civilized ku # 2867 / diptych # 123-24 ~ off topic but with pictures - hop in the Cordoba, baby. We're going bowling*
Monday, February 9, 2015 at 10:18AM 
ice rink / grilled cinnamon roll/bun ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
post 4 pt. game dinner / locker room with sometime line mate, McKensie (zie?/sey?) ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggen
ice rink / locker room ~ Plattsburgh, NY • click to embiggenAn all-hockey weekend started Friday evening past with an early evening game - the first of 4 in the Roadrunner Rumble Hockey Tournament - and didn't end until late afternoon on Sunday. Saturday was a nearly 10-hour hang around the rink (actually 2 different rinks) interrupted by a brief escape for a late afternoon restaurant dinner. As is often the case, Hugo camped at our house so the rides to the rink would be much shorter than from his house (50+ miles from his team's home rink) which allowed him to get more rest and spend far less pre-game time in a car.
Logistics aside, the weekend was a great success. His team, the Plattsburgh Roadrunners, went undefeated and garnered the championship trophy. However, it wasn't an easy task. The tourney was stacked with some of the best regional teams from Vermont and downstate New York. Against the best of which the Roadrunners had a 0-4-1 record earlier in the season.
After getting through the round-robin part of the tourney (wherein Hugo amassed 7 points - 4 goals / 3 assists - he was beating goaltenders like rented mules* and their coaches didn't know whether to cry or wind their watches*) - they made to the semi-finals on Saturday night against a very good team from St. Albans, Vermont (to whom they had lost 2x and tied once).
After regulation and overtime, the game was tied 1-1 and it went to a shootout. Hugo sealed the victory with the game-winning shootout goal - Hugo was smilin' like a butcher's dog* - and they advanced to the Championship game - get in the fast lane, Grandma, the bingo game's ready to roll*.
In the championship game on Sunday, the Roadrunners ran into a very excellent downstate team which had beaten them 2x including a 1-0 loss in a recent Vermont tournament championship game. While Hugo's team played pretty well, they nevertheless were 2 goals down going into the 3rd period.
Shortly thereafter, Hugo jump-started the team's comeback with a beautiful assist from behind the goal to a team mate in front making it 3-2 and all I wanted to do was scratch my back with a hacksaw*. Hugo then scored 2 goals to wrap up the victory - and ladies and gentlemen, Elvis had just left the building*.
When all was said and done, Hugo ended up with a tournament-leading (by a wide margin) 10 points + a game winning shootout goal. And as Mike Lange* often remarks, you'd have to be here to believe it*.
BTW, the top picture in this entry is of the guy at the rink snack bar who insisted I take his picture after he had prepped a grilled cinnamon roll for me - a food thing of which he (and most others) had never heard. All you do is slice a cinnamon roll like a bun, slather butter on both cut surfaces and grill it until the buttered sides are slightly crispy and the topping is warm and slightly melted - mmmmm good. FYI, the guy offered to serve it to me with a cholesterol control pill.
Anyone care to venture a guess why Hugo wears # 88?
*Mike Lange-isms - Lange is the longtime NHL Hall of Fame announcer, tv and now radio, for the Pittsburgh Penguins. You can hear most of his Lange-isms HERE.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: In his comment, Markus Spring wrote: "...Ah, Mark, in the U.S. the 88 seems to have a different connotation than in Germany: : Here, those inhabitants of the shallow end of the gene pool who still believe in Hitler's supernatural greatness and miss their 'Führer', use the 88 as a not so secret identifying mark: the 'h' is the eigth letter of the alphabet, and 'Heil Hitler' is the greeting they are now forbidden to use in Germany. Therefore, the 88 has to do.
My response: That is most certainly NOT why Hugo wears # 88. But, on a Chinese cultural note, the number 8 is a 'lucky' number for a number of reasons. Therefore # 88 is a very lucky number. While this cultural connection is also NOT why Hugo wears that number, at least it does not have the negative meaning / connotation as it does in Germany.
Thanks to your information, Hugo will never wear that number if he plays in Germany. Doing so in China is probably not a bad thing.
Reader Comments (1)
Ah, Mark, in the U.S. the 88 seems to have a different connotation than in Germany: Here, those inhabitants of the shallow end of the gene pool who still believe in Hitler's supernatural greatness and miss their 'Führer', abuse the 88 as a not so secret identifying mark: the 'h' is the eigth letter of the alphabet, and 'Heil Hitler' is the greeting they are now forbidden to use in Germany. Therefore, the 88 has to do. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_symbolism)