part of a minor league hockey player who’s good at knocking out opponents’ teeth. And looks good in a tutu and wings. The Tooth Fairy will open in January 2010.

Living the donut dream. I hark back to Honey Pot Hill. Ah, the sweet cider-filled rings, sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar. And later in the week, I went back in time, to when my mom had left Hostess donuts, the little chocolate ones, in the refrigerator—not far from the orange juice. Make sure you refrigerate the little lovelies until the chocolate coating is crunchy. Then wash back a few with the citrus stuff. Then go read a hockey book.

Living the Hockey Dream: Brian Kennedy’s follow-up to Growing Up Hockey is fantastic. I’m only about halfway through it but have no problem recommending it now (full review coming soon). Kennedy has a rare flair for capturing, from unique angles, the joys of hockey.

New England Hockey Journal Radio Show: The Best Banter

From the pre-game chatter to the call from soft-spoken “Michael from Brookline” to the gregarious contribution from “Kevin from Melrose” to the post-game gabbing, it was a thrill to be part of the New England Hockey Journal Radio Show (NEHJRS). In ESPN 890’s Charlestown studio to talk hockey with Kevin Paul Dupont and Mick Colageo. I enjoyed participating in the on-air banter, but the behind-the scenes stuff was savory, too.

Saturday, January 17

During an early commercial break, I look at Mick, who has raised his headset to a new level: His earphones rest above his ear lobes.

“That’s a good luck for you,” I say.

He then repositions them to front to back, one ear pad on his forehead and the other on the back of his bulb. He looks not like a hockey jockey but more like an insane reindeer. But then the close of the Hockey Monkey ad, a staple of the show’s commercial stock, prompts Mick to get back to business.

The hot topic today is Vincent Lecavalier: Should the B’s make a move for the talented Tampa Bay forward? Dupes suggested as much in a recent column, writing “If (the Bruins) want to be in the Big Vin derby, they have the horses.” Callers debate the pros and cons of KPD’s case. Passion pervades every conversation. But laughter and levity will linger for me.

“Ron from Danvers” wrangles with Dupes about who the B’s might trade for Vinny. The Hall-of Fame scribe delivers an all-star caliber quip: “You can put your ’64 Rambler into this deal.”

Then, after a four-minute commercial break commences, KPD removes his headphones and delivers another beauty: “I’m goin’ for donuts.”

He exits the booth to pluck a Boston Kreme from the box my wife (who’s lingering around the office outside the studio) and I brought with us from our Saturday donut pantheon.

After a bathroom break (I’m a little nervous about my upcoming formal introduction), I select a Chocolate Frosted and then return to the booth.

“How do you stay in shot-blocking shape?” Mick, his microphone not yet open, asks me.

As we take our seats before the first half’s closing segment, I tell them that I walk to work and take the stairs instead of the elevator.

The white button is now lit, meaning we’re back on the air. Mick, seated to my right, mentions my “darling” wife and how, as a birthday gift, she arranged my appearance on the show. He then references my presence at HFBoards as Shotblocker32.

Dupes, across the table from me, wonders what number I have on the back of the Black and Gold replica jersey I’m wearing.

Number 32. Boston Bruin Don Sweeney.

After another commercial break, the second hour begins. Mick is still chewing on what he refers to as an “unfettered” Old Fashioned that he says sticks to your teeth in an unusual sort of way. He looks to me to add commentary.

“I’m all about the donuts,” I say, adding that I know what my role on this show is.

‘This is great radio…,” says Dave Shook, who takes time out from pressing the buttons in the control room. “Best radio banter that nobody can see.”

On the Shelf, Part VII: Hockey Player for Life

I’m no Patrice Bergeron, but when yesterday I read about how he’s dealing with his slow-healing injury, I tapped into the recovery process, from frustration to acceptance. The prevailing coping mechanism seems to be patience. So while my ailing groin, which is responding to physical therapy, keeps me on the shelf, I submit another book report.

Hockey Player for Life won me over early on when author Howard Shapiro references Vic Hadfield (one of my dad’s favorite players), Lucien Deblois (I played pond hockey with one of his throwaway sticks), and Bruce Springsteen (need I say more?). What kept me reading this fictional account of a “can’t miss” future NHLer is how the protagonist’s relationship with hockey, his teammates, and his family develop. Teenager Tom Leonard, a puck-lugging defenseman for the Magic Rats, overcomes obstacles—some of his own making—and remains loyal to the game he—and I—love most. Shapiro’s deft maneuvering from scene to scene, in which he infuses forgiveness and redemption, is akin to Bobby Orr’s grace from goal line to goal line. Order the book from Amazon, here.

Hockey Sunday: Around the (Boston) Globe

A trip around Sunday’s Boston Globe, which the AMHL Photographer and I read during our visits to Dunkin’ Donuts, revealed plenty of news about hockey and Canada—and it wasn’t all in the sports section.

In travel, Diane Daniel (her column is titled “Where They Went”) profiles two friends who, in July, visited Nova Scotia. While on Cape Breton, the twosome stayed at the Keltic Lodge Resort. My wife and I have never stayed there, so I can’t recommend it. But we could see the resort from the Castle Rock Country Inn, which we visited in 2001. At Avalon the restaurant, which operates from the inn, order whatever you want for dinner as long as it’s preceded by the Caesar salad and followed by the cheesecake. On par with the victuals, at least in spring and summer, are the benevolent breezes, which keep away the mosquitoes from the bay (night or day).

In comics, Bill Amend’s FoxTrot captured my attention. Two skaters had painted jagged blue “cracks” in the ice to dissuade others from joining the duo. Clever. But because a few people in Massachusetts at least, have fallen through fragile ice, I recommend you stay off the ponds (unless it’s Frog Pond, which you can rent on Monday nights) for a few more weeks.

GlobeWest hosts a weekly contest, whereby readers submit captions for a cartoon. The winner in Sunday’s paper had entered this caption: “Aw, geez, who gave Cheevers a chain saw” to accompany the illustration of a man wearing an old-time goalie mask while he sculpts a six-foot high block of ice.

Back to sports...According to Kevin Paul Dupont’s article in the Boston Globe archives, current B’s management gave Cheesy, the B’s former Hall of Fame netminder and most recently pro scout, the axe in 2006.