Post by XYZ on Jan 23, 2006 21:32:04 GMT -5
Weyauwega, WI (RCP) –
There is nothing quite as peaceful as a Central Wisconsin early winter morning. As the first glints of light peek over the horizon, the reflections off the newly laid ice point to the horizon as if tempting you to follow them to heaven. That is of course, until you put your cigarette out and turn around to see Caveman’s fat ass lugging 200 feet of fire-hose up the hill so he can borrow more water from the city.
As the sun grew higher into the sky the anticipation grew, as this was no normal winter morning – this was the morning of RC^3. It was that time of year again, and although the distances traveled to attend increase every season, this annual winter rite of passage would once again commence.
They came from Madison, DuBay, Plover, Stevens Point, Milwaukee, Appleton and all areas in between, but they came with a purpose. They came to put on a show the likes of which Weyauwega Lake had never seen.
This was the first season the game of venerable fan all-stars was to be played in Weyauwega. XRC summed up the groups thoughts on the venue change, “This far exceeds playing at Goerke. Before you know it out there the game is 12 on 12, with some former SPASH burnout who has ultimately convinced himself he is Michelle Kwan with a stick. Damn twinkletoes. Besides, with the condition Cave was able to get the rink into and my beefy paint job, this was definitely the way to go.”
Beefy Paint Job
After about an hour of pictures and jacking around, the RC Legends finally decided it was time to get the game underway. Honorary captains were Jay-PointRC and PointersXRC, as we all know they can’t be on the same team.
“Yeah, XRC really hates that guy. But I don’t blame him. If he keeps showing up for a game of shinny outfitted like an Abrams Tank, I think I’m going to start hating him too. What a pussy”, said Caveman.
Abrams Tank, Abrams Tank, Abrams Tank...
After Wormser divided up the sticks, the new RC sweaters were handed out and Jay would attempt to captain the Gold team while XRC would gloriously lead the Purple squad into battle.
The game had all the earmarks of quickly turning into a rout in favor of Purple, as after winning the opening draw, Pointer Hockey Cheerleader Karen Krueger was able to get loose down the left side and easily beat Jay-PointRC low to put purple up 1-0. Time of the goal? 9 seconds.
Eves spoke later on the early goal, “God, I know Jay is my teammate, but that guy couldn’t stop the wind with a parachute. I’m glad I sieved him.”
Despite the fast start for Purple, Gold did not waver and quickly stormed back. Sparked largely by the efforts of Eves and Junior, Gold responded with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead. Gold maintained pressure throughout the period, and behind strong goaltending from Bryn (no, not Davies, I said good goaltending), Gold was able to close out the first period up 7-3.
At the intermission, Purple went through a tactical reorganization in attempt to generate some more offense. XRC was moved back to defense to lead the rush and Wormser and Ed were to run the flanks. The plan worked much better, as Ed dominated his side for the entire second period, piling up numerous goals and outworking whichever defender they put on his side. While the second period saw more offense for Purple, they had no better luck slowing down Gold. Eves and Junior, with contributions from Cave, Jay and Neil, were still able to have their way with the Purple D. XRC insists this was not his fault.
“Look, I was back there to spark the rush. I’m not about playing hard-nosed stand-up defense. Listen, I’m not Ryan Suter, I’m more like Josh Strassman. I’m all about dangling in the corner and trying to grab the puck without getting hit at all only so I can fire a breakout pass through my own crease. Well, that and I can’t skate backwards too well.”
Through all that mess, Purple was able to get one back on Gold and entered the third period down 13-10.
As the sun grew higher into the clear blue Wisconsin sky, Purple knew they had to do something to get back in the game.
“We pretty much decided defense wasn’t a necessity, no less an option”, Wormser told rink reporter and hopeful RC swimsuit model Alex Flanagan.
With that the final stanza began. What had all the makings of an epic 3rd period quickly soured, however, as after a scrum in front of the Purple net, Jay-PointRC attacked purple goalie TommyTumult without cause setting off the best brawl the RC game has ever seen. Jay and Tommy traded what had to be hundreds of punches until the good clean fight was interrupted by Junior trying to jump Tommy. After XRC dumped Junior from behind, things were sorted out and Junior was assessed a penalty for being the third man in.
“That’s bullshit”, yelled Junior as he threw his equipment into the rink Christmas tree.
Tommy later mocked Jay. “What an idiot. I’m wearing pads and a helmet and he punches me in the face cage? Ha! Look at his bloody knuckles. What a goon.”
Jay tried to punch my helmet.
