The Wingman Chronicles

The pep talk that turned the team around.

So, let me get this right.

• We are 0 and 4;
• We have given up twenty-six goals in four games;
• The team we’re playing tomorrow is in fifth place – but has scored 17 goals, won two games, and will likely kick the crap out of us;
• Woolley has been in on *every one* of our goals (!???!!) (all six of them);

These are dark days indeed…. We can only look forward to playing the Nighthawks, who are also 0-4, have also scored six (they seem to share the points), but have only given up 22 goals – better bring your “A” game Alex!! And they have close to twice as many penalty minutes as we do, so if they don’t beat us on the ice, they will beat us in the alley…..

Yikes. I think that at this point we should consider that the Coach/GM has the career life expectancy of Stephan Dion.

(Alex, maybe there is some relationship between our performance and that of the global markets).

This led to a 6-3 win against the Nighthawks (who were missing their leading scorer), and subsequent reassessment of whether or not we should be moved down a division in the league.

A follow-on message providing our Coach/GM with some guidance:

[As said (more or less) by] Sun Tzu ….. when your enemy is of superior strength……Evade Him – Translation – Relegate the Geeks to the next division …. Down. ;+ )

Nuff said. We’ll see where we end up.

We had a great long weekend at the Delawana Inn in Honey Harbour. The weather was gorgeous – about 27C, and sunny the whole time, with nice cool fall nights. We swam, canoed, kayaked, and spent a day on Beausoliel Island, where we mountain biked, and explored the beach and forest.

Sean (also known as “Lucky“) managed to put his foot down beside a snake – an Eastern Massasuaga Rattlesnake no less – and after shouting “Agh! Snake!”, his feet didn’t touch the ground for about a hundred metres. Clearly he has recovered from his injury of the early summer. Despite all the ruckus, an inspection of his boots and legs showed no damage. When asked later about the bike ride he said “It’s a nice trail. Well, except for the snakes.”

The Wye Marsh put on a couple of shows, one of which, Birds of Prey, fascinated the kids. They have many different birds – an Eagle Owl, a Turkey Vulture, a Barn Owl, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and a Harris Hawk (shown in the pictures).

Sean and I got to watch the Leaf home opener on television, a solid victory over the Red Wings. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to fish, but all around, a very nice time.

The Delawana has been rated as the top family resort in Canada for five years running, and it is a great place to visit. We’ve done three Thanksgivings there, and three or four ten day holidays in the summers. Highly recommended.

All the pictures are over at flickr, as usual. See if you can find the Great Blue Heron!

The Old Geeks have started their twenty-second season, and it could be one for the record books.

And not in the good way.

Despite finishing on an up-note, and one of the most successful training camps (photos here) in recent memory, the Geeks have lost three in row (6-1, 7-0, 8-3 – yikes) to start off season number twenty-two of Geek Hockey. This brings back memories of the Geeks worst start ever, a nine game debacle that almost led to the folding of the team.  Fortunately the temperature of the beer remained consistent as the team record plummeted, and the Geeks struggled through the dark days.

Although it is early in the season, the usual calls for the coach’s head have begun to be heard.

However, Woolley (right) seems immune to the abuse, and clearly has a new strategy this season.  He has decided to rebuild the team, and is not wasting any time. He is currently, uh, ‘between gigs’, career-wise, and has a lot of free time on his hands.

The pieces of the puzzle aren’t hard to put together:

• First, Woolley has replaced the Geek goalie of twenty-some seasons.  Although Higgins had been with the Geeks since the beginning, he is not officially a charter member, having taken a year off to ‘find himself’.   Given his subsequent goaltending performance, it seems that the search was unsuccessful.  In any event, Higgins has retired, and we now have added Alex to the Old Geek Cannon Fodder division.  Alex is refreshingly upbeat, but we will soon break his spirit, as we have with other goalies.
• Woolley has brought in a second rookie, putting the old fat guys on notice; Clint (not his real name) can rush end to end, and miss the net, just as well as some of the other Geeks, so he shows promise.  He gets the same results, only faster.
• Woolley has hired fans.  Along with the rookies, apparently as a package deal, we get fans.  This past Thursday, we played in a 5,000 seat arena (the Spectator rink at the Powerade Centre in Brampton), and were amazed to have two female fans – they even had signs!!

Although Wooley’s retooling is still in it’s infancy, he has BIG plans (well, so he says). So we will carefully watch future developments as the season proceeds.