As I wrote last week, I thought it would be interesting to gather opinions on which Northwestern Vermont team was the best team in 2009. Obviously, this is a subjective excerise and unsceintific, but let's give it a go anyway.
Unlike my other polls, I've allowed for multiple votes from individuals using the same computer so feel free to stuff the ballot box!
The poll will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31.
The BFA-St. Albans boys hockey team hosted St. John's Prep on Saturday in the final game of the annual Doc Tulip Holiday Classic. The Bobwhites lost, 4-2, but played well against a very quick and indivdually talented team. (My story from the weekend will appear in Monday's Messenger.)
St. John's Prep has played in the tournament for most of the 15-or-so years the Doc Tulip has been played.
That said, until I decided to do a little research on the school, I knew very little about it.
Here's five things you probably didn't know about St. John's Prep.
1. The school - which has almost 1.250 students - is located in Danvers, Mass. (near Boston) and is 102 years old. The team's mascot in the Eagles.
2. Brian Kelly, the new head coach of the Notre Dame football team, graduated from the school in 1979.
3. Bobby Carpenter, the first American-born player to enter the NHL directly out of high school, played for St. John's Prep. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1981 draft and went on to score 320 goals in an 18-year career.
4. Steve Langston, who graduated in 1997, is a member of Team USA's top two-man bobsled team that will compete in Vancouver this winter.
5. Former major league baseball player Paul Sorrento graduated from SJP in 1982. Sorrento had an 11-year career in which he posted a .257 batting average with 166 homers and 565 RBI. He also had the first-ever hit at Camden Yards, the first grand slam at Jacobs Field and he was the first DH in Tampa Bay Rays' history.
I took Friday night off in order to finish (OK start and finish) my Christmas shopping. I'm pleased to say I survived the experience (and so did the crabby store manager who crossed my path late in my sojourn - another story for another blog posting).
At any rate, the only thing I'm covering this weekend in the final game of the Doc Tulip Tournament in St. Albans this afternoon.
I'll have a blog post following the game, I'm sure and will try to get the photos up either tonight or tomorrow.
I know, he's a heel - and a dumbass, if you'll pardon my French - for what he did to his poor wife and kids.
But you know what? I don't care.
Or as 80s blues rocker George Thorogood once sang 'That don't confront me none.'
What do I care if he's so shallow and so twisted that he feels compelled to sleep with anything with humps? As long as he stays away from my wife and my daughter, he's good by me.
I don't need him to be a role model. I don't need him to be perfect. I don't need him to be anything other than what seems to be in his for-public-consumption personae - a great golfer and an oftimes charming chap.
What he does when the cameras are off and the golf clubs are in the trunk is none of my concern and should be none of our business.
But some folks - especially the media - can't get enough of it.
I understand the compulsion - I like car crashes with the best of y'all. But after 5 seconds I look away. I don't need pull the car over and grill the cops, the drivers and the witnesses for every detail. Other people's suffering simply isn't that 'amusing' - and I mean that in the strictest meaning of the word. Look it up.
I'm not judging, I'm just saying.
If you are entertained and amused by watching Tiger twist in the wind, have at it. It's open season. Drink your fill.
But I'm going to take a pass.
Not because I'm offended, per se. I just think it's a non story.
Some married guys - present company excluded, thank you very much - sleep around. So do some married women. It's a fact. But it's not news.
Don't misunderstand, it was news when Tiger crashed his SUV. Big news.
But after the cops failed to do anything about it, the rest of the story became a freakshow. And, to me, a bore.
Now if it turns out that Tiger did HGH, broke some law (and breaking a vow is not breaking the law) or if he goes postal due to the stress, then it's time to report on him again.
Until then, I think Tiger should be given the same treatment that people like A-Rod (an admitted cheater, vow-breaker and all-around shmuck) get - in other words, a free pass.
But that won't happen until Tiger speaks to the media.
The media will poke, probe, castigate and humiliate Tiger until he deigns to speak with them. Then, and only then, can his inevitable redemption begin.
Until then, here's a couple of videos that should remind you of why we liked the guy in the first place and why - once the media lets us - we'll embrace him again.
A couple of unrelated thoughts on the MVU boys hockey game with Milton on Wednesday night.
(To read the game story I wrote, you'll need to buy the St. Albans Messenger.)
First of all, how about Milton goalie Nikki-Lyn Lauziere (below)?
The junior - who I think its the only girl playing on a boys hockey team this winter - was nothing short of incredible, stopping 46 shots against a high-flying T-Bird offense.
Sure, MVU lit the lamp five times, but it could have been 15 with as many quality scoring bids as they put forth.
Milton only has 14 players on its roster, but they all contribute and their conditioning is impressive as they seemed to keep pace with the deep and talented T-Birds for all 45 minutes.
The game was the second for the T-Birds without their charasmatic coach Jason Brace, a former BFA-St. Albans stud who took over last winter for long-time coach Kevin Spears (who was at the game in a Yankee hat - booo! - last night).
Brace will not coach the T-Birds the rest of the season and for good reason: he's being deployed to Afghanistan along with his mates in the Army National Guard.
Brace is a communications specialist and will be gone - but not forgotten - for about a year.
In his abscence, assistants Luc Choquette (himself a fine player for Spears back in the day) and John McDonald.
Choquette said he'll be in contact with his head coach - and good friend - throughout his deployment and that Brace is very proud to serve.
Choquette said the MVU players are also very proud of their coach and hope to see him off when he deploys in early January.
He's wishing Jason and the rest of those deploying in the weeks to come the best of luck in Afghanistan. I'm extremely proud of your service and sacrifice and I appreciate you doing more than your fair share to protect the liberties we all so often take for granted.
My thoughts go out, too, to the families they are leaving behind. You are unsung heroes in your own right. Stay strong and know that there are tons of people who are ready to help and support you in any way we can.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 1:10AM 