After Mike Gulyenchyn took 23 minutes to sort out the one penalty, Purple was unable to convert with the man advantage and the third period continued at a frantic pace. Goals were being poured in left and right compared to the opening two periods, and everyone was getting on the board. Neil, Cave, XRC and even Jay were contributing to the offensive efforts.
“I had about enough of that D bullshit. I had zero points through the first 25 minutes, I’m sick of playing safety. I want the glory”, XRC told Flanagan. “Are you single, by chance?”
With under 5:00 to play, Purple was finally able to cut the deficit to one at 21-20, but that was as close as they would get for the time being. Gold once again responded to adversity and notched two consecutive goals to extend the lead to three.
With just under two minutes to play, Gold called a timeout to set their defense. Purple responded with a timeout of their own citing the fact that they are all out of shape.
The final two minutes would be two for the ages.
Frustrated with playing so much defense, XRC decided it was time to do it on his own and successfully scored on back to back coast-to-coast efforts to cut the score to 23-22 with 30 seconds to play.
Defense? What defense?
With momentum on their side, Purple won the ensuing draw and worked it to Wormser on the left point. With Gold having all four skaters placed within 10 feet of the goal, Wormser, who had anchored the Purple offense all day long, did the smart thing and threw it at the net. The shot went wide right and once again Ed was Johnny-on-the-spot. Outworking two Gold defenders like he had done all game long, he dug the puck out from the hay bale, pulled it in front of the net and slid it past Bryn for the tying goal – which sent the Purple squad into a frenzy.
“I don’t know what happened”, said Caveman. “I guess we got complacent with our lead and came out of our game. We tried to get defensive and that’s not the way to play them. Their offense is like a 60 foot wide Trident coming at you at 100 mph. You can’t wait for it to hit you, you have to hit it. It’s a three-headed monster.”
Time ran out and the powers that be decided there was only one way to end it.
Sudden Death.
Purple controlled the early action but was not able to get one past Bryn, and with Purple attacking ferociously, Gold was able to hit Caveman on a breakout pass which set up a two-on-none breakaway for Gold.
If Caveman could convert it would be the second year in a row he would have won the game with an overtime gamewinner.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”, exclaimed Wormser.
Purple was not without hope, however. XRC was the only person with a chance to catch them and he took off in pursuit. As Cave bore down on net XRC was out of room so he did the only thing he could do. Fully extended with stick out….he dove.
The puck hit his stick…and hit Tommy in the chest.
At which point all hell broke loose.
XRC somehow got turned and crashed into Tommy, driving the goal off its moorings and both himself and Tommy into the net.
Where was the puck?
It was indeed in the net with Tommy and XRC, but which happened first? Did the puck go in or did the net come off? No one knew.
“All I know is that I ended up on my stomach with one leg pulled up behind me and my skate hanging in the net. I’m glad I could get a piece of it. I’d like to thank Jesus and Vince Young for giving me the strength to skate that fast”, said XRC.
Jesus
“I don’t know what happened. I’m an explosive player and I made a play. I’m like lightning in a bottle. George Jones once sang a song about me. Ooooooh, White Lightning! Anyway, I don’t know what happened in what order. It’s too bad we couldn’t afford the overhead camera as I spent all the money on these here hay bales”, said Cave.
White Lightning
With uncertainty in the air and half the players laying on the ice as if they were dead, the RC did the only thing they could. They called it a 23-23 draw.
“It just wouldn’t be right to end it on that ‘goal’”, said Eves.
And with that the sun set on another Rowdy Crowd game. Although the Rowdy Crowd no longer exists, it's efforts like this from former members that were what used to make it great. The RC means something different to all of us, but that meaning is important to everyone. It's things like this that verify that.
The Aftermath
Goals by Period:
………………1…..2…..3….F
Gold………7…..6…..10…23
Purple…..3…..7…..13…23
Individual Scoring (G-A-P)
Gold:
Eves 12-5-17
Cave 4-3-7
Jay 0-2-2
Junior 5-5-10
Neil 2-6-8
Purple:
Karen 1-1-2
Wormser 7-8-15
XRC 4-8-12
Ed 11-4-15
Lori 0-0-0
Individual Game Awards
Point Amber Award for Outstanding Resilience in the Face of Danger: Tommy
Myles Palliser Vidal Sassoon Award (Best Hockey Hair): Ed
Sean Fish Hustle Award: Karen
Mick Kempffer/Kevin Fricke Defense Award: Neil
Dale Lupul Sportsmanship Award (Biggest Goon): Wormser Jr.
