Woos, A Whoa, and Ha-Has: Insights on the Bruins and Donuts (and a Quiz)

Woo! Woo! Woo!

And so on…ten Bruins goals against the New York Rangers on Saturday January 10, 2026.

Not sure if there were more woos! Or CarShield commercials featuring Ric Flair.

How many of the ten goals did David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie score? (see answer below)

It’s the first time two Bruins scored hat tricks in a home game (Pavel Zacha and Marat Khusnutdinov) since 1964 when Andy Hebenton and Dean Prentice tripled down on the goal production. Woo!

You may be wondering: Why the long lapse in posts on this wicked entertaining and hockey (and donut) blog?

A few dozen of you have a renewed or perhaps brand-new appetite for this kind of writing. So I've semi-un-retired. Woo! 

So let’s get to the donuts.

How many donuts from Atkins Farms did I finish? (see answers below)

When I wasn’t watching hockey or eating donuts, I was doing research on Milan Lucic.

Any guess where he’s playing these days? (see answers below)

Luc’s stats:

12 Games Played

4 Goals

4 Assists

-3 Rating

Not bad. But whoa, the Fifes have won seven of thirty-four games while Luc’s former Boston Bruins are on a roll.

Aside from woos and whoa, some hand-clapping and ha-ha moments for the Bruins:

Zdeno Chara’s #33 number joining the other dozen Bruins.

Can you name them all? (see answers below)

As an MC, Andrew Ference was funny, humble, and insightful.

Not as hilarious as Unobstructive Views with Andrew Raycroft, Tuukka Rask, and Patrice Bergeron or or Bergy’s imitation of Pasta of Brad Marchand.

Until next time (woo knows when that'll be), the answers to the quiz:

🏒Pasta and Geekie combined for zero goals but assisted on a few

🍩I didn’t finish any donuts but assisted on a few

🏒Milan Lucic has been playing for the Fife Flyers of the UK Elite Ice Hockey League.

🏒Bruins whose numbers have been retired

#2 - Eddie Shore

#3 - Lionel Hitchman

#4 - Bobby Orr

#5 - Dit Clapper

#7 - Phil Esposito

#8 - Cam Neely

#9 - Johnny Bucyk

#15 - Milt Schmidt

#16 - Rick Middleton

#22 - Willie O'Ree

#24 - Terry O'Reilly

#33 - Zdeno Chara

#77 - Ray Bourque 

            

Top Twelve: Pushing Away from the Table

All but done with donut(s)

I posted one entry in 2015, a clear sign that other endeavours have wooed me away from writing about hockey (and donuts).  

Oh, I have many other stories I’d like to tell here, but it’s time to say an official “see you later” with one more Top Twelve collection—this one focused on the activities, people and places that, in the last year or so, have provided relief, gratitude and even joyfulness as way to combat my often irrational fear and anxiety.

Reading

Ron Maclean’s Hockey Towns: Untold Stories from the Heart of Canada; George Henderson’s Krazy George Still Krazy After All These Cheers; and Clint Malarchuk’s A Matter of Inches, the latter of which I finished reading in Montreal.

Montreal, QC

I didn’t skate on Puckbite’s backyard rink. Way too cold. But, the Habs-loving, late-blooming hockey player and yours truly enjoyed lunch and a long philosophical discussion about hockey and the arts.

My wife and I visited several familiar places and a new donut establishment, in La Petite-Italie. Our Russian cabbie, a friendly historian who knows his way around town, delivered us to Le Trou de Beigne, where we bought these donuts, some of which we shared with the doorman at our hotel, some of which we ate, and a lot of which we had to sacrifice for art’s sake.

North Carolina

Getting Silly with "Stormy"

Another wonderful friend, much like Puckbite, lives in Charlotte. Hockey isn’t such a big deal there, so we drove north.

In Raleigh, college football outranks professional hockey, but the PNC Arena is a fantastic venue to watch a Hurricanes game. Even though the Dallas Stars beat the home team, we still enjoyed affordable seats near the player’s bench, the “Two in the Box” video segment and pulled pork.

In Durham, the hot spot is Monuts Donuts. Unique donut and coffee options contribute to the flair of this tavern that, of course, serves Sierra Nevada Tropical IPA and Irish Coffee.

Ireland

The Nutella-covered cronut at Krust Bakery was the best tasting donut in Dublin. The Boston Cream at The Natural Bakery in Donnybrook made me feel at home.

Bostonians beware: I saw lots of people sporting NY Yankees caps and not a single Dubliner wearing Red Sox merchandise.

I didn’t see a Celtics, Bruins or Sox fan in Galway either, but that’s not something I worried about while savoring the porridge at the House Hotel—in the heart of the Latin Quarter. ¡Qué bueno!

Dave Gosher and Bob Beers

Gosher calls such a great Bruins game on the radio that sometimes my wife and I turn off the TV’s sound. Three weeks ago on the Sports Hub 98.5 hockey show, Beers said it’s unrealistic to expect the Bruins to be perfect every game. Every NHL team goes through ups and downs. This kind of broadcasting is refreshing and supports my efforts to tap into gratitude, dare I say love.

