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.

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.

2008: Reflections from Donut Land

Here in Donut Land, we reflect on the Top Twelve (not the Top Ten) memories from 2008.

1. My 2008 donut calendar: the first of every month was like Christmas Day
2. Bruins vs. Canadiens, Game Six: “This building is vibrating.” (Jack Edwards)
3. AMHL Tuesday: Dual Shutout
4. High Altitude Training in Jackson Hole, WY
5. AMHL Wednesday: Sharks vs. Canadiens
6. October in Ottawa
7. Reconnecting with the Rockies: Krazy George, Wilf Paiement, and Joe Fletcher
8. AMHL Thursday: Coaching the “Red Army” Team
9. Barry Manilow moment on the New England Hockey Journal Radio Show (NEHJRS)
10. Eric “Danke” Schoen: 1000 career points and an AMHL championship
11. The Bruins’ current 9-game winning streak: longest since 1982
12. My new bookshelf: filled with three dozen or so books about hockey (and donuts)

And a half-dozen of what and who to watch, wait, and hope for in 2009:

1. Blake Wheeler: The Calder Trophy candidate (leads all rookies in goals and plus/minus)
2. Mattias Borman: the Super Swede may lead the FCAHA in scoring
3. A special guest appearance on the NEHJRS by “Jimmy from Maynard”
4. An AMHL Glory update
5. A Stanley Cup in Boston
6. Miracles for *Mike Chase: Keep the faith, buddy.

*Please contact me if you'd like to make a donation

On the Shelf, Part III: That’s the Way It Is

Since my hockey groin injury three weeks ago, the blood extending from my lower abdomen to my left knee has been reabsorbed. But the torn adductor and iliopsoas muscles are not yet ready for ice time. Could be four weeks or more before I’m ready for even a light skate. It’s tough to not participate, but playing is out of the question for now. That’s the way it is. An update, then, on last week’s activities while “on the shelf.”
Wednesday morning
Home

Celine Dion’s “That’s the Way It Is” sustains me as I perform light exercise on the Wobble Board. I’m in push-up position, my hands at 9:00 and 3:00 on the circular device. My abs beg me to exit the exercise, but I hold steady and look up at the objects sitting, left to right across your imagination, on the makeshift shelf: a picture of my parents; a photo of my kids, a personalized AMHL Avalanche photo puck that the AMHL Photographer, whose at the rink right now, created last May. “That’s the Way It Is”, the fourth of five songs in the rotation for my rehab session, and I stand up. A Christopher Cross tune is next on my iPod’s random playlist. I place my feet where my hands just were and then rock side-to-side and then front-to-back until “All Right” (I think we’re gonna make it concludes.

Thursday morning
Concord Valley Sports, Rink One

A different cast of characters has reported to play for the Capitals. Today is no different. Brent Delehey, who missed the first four games, is here today. Good thing because Mike “MMMBop” Hansen is out for the second consecutive game. And today is Scott Keith’s last game—family commitments will tear him away from finishing the season. Family first: That’s the way it is. But Rob “Mobile” Mirak has been here for every game, including this morning’s match against the Panthers.

It’s late in the third period, Caps skating left to right across your AMHL radio and the score 4–4. Mirak pots a goal and then performs a perfect pirouette. For the encore, he scores an empty-netter.

Mirak postulates a reason for the rally. “Gumption,” he says, and then skates off the ice. Bravo, Rob.

Friday
Work

Before walking to work, I completed another light workout session. Pain-free and grateful. Now I’m thinking of Mike “the Eagle” Chase. Like me, he’s also on the shelf. His condition, as many readers who’ve followed his story know, is much more serious than mine, however. Melanoma is fierce competitor, and chemotherapy is a difficult teammate. Mike hasn’t played in months, but he is back to work at Boston College. He has a CT Scan this afternoon and expects the results on Monday. Good luck to you, buddy. We’re, at least in spirit, with you and your family. That’s the way it is with the hockey community.

Katie's Fight

Nine hundred thousand is a nice number if it’s your NHL salary.

