Tag: college hockey

Lunch Break

I am just about to wrap up my lunch break on this fine Tuesday-in-the-office. I have a few minutes before the next thing starts so I figured I’d come here and write something… anything…

Unfortunately, I have zero inspiration for any topics at all. Way to have an empty brain, Robert. Ugh.

So… here’s a topic. If the Dodgers win tonight they will complete the sweep of the Yankees and win the World Series. I freakin’ hate The Dodgers with the passion and fury of a thousand burning suns. Fortunately I hate the Yankees even more (with the passion and fury of a million, million burning suns) so that’s actually a good thing. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, watching the Yankees lose is fun for me. Watching them get humiliated by their (former) cross town rivals, The Dodgers, is even more fun. The only thing better would be watching them lose in humiliating fashion to The Red Sox… like they did in 2004. ‘Member that? Yeah, I ‘member!

What else I can I write about… hmmm… oh, here’s a quick topic worth mentioning. My step son, Harry, has been trying to get me to watch Better Call Saul for months now. He’s actually taking a class on the show at UVM and has been rewatching and loving the hell out of it. I told him I would start it this week, and last night I did. One episode down. Who knows how many to go. I did not see the twist at the end of that first episode coming, but when it happened I was all shit-eatin’-grins. I have to work episodes in around the shows that are currently airing, though most of my watch list is ending in the next week. There’s Daryl Dixon (which has been a little disappointing this season but this week’s penultimate season two episode was good) and The Penguin (which is excellent) and Only Murders in the Building (which is always fun) and Agatha All Along (which took a couple of weeks to suck me in but has turned out to be really good) and What We Do in the Shadows (which kicked off with three episodes last week, all of which were excellent). That’s a lot of TV. I’ll get to it all, somehow.

What else, what else… the Bruins have been pretty mediocre to start the season. They play Philly at home tonight and Philly has been pretty bad. Here’s hoping the offense wakes up. Also the defense. Also the goaltending. Yeah, it’s been a long first nine games here in Bruins nation. The same cannot be said for my old school, UMass Lowell. I actually saw a poll last night (I think it was US College Hockey Online’s poll but I’m not sure) that had them break into the top 20 teams in the country. They are 4-1 overall and 1-0 in Hockey East. The spanked Merrimack College last weekend (that’s my brother’s old school. Sorry, John). I should pay closer attention to my alma matter. Did I spell alma matter correctly? Google tells me I did not. It’s alma mater. There. Better.

Okay, folks. Time to go join a conference call or two. Hope you’re all having a good Tuesday afternoon. I hope you all had a good lunch. Hang in there, folks. Talk to you later.

UML at UVM

Tomorrow afternoon my step son and I are going to a hockey game. It’s my first hockey game in person since… 2016? 2018? I can’t remember. It’s my first NCAA hockey game since 2004.

I graduated from UMass Lowell. My step son currently attends the University of Vermont. Both teams are in the Hockey East conference and… well… both teams kinda suck. UVM is in 8th place (out of 11 teams) with a 3-3-1 record in conference and a 4-5-1 record overall. UML is in 10th place with a 2-6-1 record in conference and a 5-9-1 record overall.

I expect the game is going to be evenly-ish matched but also kinda crappy. I don’t care. I’m looking forward to spending an afternoon with Harry, probably trash talking each other into oblivion. I tried to get myself a UML hockey t-shirt to wear but I failed. Oh well. The Vermont fans in the building will know that they have a foreigner in their rink by me being obnoxious. I used to be a pretty obnoxious fan back in my minor league season ticket days.

It’s going to be fun.

Three Dates to Save

I was just wondering if there was any chance that the Boston Bruins training camp might coincide with some time off from work that I have already booked. Nope. Camp begins on the first day back from my vacation. No dice.

The other day I asked Jen if there was any chance she’d go see some live hockey with me this year. I don’t think I have a Bruins game in me after Covid. Not yet at least. That’s a smidge too much crowd, though when I stop and think of it the crowds will be a lot smaller than the crowds at Disney World were in January, specifically the fireworks show at Hollywood Studios. Still, not an NHL game. I was thinking of UMass Lowell.

I just Googled UML’s schedule. I knew there were two games against the kids school, University of Vermont, and they were both home games for UML. Those would likely be my first choice for games to see in person, unless BU or BC are lighting the world on fire, in which case I’d probably picked one of those as my first game back. Then I noticed that there is a third Vermont game. It’s on the road in Vermont. It’s Sunday December 3rd at 4:00pm. My step son is still a student at UVM and my step daughter is a graduate who still lives in Burlington. Once, pre-Covid, we tried to go to a game in Burlington but the plans fell through at the last minute.

Is it possible that the December 3rd game is now the front runner for my first hockey game post-pandemic? Maybe Jen and I could book time off for the next day so that we don’t have to worry about getting home late and working the next morning?

These are important things to ponder. Very interesting. I put all three UML/UVM games onto my Google calendar, just in case. We’ll see what happens.

No Hockey Trip This Year

Bellana and Harry both go to the University of Vermont. Jen and I both graduated from UMass Lowell. Both schools’ men’s ice hockey team play in Hockey East. They play each other a couple of times a year.

Pre-pandemic I came up with the genius idea of using hockey as an excuse to visit Bellana at school (Harry was still in high school back then). Lowell was playing at Vermont so I bought a few tickets and up we went. We didn’t end up at the game, but we did have a nice visit with Bellana. I couldn’t do this last year when Harry joined her at school because of Covid. I was thinking that this year would be a good year to try again.

I just checked the schedule. They play each other twice this year and both games are in Lowell. Crap. I might get tickets anyway. My UMass Lowell athletics boycott is over now that the ass munch athletics director who tried to sell my campus radio station to the local shitty newspaper is no longer employed by the university so I am free to pay attention again. I am kinda considering becoming a full fledge Lowell hockey fan again. If I do, I might get tickets anyway.

Back when I was a student and went to a few games a year (prior to the ass munch trying to sell the radio station) the place was almost completely empty during home games, apart from the student section. Social distance is easy in a case like that.

I miss hockey in person. Not as much as I miss live music, or playing with the band, but I do miss it. I wish they were playing in Burlington though. I was hoping for a fun excuse to go up and visit. Oh well.