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand

I love these guys. How blessed are we here in Boston to have this duo on the same line and same penalty killing unit? Definitely an odd pairing, but what’s not to love as they demonstrate their mutual affection in this Valentine’s Day video? The only thing missing is a love song.

Nashville, TN

Some Nashville hockey fans may be tired of Tim McGraw’s “I like it, I love it” after every goal the Predators score, but my wife and I heard it five times as the hometown team defeated the St. Louis Blues. I couldn’t get enough of it.

My afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame rivaled the hockey game for entertainment value. The Keith Urban exhibit, which includes an autographed Quebec Nordiques T-shirt, and chatting with a visitor from Toronto in front of the cowboy music displays, made me happy.

My wife took a poolside photograph of  a “100 Layer Donut” from Five Daughters Bakery as I listened to a Garth Brooks tune streaming from our hotel’s speakers.

West Point, NY

Getting to re-connect with a relative who plays for the Black Knights was extra special.

Even if you’re not a hockey fan, West Point is a beautiful place to visit. I didn’t see a donut dispenser on campus, but you’ll find outstanding soda bread and cider donuts a few miles up the road, at Jones Farm.

Writing

Most every Friday morning at the Boston Bean House, I’m working on a historical novel. If you love hockey or Canadian-American history, this book may be for you. Someday. (By the way, my hockey and donut memoir is still on the to-complete list, but it needs a wee more bit editing and time to mature.)

The AMHL

“You still got it,” Donut Boy told me while I, in my street clothes, shot the puck into the net. He was skating after the game, as he always does, and I wasn’t— but that didn’t matter. His compliment lifted my spirits.

I’ve had so much fun playing hockey with Donut Boy and all the other men and women that make the AMHL so special. As I re-read some of the stories I’ve written (and had forgotten about), I’m so glad to have been part of the league, as a player and writer, and for friends like Donut Boy.

Exercise

I haven’t skated since last fall but planks and long walks, in the cities we’ve visited and here at home in Maynard, have become my friends.

Less Pain

My groin and hip pain has decreased in frequency, intensity and duration. I’m not cured of it and there are flare-ups. But, thanks to my wife, exercise, pelvic floor therapy, my chiropractor, playing the guitar, prayer, music, meditation, my psychologist and countless others who care about me, I remain gratefully yours.

Thank you—gracias, merci, obrigado, shokran, spaciba, Go raibh maith agaibh—to all the readers over the world and to those who also shared their hockey (and/or donut) stories. Thanks for such an enlightening and magical ten-year gig.

See you on LinkedIn, email, the golf course, the rink…maybe someday here on this site again, or wherever our paths may cross again.

Update:
21 March 2017

You can now read my new blog, stories I tell about learning Spanish--in particular about pronunciation.

Fathers, Sons and Dunkin' Donuts

Coupons from my father's DDU training manual 

In 1974, my dad spent six weeks at Dunkin’ Donuts University (DDU) in Braintree, MA. While he learned about frying fritters and operating a franchise, my mom and we four boys went about our business in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Mom told a lumber yard employee that her husband, Jim, had died and asked the stranger if he could help her Cub Scouts with a Pinewood Derby project.)

I was a fifth-grader at Longfellow Elementary, yet I don’t recall learning anything about Henry Wadsworth or reciting “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

After my dad returned from Boston and then moved us to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—where he opened a Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 66—my ex-classmates wrote to me. I still have the missives written on paper reserved for grade-schoolers learning to improve their penmanship, if not their spelling and punctuation. Greg, for example, wrote, “You are lucky because your dad works in a dunkin donuts (sic) shop, when ever (sic) you want a donut you got one. Boy, you are going to live in paradise!”

Dad made cutting donuts look easy to a ten-year old. On rare occasions, he would place the chrome ringlet-maker in my right hand. I anticipated chopping the dough into perfect circles, just like my father had learned at DDU. I swung my right arm and wrist downward at the doughy blob and anticipated the impact, that flick of the wrist Dad had executed to free the soon-to-be donut from its mother ship.

Thwap. A doughy glob would get stuck in the donut-cutter. (I had latent talent that wouldn’t manifest itself for another decade or so, but that’s another story). Dad then blended the mutant’s remains into the big batch and repeated the process he had learned in Boston.

I could also watch my father through the gigantic rectangular window separating the customers from the master donut maker. He’d roll dough flat, sprinkle cinnamon on top, reshape the mass into a roll—and then with a whack, whack, whack—he’d chop off chunks that would become coffee rolls.

My dad wore splattered batter instead of blush. Cakeup, not makeup. He shouldered the burden: the long, long hours required to feed customers and to earn a living for a growing family.

Less than two years later, we moved back to Colorado—to Fort Collins, where my dad would own an automotive business for more than three dozen years and I would learn that I preferred donut grease to muffler grime.

In 2013, less than a year before Oklahoma City’s Dunkin’ Donut franchisee Misha Goli would announce the expansion of the brand there, he and I chatted about our dads and donuts. His father, Massoud, had also attended DDU and baked... and baked. Misha, a ten-year old in 1992, wanted no part of that. He was all about customer service.