For Katie Thomas, a Colorado Avalanche season-ticket holder, that dollar amount is a nightmare. The thirty-three year-old single mom, who in 2007 was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, said the cost of her clinical trial, which is not covered by her health insurance, is approaching that figure.

Thursday night, Katie sounded cheerful talking about hockey (and donuts) but admitted that the trial treatment, which was necessary because traditional treatment wasn’t effective, saps her strength.

“I’ve lost considerable weight,” she said. (The treatment) weakens my bone structure.”

But Katie hasn’t lost hope—hope that she’ll recover sufficiently to skate with her nine-year-old daughter at Big Bear Ice Arena in Aurora, CO or maybe return to playing pick-up hockey with her nephews.

“I’ll need a good year after I’m declared in remission to skate again,” she said.

Until then, she’ll endure the treatments, watch her daughter skate, and root for Milan Hejduk—her favorite player because he’s under-rated—and the Avalanche.

The NHL is helping Katie with medical expenses by donating funds raised at an online auction, where you can bid on rare autographed sports memorabilia—from hockey sweaters to pictures to pucks. Items signed by members of the Miracle on Ice, Phil Kessel, and Ray Bourque are up for grabs. Items signed by Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and other greats are also available. The bidding ends on Thursday, August 7th.

As the spirit moves you, please consider bidding or a donating directly to Katie’s fund.

With your help, Katie will sleep more soundly.

Revenge of the AARP: Part II

Cont'd from Part I

While AMHL veterans (and AARP members) George Morton and Brion Bickerton reveled in the glory of their performances last Thursday, Boston Bruin Aaron Ward contemplated what he would call a “cheesy” line to commence the cutting part of “Cuts for a Cause.”

Ward, a weekly guest on WBCN radio, had arranged haircuts to raise money for the cause—the Mass General Hospital for Children—for his teammates, right to left across your mind’s eye: Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Alberts, Mark Stuart, and Dennis Wideman.

The players sat in their chairs on a stage in WBCN’s crowded basement. Twenty fans, who had pledged donations to the cause and who had each brought a guest, and the Boston media—NESN, NECN, and WBZ to name a few—focused on the Bruin most likely to block a shot.

Ward, who lives in the nexus of NASCAR country in the off-season, said, “Gentlemen, start your razors.”

He sat down in the chair in front of me as I took a five-second training course from a professional from Dellaria Salons. I then placed the humming hedge-clipper near the top of Shotblocker44’s forehead. No bleeding. Front to back, I sheared a swath through the middle of his hair. After a few passes, I had missed a spot up front, but the professional to my right told me to leave it. I handed the job over to her. (Goals are nice, but I’m happy with an assist.)

Later, the venerable Bruin went to work on Adolfo Gonzalez Jr. Toucher and Rich’s twenty-one-year-old sidekick/field correspondent/whipping boy extraordinario sat serenely, awaiting his fate. Ward transformed the unfazed boy wonder into what the Bruin referred to as an Ed Asner look-alike.

Someone made a crack about the AARP hairdo. Someone else then suggested that Mr. Gonzalez, who with his horseshoe haircut and distinguished-looking black glasses, had no clue what the acronym stands for.

“The American Association of Retired Persons,” the young man said as if he were already a member.

Revenge of the AARP: Part I

“It’s kind of like Revenge of the Nerds,” I said to my driver, fellow AMHLer George Morton. He had just described the goals he and Brion Bickerton had scored on Thursday morning.

Morton, a Capital, and Bickerton, a Bruin, are among the league’s leaders…in age. They’re closer to greeting St. Peter than they are to leading the league in scoring, and it’s rare that the all-but-bald quinquagenarians score in the same game.

“The AARP,” George corrects me.

“Revenge of the AARP!” I say as I pull my gear from the back of his Subaru. “That’s my blog!”

George and Brion will later describe how, on behalf of the American Association of Retired Persons, they exacted revenge on Generation X.

George writes, “Well, you know it's tough remembering details, especially at our age. However, I'll do my best.

