My new Toy---Now Installed

Here it is. My new AMG steering wheel. Look how nice and thick it is. Also notice the alcantara leather and of course the aluminum shift paddles. As Jeremy Clarson of Top Gear would say--Flappy Paddles. It works great and was easy to install. I love it.

A Chance for the Championship

Last Friday Frudoch and I headed up to Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Tournament. Its an almost weekly series of tournaments in Cleveland and for us it was the last chance the North Stars had to win big. 3 games were guaranteed with a championship game for 1 vs. 2. Our first game was Friday night in Euclid vs. the Georgetown Raiders from Canada. This group was a well coached and very disciplined team. The Stars were missing a couple of players and unfortunately for Fru they were his linemates so he had to skate with new players. Lets just say the game was very competitive, but never in doubt as the Canadians won 3-0. It looked like the start of another not so successful tournament. Saturday morning we had an 8:00 game in Chagrin Falls against the Mentor Cardinals and the team played great. They passed the puck and worked hard. They came away with a 4-1 win and we had the whole day open with nothing until 7:50 am Sunday. Lots of ideas were tossed around, but a bunch of us went to Perani's Hockey World which is a big hockey store. It was a load of fun and then it was time for a nap and then Mass. Frudoch and I finally got our dinner at Outback Steakhouse that we had been trying to do for a few months. So early to bed it was for an early game in Strongsville against Rocky River was coming. It was a super game of back and forth with the North Stars pulling out a 4-3 win. Frudoch had a penalty for interference, but was otherwise held in check. We all went back to our hotel to check out as we were now going to the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME in Lakewood against.... the Georgetown Raiders again. WOOHOO..... redemption.

It was about this time I noticed the scores for the games that had been played and the team we were about to play had not been scored on yet in the 3 games. Uhh Oh. But thats why they play the game. In this game the ref's were the story. The whistles were a blowing. The raiders got a quick goal and we matched them. Or did we. The ref claimed he lost sight of the puck which was a really bad call.

Frudoch Working Hard
Since the puck was never frozen or near the goalie. They immediately came right back and scored to make it 2-0. We got a break and finally got one past the goalie to cut it to 2-1 and then they had a goal waved off for a crease violation that was not a very good call. At this point the floodgates opened for penalties on the North Stars and Fru got one for a trip. He also got hosed on a no call while he was on a breakaway.

Those kids were big!
At the end there were 7 penalties on the North Stars and 1 on the Raiders. Not exactly even. They even called a penalty with 4 seconds to go in the game. So an empty net goal and a cheap goal later it ended 4-1. The penalties really did the North Stars in as the Raiders collected a couple power play goals. I'm not one to complain about officials, but it was not an evenly called game. The kids deserved better. So second place it was.

Once again a prime spot---In the penalty box!


Second place and a medal!
Not the Stanley Cup, But Close Enough

Back to the Story-- I'm feeling better

Wow how time has flown. Its been 2 and a half weeks since my last post and what was current then is old news now. I'll try to be more timely in my posts. So I left off in Vegas and thats a good place to pick up. The reason for my trip was to attend the 2009 SCCA National Convention. The SCCA is the Sports Car Club of America and I've been a member for 15 years. This was my first convention though. It went very well and I even came home up a bit winning $10.75. Las vegas itself has changed quite a bit since I was last there in 2002. The strip has a completely different look as new buildings are sprouting up everywhere. In fact the sidewalks were so crowded you could hardly walk. The planes coming in were all full as well. Las Vegas is not hurting. The high roller rooms were though. Our hotel was the South Point Casino about 8 miles off the strip. It was nice and the prices were fair. The trip home was not nearly as eventful as the way down. I had a 6:00 am flight to Atlanta on a Boeing 767. I love flying widebody aircraft as there is so much more room. I literally made it thru security with minutes to spare as I underestimated my time to get to the airport via a shuttle. All was well until my phone rang as the doors were about to close. My wife called to say there was no heat in the house back in Ohio. I had to talk quickly but told my wife to call the repair guys as our whole HVAC system was only 8 months old. Off to ATL I went. Upon landing my phone was ringing again. The furnace was fine (not) and we were out of propane. We live in the country so its either electric heat or a propane tank. Its cheap and warm if somewhat different. I told her call the gas guy. So I am standing in the middle of the terminal talking to a guy I know from Ft. Wayne and my phone rings again.

The Gas company won't talk to my wife as its my name on the account. I need to call them myself. I do and they eventually send out a truck. Gas will be on when I get home. I board my flight to Columbus, a MD-80. I hope we get off early as I hope to make my son's second game. The first game he got to by calling the opponent and asking one of them to drive and my dad agreed to pick him up and take him to the rink near the airport where I will take him home. I land in Columbus and get to the rink to find the game had ended. Oh well. The house will be warm and I am super tired having only gotten 2.5 hours of sleep.

When I get home the house is at 60 degrees. Calamity ensues as i try to figure out what's wrong. Lots of phone calls to the gas company and the HVAC company later the house is now 57 degrees. I am so tired at this point I just don't care and we all hunker down in the master bedroom for a night of camping in sleeping bags. When we wake up its 50 degrees. It turns out the burner did go bad....

So Then I came down with a horrible URI that had ben going around and I had a fever of 102 for a few days. It was really as sick as I've been in a while. The hard part was getting back to the regular grind.

Frudochs team won their first game in the championship and then lost to the Islanders and the Blues about 18 hours apart and they were out. A very disappointing end to the season for the only team to beat the islanders this year. We did go watch some of the playoffs although Fru thought they should have been there. Unfortunately the team played like individuals instead of a team. Lesson learned. Poppy finished her season playing full ice games and even got to join the Orange Crush for a full ice game an hour before her teams final game. Poppy was named player of the game for her play with the Orange Crush.

At the year end banquet both kids got awards for a great season. Frudoch getting a medal and Poppy a trophy. A load of pizza and pepsi too!. Last weekend the season came to an end with games in Athens Ohio for Poppy and Cleveland for Frudoch. I'll pick the story up there shortly with some photos.

Knocked Down

I have been bitten by a nasty URI and I feel like crap. I'll continue the story in a day or 2. Please read the 3 previous posts so it all makes sense. I'll be back. Super long hockey weekend. 5 games over 3 days and NO WINS. Ouch! Stay tuned.