He said, “I used to get the milk crates—I couldn’t reach the cash register because I was too short. So I would always get the milk crate and put that under the cash register, jump up and grab the register with one arm and use the other hand to try to push the buttons and ring the customers up as they were coming in.”

He also remembers that giant rectangular window through which customers could watch bakers in action. “The windows aren’t there anymore,” Misha said. He was quick to add that the family and community spirit is still alive, however.

His father has retired and still lives in Oklahoma. My dad passed away last October, in Fort Collins—a week before Dunkin’ Donuts opened a store there and while I was home here in Boston.

My wife and I flew back to Colorado, and in my dad’s basement she found his Dunkin’ Donuts training manual with that old school logo, letters rounded into a fuchsia-colored coffee cup.

Talk about your full circle.

Top Twelve: The 2013-2014 Boston Bruins

Patrice Bergeron’s hat trick against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night may be the first of special memories this year—but before the regular season commences, let’s take one longing glance at last season.

I present these Top Twelve highlights:

1.      Fitness first—it’s Zdeno Chara and. Kevin Millar with 31 pull-ups each; the shuttle run and heaving diaphragms gasping for air. Who plays with Chris Kelly on the third line: Carl Soderberg? Reilly Smith? Jordan Caron? Matt Lindblad? Anthony Camara? “Coaches and management,” says Dennis Leary, “have to start thinking about who will stay and who will go.” See and hear it all on Behind the B.

2.      More from Behind the B: Frisbee golf and forging friendships at the team-building retreat. Game One at the TD Garden against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Chris Kelly’s goal on a penalty shot starts the season right.

3.      Same episode—about a dozen minutes in. Matt Bartkowski and Tory Krug talking donuts and listening to Rush.

4.      Tough guy Torey Krug gets in to a fight and then skates to the penalty box. I can’t remember which game is was or who he fought, but I do recall Krug sitting down and then tucking his hair behind his ears.

5.      Halloween Night. My wife and I dressed, like normal human beings, stroll through the North End. A giant spider dangles from the doorway at Polcari’s as adolescents amble about and parents push their bedecked wee ones in strollers. The home team’s attack is woeful against the Anaheim Ducks, but our boys win in a shootout.

6.      Thanksgiving in VA. Listening to the Bruins on Internet radio. To my dismay, the Pittsburgh Penguins tie the game with .03 seconds remaining in the third period, but Krug scores the OT winner. Much merriment. Thank you.

7.      A Two-s-day Night in Alberta. Two Us, two Ks…two points for the B’s as Tuukka Rask earns his second shutout of the season The Bruins beat the Calgary flames, 2–0. Jerome Iginla earns two assists. And Johnny Boychuk returns to Boston to greet the next two Bruins fans to join his family. .

8.      Chief Travel Officer and Ticket Master. Johnny Bucyk, the team’s travel coordinator, carries his own luggage. As cheerful as they come, Chief fulfills ticket requests at the Game Day Breakfast.

9.      The Bear and the Gang, Christmas Spectacular. Produced when leaves still cling to New England’s trees, this video is a winner. Third Star: Rene Rancourt’s magic microphone. Second star: Patrice Bergeron as the proud owner of a shiny new weed eater. First Star: the Bear.

10.  Credit Card Roulette. At Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, Jordie Caron foots the dinner bill.

11.  Per Johan Axelsson; He still sports the great hair and is still a snazzy dresser. Now P. J. is a scout for the B’s, and he’s on the road with his colleagues and management watching his former team on National TV against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Black and Gold lose in a shootout. Too bad none of the current Bruins deployed the move P. J. used against the Blackhawks in 2008.

12.  Frozen Yogurt Fraser. Rookie Matt Fraser’s admission that he was working off a froyo—this after he scored the OT winner in Game Three against the Canadiens—served as a sweet and serendipitous post-game interview. 

Dishing Hockey and Donuts with Award-Winning Author Roland Merullo

Award-winning author Roland Merullo loves hockey (and donuts) as much as I do. He wrote something to that effect to me and then signed his name in the copy of Lunch with Buddha I had purchased.

I haven’t read all of his books, such as the one with a donut on the cover, but I will buy them because I anticipate more hockey, more donut references. But it’s more than that. The magic of Merullo is his thought-provoking style of storytelling. He makes me question my own behavior and beliefs but not in a Thou-shalt, heavy-handed fashion. His fiction is unique yet real, affirming and enlightening, funny, spell-binding.

Characters in his books seem to have a thing for hockey and those halo-like treats that serve as one of this site’s hallmarks, so I asked Merullo about this connection. We traded email, and I now present these six questions and answers.  

Jim Dwyer: I know you shy away from donuts now—but what donut do you equate with paradise?

Roland Merullo: Honey dipped or chocolate honey dipped, but my tastes are eclectic.

JD: When you were twenty-four, you broke your back. So hockey, as you wrote in a 2012 Facebook posting, is "off the table." But you must have played as a kid in Revere or at Phillips Exeter. What are one or two of your fondest recollections of those days?

