Wow... It's been years!!

         So it has been 8 years since my last post & a lot has changed since then.  Here is a "quick" summary of hockey since my last post. The Monkeys never got back together after folding. I continued to play with the Black Katz for a few more sessions.  I ended up taking a nice break from hockey so I could take the family on a Disney Cruise.  But during that break I was able to play in some tournaments with the Ice Lagers, if you've ever read this blog, you are familiar with that team.  Throughout the years we have grown to be great friends. My hockey family if you will. My son played hockey for Seattle Jr. Where a good amount of his coaches were teammates of mine.  I had many great hockey moments during that time, which I'll post about in a future time.  I also kept playing in the Stacked Deck. It's is entering its 12th year & still going strong.  I've gotten my name on it twice & again, will be the subject of a future post.  After my break, I came back & played a few sessions with the Ice Lagers, until my wife accepted a job in Othello, WA. & we moved. I haven't played in a league since. It's been almost 2 years. There is adult hockey in Tri-Cities & Moses Lake, but I haven't made the jump yet.  But luckily for me, my hockey family still gives me chances to play. Whether it is "Fathers/Sons" games that my sons old coach & my old teammate puts together, Stacked Deck, Full NHL style games or random tournaments, I still get a chance to this the ice a few times a year. I actually have a trip to Winthrop, WA. coming up, which is kind of why I decided to get this baby up & running again.  I feel like I have a few things I can write about again, though maybe not a frequent. It's still pretty cool to come across this blog & read the old posts. Makes me nostalgic & it has been a fun reference for my memories.  So even if no one ever reads this, it's nice to have it written so I can come back a few years later & be able to relive these memories. I miss the Monkeys, I miss my old team. I still wear my jersey every chance I get. One of these days, we will reunite & it will be glorious!!

Black Katz Loss....

Playoff hockey last night... Didn't go so well. We lost by 1, & I didn't help our comeback. My first penatly of the season came with a few minutes left in the game, so we couldn't pull our goalie. Now like everyone that gets penalized, I was not guilty. But I can understand from where the ref was on the play, he didn't have a good view of the play. He just saw the guy go down ( he lost a edge ) & I put my hand on him ( to steady myself since he was pulling me down ) so I got called for a holding penalty. Either way, it was a hard fought game & we just didn't make the plays.

Next game will be on Thursday night @ 11ish in Kent. I wont be able to make that game for my life will be getting in the way. I would love to play, but in the end, lack of sleep might screw up my Friday work day. I can't have that... NEED MONEY!! Til then.... GO MONKEYS!!

First Playoff Game...

I know I haven't been posting... Its hard when its not the Monkeys playing. But I will try to update a little more. The Black Katz are playing our first playoff game tonight @ 10:30 p.m. in Everett tonight. I expect us to make a nice run. We have been getting better as the season progressed. We might not have been winning our games, but we have kept them close & I can see the team gelling a little more. I personally have been feeling a little better about my play at such a high level, at least for me its been high. I did have a little 5 game point streak, 2 goals & 3 assists in 5 games, basically a point a game. But it's ended & now I'm looking to help my team in the playoffs. Well I've got to start running my errands so I'll have time later on tonight to get my pre-game rituals going. GO MONKEYS!!

Couple Notes...

First off... our "official" Puck'N Monkeys website is being shut down. Our contract is up & there is no need to keep it going since, "officially" the Monkeys don't exist anymore. But I'm going to be keeping this up & running as long as I'm playing hockey.
Now to my annoying dilemma... My skates are torn up. The blades have gotten so dull because of skating on the pond, that I don't have any edges. I noticed it the first game back. So for the next game I figured I would get there early & get my skates sharpened at the local rinks pro shop. Yeah, the shop that is normally open, was closed & has been. So why don't I just take it elsewhere?? Well when another shop asks me what I cut my blades at, I wont know the answer. When I first started, it was cut by someone that knew me & what I would be comfortable at. But he never told me what cut that was. He just marked it with a color. A color that has been adopted by the shop that is closed. You would think I would've asked so this problem would never occur, but nooooo... so here I am, about to play another game with dull blades. OH WELL!! Oh, by the way... Congrats to Canada for winning gold yesterday. Gotta pay respect to the country that brought me the game I love & love to play. GO MONKEYS!!

Saturday Night... Sunday...

Eagle River Falcons vs. Fond du Lac Bears
We all piled into the car & headed to the game. Its been a tradition to catch the Saturday night Falcons game & it is a blast. I think I went on about it our first year. Some of the highlights... a all wooden domed barn. The arms lenght 50-50 tickets for $10 -$12, the real pucks for chuck a puck & the plastic pitchers of beer. It was fun. The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then the Bears scored 7 straight for a 8-3 final.