Ralph Barahona Award (Most Goals): Eves
Caufield Cup (Most Points): Eves
Baldy's Badass Award (Game MVP): Wormser
There is nothing quite as peaceful as a Central Wisconsin early winter morning. As the first glints of light peek over the horizon, the reflections off the newly laid ice point to the horizon as if tempting you to follow them to heaven. That is of course, until you put your cigarette out and turn around to see Caveman’s fat ass lugging 200 feet of fire-hose up the hill so he can borrow more water from the city.
As the sun grew higher into the sky the anticipation grew, as this was no normal winter morning – this was the morning of RC^3. It was that time of year again, and although the distances traveled to attend increase every season, this annual winter rite of passage would once again commence.
They came from Madison, DuBay, Plover, Stevens Point, Milwaukee, Appleton and all areas in between, but they came with a purpose. They came to put on a show the likes of which Weyauwega Lake had never seen.
This was the first season the game of venerable fan all-stars was to be played in Weyauwega. XRC summed up the groups thoughts on the venue change, “This far exceeds playing at Goerke. Before you know it out there the game is 12 on 12, with some former SPASH burnout who has ultimately convinced himself he is Michelle Kwan with a stick. Damn twinkletoes. Besides, with the condition Cave was able to get the rink into and my beefy paint job, this was definitely the way to go.”
Beefy Paint Job
After about an hour of pictures and jacking around, the RC Legends finally decided it was time to get the game underway. Honorary captains were Jay-PointRC and PointersXRC, as we all know they can’t be on the same team.
“Yeah, XRC really hates that guy. But I don’t blame him. If he keeps showing up for a game of shinny outfitted like an Abrams Tank, I think I’m going to start hating him too. What a pussy”, said Caveman.
Abrams Tank, Abrams Tank, Abrams Tank...
After Wormser divided up the sticks, the new RC sweaters were handed out and Jay would attempt to captain the Gold team while XRC would gloriously lead the Purple squad into battle.
The game had all the earmarks of quickly turning into a rout in favor of Purple, as after winning the opening draw, Pointer Hockey Cheerleader Karen Krueger was able to get loose down the left side and easily beat Jay-PointRC low to put purple up 1-0. Time of the goal? 9 seconds.
Eves spoke later on the early goal, “God, I know Jay is my teammate, but that guy couldn’t stop the wind with a parachute. I’m glad I sieved him.”
Despite the fast start for Purple, Gold did not waver and quickly stormed back. Sparked largely by the efforts of Eves and Junior, Gold responded with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead. Gold maintained pressure throughout the period, and behind strong goaltending from Bryn (no, not Davies, I said good goaltending), Gold was able to close out the first period up 7-3.
At the intermission, Purple went through a tactical reorganization in attempt to generate some more offense. XRC was moved back to defense to lead the rush and Wormser and Ed were to run the flanks. The plan worked much better, as Ed dominated his side for the entire second period, piling up numerous goals and outworking whichever defender they put on his side. While the second period saw more offense for Purple, they had no better luck slowing down Gold. Eves and Junior, with contributions from Cave, Jay and Neil, were still able to have their way with the Purple D. XRC insists this was not his fault.
“Look, I was back there to spark the rush. I’m not about playing hard-nosed stand-up defense. Listen, I’m not Ryan Suter, I’m more like Josh Strassman. I’m all about dangling in the corner and trying to grab the puck without getting hit at all only so I can fire a breakout pass through my own crease. Well, that and I can’t skate backwards too well.”
Through all that mess, Purple was able to get one back on Gold and entered the third period down 13-10.
As the sun grew higher into the clear blue Wisconsin sky, Purple knew they had to do something to get back in the game.
“We pretty much decided defense wasn’t a necessity, no less an option”, Wormser told rink reporter and hopeful RC swimsuit model Alex Flanagan.
With that the final stanza began. What had all the makings of an epic 3rd period quickly soured, however, as after a scrum in front of the Purple net, Jay-PointRC attacked purple goalie TommyTumult without cause setting off the best brawl the RC game has ever seen. Jay and Tommy traded what had to be hundreds of punches until the good clean fight was interrupted by Junior trying to jump Tommy. After XRC dumped Junior from behind, things were sorted out and Junior was assessed a penalty for being the third man in.
“That’s bullshit”, yelled Junior as he threw his equipment into the rink Christmas tree.
Tommy later mocked Jay. “What an idiot. I’m wearing pads and a helmet and he punches me in the face cage? Ha! Look at his bloody knuckles. What a goon.”
Jay tried to punch my helmet.