RM: I skated at the MDC rink in Revere, and play street hockey in front of my house, but I never was on the ice with a stick until 11th grade at Exeter. I made the club all-star team, and have many great memories from those days. I also played a little club hockey at B.U. and Brown, and in a men’s league on an outdoor rink the one year we lived on Martha’s Vineyard (my wife taught at the high school). That was AFTER the broken back. Many great memories but my last goal was a tip-in on a shot from the left point. I just laid out my stick and it went into the upper right-hand corner. A good shot to retire on.

JD: One more real-life question before we move on to your books: Who was and perhaps still is your favorite hockey player?

RM: Eddie Shack, hands down. I liked his nuttiness.

(JD’s note: Eddie once owned a few donut shacks, so to speak).

JD: In Breakfast with Buddha, Otto Ringling has a hockey scar. How would Otto describe the incident that gave him that mark on his neck?

RM: He was on the wrong end of a high stick.

JD: Otto's "breakfast" companion, Volya Rinpoche, loves miniature golf, but what does he think of hockey?

RM: Well, he’s from Siberia, so we have to assume he would enjoy it. He fell asleep at a baseball game, however. I saw one game in Russia, actually the USSR, in 1977, when they still called themselves amateurs. No fighting, a little checking, but the best passing I have ever seen.

JD: If Rinpoche were to meet Jesus in an American Savior sequel, where would they meet for donuts?

RM: The donut shop where Jake meets Janet in Allston in my novel, A Little Love Story. It’s made up, based loosely on a shop in Hadley, MA, on Route 9, with a very talkative Greek owner.

Check out a Merullo novel or non-fiction book from your local library. Buy one from a real or virtual shelf and then have him sign it at one if his events. 

Jesus Loves Donuts

Jesus loves donuts.

I know this because I read it in a wonderful novel: American Savior, by Roland Merullo. A best-selling and award-winning author, Merullo tends to inject subtle donut and/or hockey references into his books. I read Breakfast with Buddha in 2012 and Lunch with Buddha in 2013. Both are gripping stories with believable characters. They traverse America in pursuit of food and spiritual nourishment, but neither novel features a character who loves donuts as much as Jesus.

On the campaign trail that crisscrosses the United States—Jesus is running for president—the candidate orders his modern-day disciples to stop at donut shops.

The Savior is no goalie, though, as implied in the Boston expression about Espo scoring on a rebound. But he could be a forward or defenseman, according to the narrator. A wise-cracking and skeptical TV reporter, Russ is a regular Doubting Thomas who wants to believe.

He suggests that this Jesus he’s just met could be as manly as hockey player sitting in the sin bin and a man who has not lost an ounce of his feminine kindness.

Jesus, in Merullo’s depiction, feels like a good friend. The sort of fella with whom I could discuss benevolent anarchy. The kind of guy who would sing a song by the Carpenters with me. A dude with whom I could break bread or donuts. 

2013 Top Twelve

1. Patrice Bergeron’s game-winner for the Bruins against the Maple Leafs—hear the Dave Goucher's call or from the announcers in Finland.

2. Writing to Pope Francis, asking for his opinion about Holy Donuts in Portland, ME. (Papa Francisco: Espero su respuesta.)

3. Celebrating twenty years of marriage to the AMHL Photographer.

4. Seeing my little brother, Dennis (the one with the most hockey talent in our family and an Avalanche/Michael Jackson fan) and his youth hockey pals and other punks all grown up.

5. Blue Star Donuts in Portland, OR.

6. Publishing a piece at Puck Daddy.

7. St. Andrews, NB: Our annual visit to the safe house where the protagonist in my novel plays hockey and mentioning the sea-side town in a song I wrote.

8. Learning how to play “I Wanna Drive the Zamboni” (Gear Daddies) on the guitar (I know the basics, anyway) as well as playing tunes by Canadians Michael Bublé and Bryan Adams.

9. The Bear and the Gang Christmas Spectacular: Everything from Dave Goucher’s voice to Patrice Bergeron’s Christmas present, to Dougie Hamilton’s red nose to Rene Rancourt’s toboggan ride with the Bear. Fa la la laugh out loud.

10. Tuukka Rask—two Us, two Ks… and Zdeno Chara—two goals—shut out the Flames.  This was a special game not just because Jerome Iginla’s ex-team was at the TD Garden but also because it was 80’s night: Terry O’Reilly dropped the honorary puck, and the in-game music included an a-ha moment and New Kids on the Block.

11. J.-P. Plouffe’s eccentric world where hockey, society, and art all get along (mostly).

12. Reconnecting with my AMHL friends after the Thursday Fall 2013Championship Game. 

Portland, Oregon: Top Twelve

The AMHL Photographer and I visited Portland, Oregon for the first time last week. We knew about Portland’s most famous donut establishment but were too busy discovering the magic of Portland’s Alphabet District/Nob Hill and West Side, or exploring Northwest Oregon/Southwest Washington, to do the Voo Doo.