Sunday morning, G-Low & I decided to hit the gym. The drinking & not so healthy eating made me want to exercise. After a good work out, we did 10 mins in the sauna before getting cleaned up & meeting the crew at the Champagne breakfast the lodge was having. We all did the buffet, which was excellent. I didn't go overboard since I had just exercised, but that didn't stop other people from enjoying the wonderful spread. There was eggs, potatoes, biscuits & gravy, omeletes, waffles, prime rib, fruit... the list goes on.
A few hours after breakfast, I would say about half way through the movie Zombieland. Everyone got dressed & headed back to the pond to play some hockey. It was the Monkeys & Lagers playing on the pond. It was more of a fun game than a rivalry game, since we had a few people on different teams. But it was a blast. The past two days were clear & sunny, Sunday it was snowing. When we got to the pond, we had to sweep off a couple of inches of snow just to play. Our bodies were so tired after 2 hours of pickup hockey that we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to recover.
The evening was going to be a simple one. Eat, say "goodbye" to the staff of Eagle Waters & pack. While we were getting ready for dinner, we were invited by the owners of the resort to use their personal hot tub. So some of us took advantage of that. After a good dinner & finishing Zombieland & Miss March, Darryl & I headed down to the bar where the rest of the crew was enjoying the last few hours of our trip.
After a hour or so at the bar, we headed back to the cabin to pack for Monday. Our goal was to get rid of the food & drinks left back at our cabin, & to get to bed at a reasonable time, since we had to leave early in the morning. Well, some of us managed that. I didn't. A few of us were up with the Lagers enjoying ourselves into the wee hours of the night/morning.

Monday.... Morning came quick & next thing we knew, we were packed up & headed down the snowy road to Rhinelander.
We took off from Rhinelander close to 11 a.m. then had a few hour layover in Minneapolis. By 2:30 p.m. we were in the air & headed back to Seattle. We got in at 4:30 p.m. & our trip was officially over.
It was a fun trip. We keep telling ourselves that this is the last year. But whenever we leave, we are looking forward to next year. The experience this year was awesome. We made the playoffs for the first time & I truly believe we could've won it all, just a few bad bounces. I enjoyed the guys we went with & I enjoyed the comraderie we had with the hockey players there & the people of Eagle River. Til next year... GO MONKEYS!!

Oh & here is the link to all the results & pics... I haven't looked at it yet- USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championships

Pics...

I don't drink beer... just procreate with it.

Behind the bar mixing drinks with Gabe, our favorite bartender.

Making the walk to our first game...

After our first game loss against the Loons...

Right before our playoff game vs. Yaks... I'm the one with the one white, one black socks.

Fridays Games... Saturdays Too!!

We started off Friday with a nice Glowaski breakfast. Eggs Benidict... Mmm. There is definitely a reason G-Low is in charge of breakfast. Our first game was at 11:30 a.m. & we played a team called the Loons. We lost by one. It was a tough loss. We changed our strategy before the game & it didn't work. We changed at half & then held them scoreless. Made a good comeback, but fell short one.
Our second game, we did a little better. We played a team called King of Beers. That was a scrappy game that found us winning by one. Back to the old strategy & it worked!! We left the pond with a 1-1 record.
Back to the cabin to shower, put on the kilts ( Doc & Rob also brought along their kilts ) & have some fun down at the Eagle Waters Restraunt. We had a great prime rib dinner, it was also fish fry night. Had some drinks that our favorite bartender Gabe serves us ( with a smile of course ), & listened to Kenny K. kick butt on stage. The night was long & fun. But we had another game to play on Saturday.

It was a tough time to get up this morning. Little too much fun last night. But with a good breakfast & some cold weather, we were ready to go. We had a 1:00 p.m. game vs. Hooters. Actually they went by a different name, but they had the Hooters logo on their sweater so thats what we'll call them. That game was a 12-2 blowout. Not what we were expecting, but we took it!! With that win, it put us at 2-1 for the tourney. Could we have a shot at a playoff?? Glow & I ran up to the tent that had the standings & with some luck, we found out that the top 2 teams per division makes the playoffs. We had a quarterfinal game in a hour & a half.

3:30 p.m. The Puck'N Monkey/Eagle River Loggers were enjoying the pregame skate of our first playoff game. We were playing a team called the Yaks. We had seen them here the last two years also & were looking forward to the challenge. We scored first, but then found ourselves giving up a couple. By the end of the half it was tied at 3. As the game went on, our legs grew heavy & tired. The hustle plays were still there, but not as they were earlier in the game. In the end, they took the lead with a few minutes left. Even with a hard fought last few minutes, we couldn't get the damn puck in the net. We lost 8-7. Another 1 goal loss. So close...
After a nice shower, I came down to write this & post some pics. The plan tonight is to catch a local hockey game & enjoy the rest of my time here in Eagle River. The Lagers & Monkeys are hoping to have a State of Washington game tomorrow. I don't know how much energy we'll have, but it will be fun. Oh, the Lagers finished with a 1-2 record. But they supported us during that last game & we thank them for that. Also big shout out to Eagle Waters Resort for coming & watching us play. The cheering section was awesome & you guys have treated us like celebrities here!! We love you guys!! Til tomorrow... GO MONKEYS!!