“For Brion's goal, my recollection is that he received the puck from one of his defenseman behind his own net, skated through some vicious forechecking in his own zone, escaped from a hook and an attempted trip in the neutral zone, and then shredded the Capital defense.

“He executed his patented spin move just over the blue line, causing one defenseman to fall down and then faked the slapper and walked around the remaining d just before deking the goalie and deftly depositing a nifty backhand over the right shoulder and into the net.

“I may be a little off on a few of the more subtle details but I think I caught the flavor of the whole experience.

“As for my goal, it occurred early enough in the game that the memory has totally faded but I think it was similar to Brion's.”

Brion basks in the afterglow—all weekend—before he reciprocates George’s generosity, “It's not that age affects remembering the details. It's just at this point, George and I have so many seasons behind us with so many game-winning goals that it becomes difficult to isolate a single goal amongst the many achievements.

“What struck me about George's goal last week was the sheer strength and balance required to pull it off. George and I had been pounding each other all morning. I had just taken a slap shot that hit the rear glass so hard that it richoted [sic] almost back to the blue line where an opportunistic George caught it mid-air with the blade of his stick perfectly redirecting it to his line mate who didn't have to break stride to get the puck. At that point, I tried to grab George to slow down his pace but he slashed my wrists to make me lose [my] grasp.

“George sprinted down ice catching up to his line mate who was sprinting down the left side of the ice. It was a 2 on 3 situation, with both Mike Moore and Chris Powers perfectly positioned on defense to put a stop to the rush. George heads for the top of the key with both Mike and Chris starting to pinch him. Notwithstanding the double-teaming of George, George's linemate passed it into George. Chris then grabbed George by his shooting arm and Mike started pushing George down toward the ice. Remarkably, George kept the puck on his stick and more remarkably, as he was falling down to the surface of the ice, George with only one hand on the stick (the other one being pinned by Chris), backhanded the puck over the goalie's right shoulder. How anyone could have one handed a backhand shot with any power and direction is beyond me, but George did it.

“Despite our goals and our altercations during the game, we were most disappointed not to notch a "Gordie Howe" -- a goal, an assist, and a fight, with the assist eluding us.”

What has eluded us is the truth, but I don’t think the AARP will mind that—or the free publicity.

Stay tuned for Part II of Revenge of the AARP, starring…

-Aaron Ward (as himself), Boston Bruins
-Adolfo Gonzalez (as Ed Asner) from WBCN
-Yours Truly

Here’s a sneak peek at the trailer.

Zeroes and Heroes

Zero: the number of…

-Face-offs I lost on Thursday morning

-Points I’ve scored this season

-Times the NHL Bruins have beaten the Canadiens this season

-Trans-fat calories in the Bruins Donut I’ll eat later today

Heroes:

-Mark Flinkstrom, who scored his first two AMHL goals

-Bobby Orr, who turned 60

-Kenny Tarr, who thwarted four breakaways

-Chad Mikkelson who scored the game-winner in OT

-Pete Anastos, Scott Arnold, Pete Bagley, Brent Delehey, Dave Losier, and Aaron Sherman, who sponsored the breakfast extravaganza

-And John Scott, who passed away this week. John, who was born and raised in Wakefield, MA, was my teammate more than twenty years ago, when we played in the Fort Collins Adult Hockey Association. I remember him because I don’t think he ever sharpened his skates; because he was a great two-way player and teammate; because he was congenial and kind. I’m sure he wasn’t perfect, but he’s still a hero—and not just because he was Vietnam Vet—to many who played with him.

AMHL Rewind: Best of Three

Steve Scansaroli and Kenny “KISS Fan” Tarr are peas in a pod. Both are goalies. Both work from home. They live close to each other, so they carpool to the rink. And this past week, they’ve played against each other three times.

Last Saturday night, in the annual Jimmy Dwyer Birthday Skate, Scans and Kenny played three thirty-minute periods. They played well—Kenny perhaps a little stronger in nets for the first two periods—but each was eventually humbled because this reporter scored breakaway goals on each.