I present, then, the Top Twelve reasons to visit Portland:

1.    Salt & Straw: This establishment serves products from Delicious Donuts, but the Salt & Straw’s main draw is ice cream, many of the flavors concocted with bizarre, but complementary ingredients and flavors. I recommend the Goat Cheese/Marionberry/Habanero and Grandma Malek’s Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache. Hockey fans will find at least one employee who knows the Bruins lost Game Six against the Black Hawks and who knows that the local junior team, the Winterhawks, won the 2013 Western Hockey League championship.

2.    Former Bruin Andrew Ference played for the Winter Hawks (the team changed its name from Winter Hawks to Winterhawks in 2009). Other alumni include Joe Morrow, Cam Neely, Glen Wesley, Brad Isbister and Byron Dafoe.

3.   Portland tends to be Eco/Ference-friendly.

4.    Blue Star Donuts: Gaining popularity in the West Side, there are still too many Portlanders who haven’t yet heard of this shop. A dedicated pastry chef (from New England) combines local and organic ingredients and a French brioche recipe to produce donuts like the Blackberry Compote & Peanut Butter Powder.

5.   Inclined to walk off the calories? Portland is home to steep geography. Climb the Southwest Hills.

6.    Or walk from Blue Star Donuts to Lardo—and then order the Mixed Greens Salad: local greens, rainbow carrots, radishes, fennel and honey champagne vinaigrette.

7.    Drive to Cannon Beach, seventy-five miles northwest of Portland. Park at the Tolovana State Recreation site. We arrived shortly after sunrise on a Tuesday morning, the smoke from burning driftwood lingering but the beach almost all too ourselves. Haystack Rock jutting from the ocean floor and Pigeon Guillemots flocking to the pine-clad cliffs, Cannon Beach didn’t disappoint my wife, the photographer. Drive back to Portland via Route 30 and gaze at Mount St. Helens.

8.    Corylus avellana. Oregon doesn’t have the climate to grow coffee beans, but the state produces Gretzky-like numbers (99% of the U.S. crop) if you’re talking hazelnuts.

9.    Astoria, OR: Get your fill of hazelnuts in the salad named Oregon Hazelnut, prepared at the Wet Dog Cafe. Then consider climbing the Astoria Column—or at least discover the Lewis and Clark influence on this area.

10.  Portland nicknames: The Rose City, Stumptown, Beervana, Bridgetown, PDX

11.  More non-donut food favorites: Savor the empanada (grilled corn, sweet potato & Manchego filling, arugula, fried chickpeas, cilantro-lime crème fraîche) at Serrato, the tacos (best black beans I can recall tasting) at Santa Fe Taqueria, and the build-your-own pizza (pepperoni and pineapple) at Pizzicato Pizza on 23^rd Street.

12.  Back to Blue Star, where this writing is on the wall: “Keep Calm and Eat Donuts.” The Blueberry, Bourbon & Basil is the best-selling. 

Charles Bradley: Pucks, Pets and CAN-AM Camaraderie, Part I

May 11, 2013

Saturday morning

West Concord, MA

The AMHL Photographer and I sit at our usual table at Dunkin’ Donuts, discussing an upcoming doctor appointment to address my Humpty Dumpty Groin.

She notices a familiar face entering the place, and I look left to watch Charles Bradley, an AMHLer, a veterinarian and one fine Canadian, approach. Wearing a solid bold blue short-sleeved shirt and smiling, he extends his right hand to meet mine.

Half of his left thumbnail is black and blue. Looks like a hockey injury to me. Charlie raises his hands, like a begging beagle, to reenact his awkward attempt to block a shot during a 3–1 loss on Tuesday morning. He laughs at himself.

Despite his Avalanche losing to the Leafs and his bruised lunula, Charlie seems happy, like the same fellow I got to know ten years ago, when he shared his hockey (and donut) story with me.

I asked him on that Tuesday morning in March, 2003, “Given your preference, Tim Hortons or Dunkin’ Donuts?”

Just then someone opened the fire escape door, not because of an emergency but because the door was closer to his car. This triggered a fire alarm bell.

“Tim Hortons,” Charlie said.

Tim Hortons, I say, OK.

“Definitely.”

I had a feeling, but there was a pause

“Because of the bell,” he says.

I switch from donuts to hockey and learn that Charlie was born and raised in Montreal (pronounced MUN–tree–all) and started playing hockey when he was four or five years old. 

“Our grade school was in Loyola Park, and we had four hockey rinks and one skating rink right behind us. The City maintained it.” Charlie said. “And in those days (1960s), we didn’t have really artificial ice, except for the (Verdun Auditorium) and Montreal Forum. Well, we played hockey every day; we played because the rinks were maintained by the City.”

These were outdoor rinks?

Charlie said, “Outdoor ice, yeah. And the guys would come out, the municipal workers would come out and flood every night. They were illuminated, and we could play all the time unless there was a thaw. It was great. That’s where we learned our skills.”

As we chat after his Tuesday morning game, comedian and AMHL mainstay Chris Howell interrupts us. “I just want to say that Charles Bradley is probably the biggest liar I’ve ever met.”