After Mike Gulyenchyn took 23 minutes to sort out the one penalty, Purple was unable to convert with the man advantage and the third period continued at a frantic pace. Goals were being poured in left and right compared to the opening two periods, and everyone was getting on the board. Neil, Cave, XRC and even Jay were contributing to the offensive efforts.
“I had about enough of that D bullshit. I had zero points through the first 25 minutes, I’m sick of playing safety. I want the glory”, XRC told Flanagan. “Are you single, by chance?”
With under 5:00 to play, Purple was finally able to cut the deficit to one at 21-20, but that was as close as they would get for the time being. Gold once again responded to adversity and notched two consecutive goals to extend the lead to three.
With just under two minutes to play, Gold called a timeout to set their defense. Purple responded with a timeout of their own citing the fact that they are all out of shape.
The final two minutes would be two for the ages.
Frustrated with playing so much defense, XRC decided it was time to do it on his own and successfully scored on back to back coast-to-coast efforts to cut the score to 23-22 with 30 seconds to play.
Defense? What defense?
With momentum on their side, Purple won the ensuing draw and worked it to Wormser on the left point. With Gold having all four skaters placed within 10 feet of the goal, Wormser, who had anchored the Purple offense all day long, did the smart thing and threw it at the net. The shot went wide right and once again Ed was Johnny-on-the-spot. Outworking two Gold defenders like he had done all game long, he dug the puck out from the hay bale, pulled it in front of the net and slid it past Bryn for the tying goal – which sent the Purple squad into a frenzy.
“I don’t know what happened”, said Caveman. “I guess we got complacent with our lead and came out of our game. We tried to get defensive and that’s not the way to play them. Their offense is like a 60 foot wide Trident coming at you at 100 mph. You can’t wait for it to hit you, you have to hit it. It’s a three-headed monster.”
Time ran out and the powers that be decided there was only one way to end it.
Sudden Death.
Purple controlled the early action but was not able to get one past Bryn, and with Purple attacking ferociously, Gold was able to hit Caveman on a breakout pass which set up a two-on-none breakaway for Gold.
If Caveman could convert it would be the second year in a row he would have won the game with an overtime gamewinner.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”, exclaimed Wormser.
Purple was not without hope, however. XRC was the only person with a chance to catch them and he took off in pursuit. As Cave bore down on net XRC was out of room so he did the only thing he could do. Fully extended with stick out….he dove.
The puck hit his stick…and hit Tommy in the chest.
At which point all hell broke loose.
XRC somehow got turned and crashed into Tommy, driving the goal off its moorings and both himself and Tommy into the net.
Where was the puck?
It was indeed in the net with Tommy and XRC, but which happened first? Did the puck go in or did the net come off? No one knew.
“All I know is that I ended up on my stomach with one leg pulled up behind me and my skate hanging in the net. I’m glad I could get a piece of it. I’d like to thank Jesus and Vince Young for giving me the strength to skate that fast”, said XRC.
Jesus
“I don’t know what happened. I’m an explosive player and I made a play. I’m like lightning in a bottle. George Jones once sang a song about me. Ooooooh, White Lightning! Anyway, I don’t know what happened in what order. It’s too bad we couldn’t afford the overhead camera as I spent all the money on these here hay bales”, said Cave.
White Lightning
With uncertainty in the air and half the players laying on the ice as if they were dead, the RC did the only thing they could. They called it a 23-23 draw.
“It just wouldn’t be right to end it on that ‘goal’”, said Eves.
And with that the sun set on another Rowdy Crowd game. Although the Rowdy Crowd no longer exists, it's efforts like this from former members that were what used to make it great. The RC means something different to all of us, but that meaning is important to everyone. It's things like this that verify that.
The Aftermath
Goals by Period:
………………1…..2…..3….F
Gold………7…..6…..10…23
Purple…..3…..7…..13…23
Individual Scoring (G-A-P)
Gold:
Eves 12-5-17
Cave 4-3-7
Jay 0-2-2
Junior 5-5-10
Neil 2-6-8
Purple:
Karen 1-1-2
Wormser 7-8-15
XRC 4-8-12
Ed 11-4-15
Lori 0-0-0
Individual Game Awards
Point Amber Award for Outstanding Resilience in the Face of Danger: Tommy
Myles Palliser Vidal Sassoon Award (Best Hockey Hair): Ed
Sean Fish Hustle Award: Karen
Mick Kempffer/Kevin Fricke Defense Award: Neil
Dale Lupul Sportsmanship Award (Biggest Goon): Wormser Jr.
Ralph Barahona Award (Most Goals): Eves
Caufield Cup (Most Points): Eves
Baldy's Badass Award (Game MVP): Wormser