By Thursday morning, Scans—filling in for Mike Chase in the Panthers’ crease—and Kenny had recovered. Kenny’s Avalanche overwhelmed the Panthers in the third period and won 8–3.

But let’s rewind this week to Tuesday morning, when Scans’s Penguins faced Kenny’s Blues. This game was the best of the three.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Rink Two

When Mike Chase—not in action for the Blues because his first radiation treatment to thwart melanoma is this afternoon—enters Valley Sports Arena a few minutes into the game; he has no idea that history is in the making.

The Blues, skating left to right across your streaming imagination, and Penguins cannot put a single puck past either goaltender. At the first intermission, players from both teams skate across the rink to the penalty box. Chase, in his sweat suit and BC Eagles baseball style cap, stands strong and greets his concerned but playful well-wishers from his vantage point in the sin bin. (Mike is no stranger to these parts: 76 career penalty minutes).

Scansaroli and Tarr take their places for the second stanza. The sounds of hockey permeate the air: titanium blades digging into ice, composite sticks whacking vulcanized rubber, the oohs and aahs as Scans and Kenny stop shot after shot.

In the third period, neither team has scored when the Blues’ “Peterborough Pete” Kokas, stands in front of Scans, waiting for a pass from the corner. Kokas corrals the puck, and then fakes a shot. Scans drops into a butterfly. Kokas fires—and you can imagine NESN announcer Jack Edwards say, “Kick save by Scans!”

“I thought for sure he was scoring,” Scans will write via e-mail the next day. He’ll also say he had been struggling with new leg pads. He was strapping them too tightly.

But now he feels “comfy” with them loose.

In OT, the two friends are still courting a shutout.

Scans squares to the Blues’ Mike DeLeo, who charges in on a breakaway bid. DeLeo snaps a shot high glove side. Scans stretches his left hand to snare the would-be game-winning goal.

The Penguins on the bench go wild!

Later in OT, the Pens’ game-breaker, Kevin MacDonald, rushes in on Tarr.

Tarr will describe the action via e-mail on Wednesday morning. “Scans had just made yet another HUGE save to keep the game from ending and the puck ended up on the Pens blue line on Kevin MacDonald's stick with a head of steam already. He came flying in dead center. I came WAY out to challenge and started backing up as fast as I could go. He deeked around me and I sprawled my legs and slid backwards just enough to catch the puck with the bottom of the pad. As if that wasn't enough, the (expletive deleted) takes the rebound, circles around for more! I make that save high right shoulder and smother the rebound for the whistle. (Fifty) seconds later, history was made.”

The first scoreless tie in the AMHL’s ten-year history.

“I think that just maybe the presence of Mike Chase looking so good and in such great spirits may have had a little something to do with this,” says Tarr.

"Stay Out of My Crease!"

Cancer. Every family dreads the word. Now it’s the AMHL family’s turn to face facts: Mike “the Eagle” Chase has melanoma, and he needs help.

Three weeks ago, Mike left early from Boston College, where he works an applications developer, because he wasn’t feeling well. A few days later, a CAT scan revealed lesions or tumors on his brain and a mass in his right lung.

Surgery on February 13th was successful. Mike and his family—his wife Karen and two girls, his parents, extended family, and in-laws—waited for the pathology results.

Now we have them. Mike is in for a fight, but he’s a fighter. Some say stubborn. Obstinate when it comes to clearing pucks (and opponents) from his crease. But he knows a goalie can’t win without help.

How? Wish him well and check his progress at CaringBridge.org. Buy a wristband*. Pray.

*To purchase a wristband, contact the following:

-At Boston College, contact Bart Barros at bartolomeu.barros.1(at)bc.edu
-AMHLers, see me at the rink next week or contact me at jimfdwyer(at)gmail.com
-Otherwise, contact Mike’s sister-in-law Susan at susan.haley(at)yahoo.com

We need "the Eagle" to soar and then fly back to his crease.