“Thanks a lot, Donut Boy,” Charlie replied, enjoying the friendly exchange.

After Donut Boy exited, I asked Bradley if he had aspirations of playing junior hockey.

Loyola High School, he said. "Pretty high-level hockey.”

The Jesuit-run school, created for English-speaking Catholics in the Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce neighborhood of Montreal, resides on Rue Sherbrooke and is contained by Concordia University, a few blocks west of Parc Loyola.

Charlie wore the school’s maroon and white sweater.

“We did tournaments, and we were usually the champions or near the top in the Montreal league,” he said as the Zamboni did its thing around the Valley Sports rink. “And we had our rink, so that helped a lot. We skated every day. We skated probably about seven to ten hours a week. It was good for skills as well.”

After high school, though, hockey took a back seat to professional studies. He graduated from The University of Guelph Ontario Veterinary College and then worked at dozens of practices in the next almost twenty years, travelling from Ontario to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

He found his way back to hockey, though. In 2000 or 2001, Charlie says that after learning of the AMHL at a Valley Sports Stick Time session on a Friday afternoon, he registered to play.

“I was really surprised at the level of hockey,” he said. “This is a nice league because, the difference to me, other than the time, is that everyone plays hockey for the fun of it. They don’t take it too seriously. That was a real put-off for me when guys were getting really really serious, competitive, and angry at each other, smashing each other and holding grudges. We don’t see that in this league. And the idea of rotating the teams through is really good. Having the time after for the CAM-uh-rah-duh-rie and fellowship, that makes it really good.”

But financial struggles—tough to earn find stability in a veterinary market where clinic ownership can change hands— took him away from his passions: taking care of cats and dogs and playing hockey. He dabbled in local home renovation, but that endeavor never took off. He and his family decided to move to Ontario in 2009.

Upon learning of the move across the 49^th Parallel, AMHLers expressed their respect for Charlie by email.

“On behalf of all the AMHL officials, we would like to extend our best wishes to Charlie and his family as they go back to the mother country. Bradley was a great competitor and statesman from Canada and will be missed,” wrote Referee Peter Bagley.

Terry Loebs: “I will remember Charles Bradley as the most accomplished backchecking defenseman in AMHL history, and the all-time leader in evoking the same question ("Is that guy playing 'D' or forward?") among AMHL newbies. Good luck, Charles (eh?)”

Mike Schneider wrote, “Nicest guy off the ice. On the ice? Tenacious, quick, strong. A beast on defense. The kind of guy you fear going towards or fear may be on your heels. If you beat Charles, you know you played your best.”

Now, Bradley is back in business and back in the game. At the Dunkin’ Donuts in West Concord, he’s his same old amiable self as he sits at the table next to my wife and me. Caring to the core about pets and humans alike, Charles Bradley listens to my wife describe my ongoing injury saga and makes a suggestion or two from his own experience as a hockey player and animal doctor. (You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker, “Be kind to animals. Hug a hockey player.” Right?)

Stop by Domino Veterinary Hospital (DVH), Charlie says, I’ll give you a brochure for the doctor that fixed my wrist.

He stands up to get in line for his coffee as my wife and I prepare to leave. 

(To be continued)

2012 Top Twelve Highlights

With Hostess liquidating its assets, I find solace in a seasonal donut memory: My mom used to tuck a box of Donettes, those little chocolate-covered treats, in the refrigerator of her Colorado kitchen. Just for me. So when I’d fly home for the holidays or other occasions, those magic minis were good and crunchy.

Alternating whole donuts and sips of orange juice, I felt peaceful and loved.

Although Mom and Hostess have passed away (Mom to Donut Heaven and Hostess to be reincarnated in another brand), I remain grateful for those wonderful retentions. So, too, am I thankful for the gifts of 2012.

1.      The New AMHL Web Site: “Come for the hockey; stay for the donuts” is now the official tagline.

2.      Hockey (and donuts), Pittsburgh Style: The Bridge City, where the rivers Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio converge, might consider adopting the AMHL mantra, especially for fans like my wife and me. The Bruins lost to the Penguins (on NBC), but witnessing Marty Turco’s save against Jordan Stahl eased the pain. (So did the little donuts, man.)

3.      Great Goal: “That’s what it looks like when 18,000 stand as one…” said Mike “Doc” Emrick after Chris Kelly scored in OT. The Bruins beat the Caps, 1–0 in Game One of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, as my wife and I watched from North Station. We had left the arena to catch the commuter rail back to the ‘burbs but were on our feet for the game-winning goal.

4.      Overdue Award: Patrice Bergeron, a league-leading plus-36, won the Selke Award.

5.      Donuts and Up from Down Under: An Internet friend from Australia was in town to visit Fenway (and eat donuts). We drove him to Kane’s Donuts in Saugus, MA. Fascinated with the round things from the first time his father took him to a Dunkin’ Donuts, our slender guest sampled several types of these big-as-a-fist treats. We ate outside the shop, blue sky abounding. He was in heaven as the sunlight glinted off the Honey Dipped. Mmm Doughnuts (that’s how are visitant spells them).

6.      A Familiar Character: The pondering, wandering mind of J.P. “Puckbite” Plouffe. His artwork and authenticity are unrivaled.

7.      Canadians on the Cape: Talking hockey with a lovely couple from Quebec, Habs fans on holiday at the 1750 Inn at Sandwich Center; chatting with the friendly Albertans in Cotuit, who gathered to watch Cape Cod Kettleers Adam Nelubowich play ball.

8.      New Internet friends: Add Bruce “Toronto’s Tour Guide” Bell and Monika Moravan, a storyteller extraordinaire, to the long list of hospitable Canadians I’ve written about.

9.      Fictional characters: Seamus J. O’Sheenah, Kieran, Grainne. Oh what an unexpected adventure and pleasure it has been getting to know you. Ditto for Wynnchel and Duncan, the top cops in Wreck-it Ralph.

10.  Roland Merullo: A hockey scar and a dream that references a donut earn but honorable reference in the author’s Breakfast with Buddha. Although Merullo teases us with morsels of these beloved topics, he serves a literary feast to anyone seeking to live a more purposeful life. (A heart-shaped donut hole graces the cover of his A Little Love Story)

11.  From Sea to Shining Lake: Thoughts of our West Coast trip to watch the Bruins and a road trip to Buffalo and Beyond linger with me. Dennis Seidenberg: Sorry for mistaking you for Rich Peverly in that San Jose hotel elevator; my mix-up, though, has provided my wife with immeasurable bliss. And to the East for another adventure: Shamrock hockey and donuts in Tonawanda, Great Big Sea at the Danforth, Niagara Falls at night…taking the wrong road back to Tonawanda.

12.  Home for holidays: Thinking of Colorado, of course, but also enjoying AMHL old home week and the chance to document AMHL actions, as well as partake in the post-game frivolity during Championship Week.

I’ll stuff this last gift into the 2012 memory box. A baker’s dozen, eh?

 

A trip to PEI and “the Maggies.”

 

Fall 2012 AMHL Championship Week Roundup

Tuesday, December 18

Flyers vs. Penguins

Concord, MA

As Tonawanda (NY) residents watch (via satellite and streaming Internet) the AMHL Tuesday Championship game, referee Peter Bagley announces the return to five-on-five play in the third period. “All even!” he yells to the Flyers and Penguins, the teams tied at two goals.
 

Tonawanda native Mike Moore eludes two Penguins

Bereft of their beloved Buffalo Sabres, the good citizens of Tonawanda are on their feet to watch their native son, AMHL Flyers defenseman Mike Moore. Will Mikey, they wonder, be able to repeat his spectacular performance in the 2012 Summer Championship?

Moore played his youth hockey way back when Brighton Arena (where he says “the Moore brothers never learned how to backcheck”) didn’t have a roof. He later attended Kenmore East High School (2011-2012 Division II state hockey champs) and worked at Ted’s (Mike recommends the footlong  dog, toasted bun, with everything on it.)

Fast forward to Overtime, the Flyers and Penguins still tied, 2 –2. 

Moore strides forward—skating right to left across your AMHL Internet— cradling the puck and circumnavigating would-be defenders. A left-handed shooter, he arrives in enemy territory and skates below the right face-off circle. Backhand…goal!

Sweet victory for the Flyers, who win the donut-studded Koffey Cup, and fans in Upstate New York, who “head to Ted’s” (and then Paula’s Donuts).

Wednesday, December 19 
Sharks vs. Sabres
Concord, MA

Mike Moore doesn’t play on Wednesdays, but Tonawanderers have traversed the Internet again in search of Sabres hockey. They find the AMHL Wednesday Sabres, who eked out a penalty-filled 2 –1 victory last week against the Rangers, struggling to land shots on Sharks netminder Chris Bade. 

The Sharks, who endured a seven-game mid-season losing streak, are riding hot goaltending and a three-game winning streak.

Chris Bade: All the Big Stops

 

Bade watches his offense-generating players, like defenseman Larry Brown, block shots. Up 3–0 in the second period and the Sabres shooting right to left across your Internet connection, Sharks forward  Rob Witty—a goal-per-game guy—takes one for the team.

In the third period and the Sharks nursing a shut-out, Tony “Sharkie” Psikarakis slides and sweeps the puck from a Sabre’s stick.

The Sabres score twice, though, and Tonawanda is all atwitter.

But Bade and company return to form and put the kibosh on a second celebration in Greater Buffalo. 

Sharkie credits his goalie, saying that Bade “made all the big stops.”

Thursday, December 20
Avalanche vs. Panthers

Concord, MA

Moore is playing on Thursday, for the AMHL  Bruins.  When the folks in Erie County learn Moore is on Rink Two, however, they are not consoled. South Jersey, though, is thrilled to witness one of its own playing for the Koffey Cup.

We join Brent Delehey  and his Panthers against the Avs. Delehey, a Bobby Clark fan if ever there was one, is amped up (after the game, he'll  say his increased intensity may have been caused by the two Aleves he took earlier this morning.) The most likely reason for his elevated compete level is not naproxen but rather that his eldest two sons, Jack and Kevin, are home from college.

The boys watch, from the stands behind the goal in the west end, as their dad wreaks havoc on the Avs.  Delehey is credited with two goals in the first period, and the Panthers lead, 5–3, in the second stanza.


Delehey shoves an Av in front of the players’ bench.  Merry Christmas from Bobby Clark.

“Geez,” one of the boys says as their feisty father skates to the sin bin, “Dad really took that guy out.”

The Panthers kill the penalty, and Delehey (whose nickname in college was “Brr”) is a free man.

Panthers Center Brent Delehey: Channeling His Inner Bobby Clark

To the third period, the Panthers ahead  5–4 and skating far end to near end, Brr plants himself in front of the Avalanche’s crease.  Teammate Paul Nelson shoots. Jack and Kevin watch as the puck deflects off their dad’s skate—and then trickles… over the goal line.

The college kids rise to their feet, applauding and hooting.

Delehey glances upward and flashes a wild child-like grin, not yet knowing that he will spend another two minutes in the penalty box, that the Avs would score on the power play…or that Panthers goalie Anthony Bonfiglio will save the day for the Deleheys, the AMHL Panthers, and all those Philly Flyers fans in the Garden  State.

Friday, December 21

Hawks vs. Whalers

Concord, MA

“It wasn’t our season,” says Moore, after yet another consolation game, this time playing for the Kings. The Royals lost last week to the Whalers, who advanced to play the Hawks.

We rewind the championship game to the second period and the Hawks winning, 5–2.  

Mike Travalent, who netted a hat trick last week against the Stars, shoots low and just inside the post to bolster the lead.

“Wear ‘em down, guys,” a Hawks bench jockey bellows, “Wear ‘em down.”

Neither team scores another goal in the second period, but the Hawks—comprised of several Stow (MA) residents,  score three more in the third to win going away, 9–3.

With that, the AMHL media wishes everyone—from Upstate New York to South Jersey to Middlesex County, MA— safe travels, a joyous Christmas, and happy New Year.



Breaking Laces: Come Get Some (Donuts)

Hockey (and Donut fans): Rob, Billy, and Seth

Friday, December 7, 2012

Donuts, donuts, they are a tasty treat/

Donuts, donuts, they are so fun to eat/
Except for the sprinkles that fall upon my feet/

"Breaking Laces is ruining you," my wife comments on the first lines of my song—inspired by the warm-up band for Sister Hazel— that have sprung from by subconscious,  my first words this Friday morning. Both groups, as well at Ken Yates, performed at the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry, NH last night.

After the show, all three acts hung out to talk to music (and donut) fans. Sister Hazel’s marquee marketer, "Tony the Merch Guy," said the boys don’t do donuts that often. (Cookies don’t count). But Merchie enjoys an Apple Fritter every now and again.

Breaking Laces, a fun-loving and funny Brooklyn-based trio that hooked me with their catchy and clever “Shopping for Two” and tunes from their new album, Come Get Some, responded to my inquiry about favourite donuts. "Boston Kreme," bassist and keyboard player Rob Chojnackie said.

While Chojnackie’s bandmates hadn’t yet arrived at the informal fan forum zone, Yates, a soft-spoken Canadian folk singer who performed before Breaking Laces, said, “Timbits.”

"I know Timmy Ho’s," said Chojnackie, who added that he’s not a Maple Frosted proponent. He was open to suggestions, though.

My wife mentioned her affinity for the Sour Cream (Plain), and then Chojnackie said he’d try one next time.

While drummer Seth Masarsky was probably loading equipment in the band's van, lead singer and principal lyricist Billy Hartong joined the donut (and hockey) discussion. He’s played a little puck, but donuts aren’t his thing, at least not that often. He had sworn them off (except for on Super Bowl Sundays) but copped to his all-time favourite: "Krispy Kreme, straight up." And the Strawberry Frosteds have also served as music to his mouth.

This interaction and my little ditty linger with me as I walk from home to my Friday morning writing spot, the Boston Bean House in downtown Maynard, MA. Donuts aren’t on the menu board (scones don’t count), so I order a breakfast sandwich (no cheese) and a hot chocolate. I sit at my corner table, and in between bites and sips, I ink the aforementioned lyrics.

Donuts, donuts, they are a tasty treat/

Donuts, donuts, they are so fun to eat/
Except for the sprinkles that fall upon my feet/

(And I keep going, as Breaking Laces seems to fuel my fervor.)

But I love donuts, donuts/

 

They tempt me, and they tease me/
Although they can be greasy/
I know this song is cheesy/

But I love donuts, donuts/

All kinds of donuts, donuts/

They are a tasty treat/

Donuts, donuts, they are so fun to eat/
Except for the Jelly/
So untidy and so sloppy/
(something something –anthropy)

I’m still working on it, even though this song—unlike those of Sister Hazel, Ken Yates and Breaking Laces—won’t land me a gig at the Tupelo Music Hall.