An explanation from the Cub reporter
Tom Obert writes:
First of all, Trailboss, let me be among the first to say how impressed I am that you are able to maintain the blog site during the course of what is obviously going to be a wonderful adventure through America's great Southwest - was it through Skads Travel? [Nope -- just went south on 35 to Dallas and turned right. We're here now in a winter home we own with my brothers, Steve and Virg. When we go to Tasmania we'll call Skads. -- Trailboss]
Who is Bob Annen?
Secondly, it's probably time now to give a little further info on what this girls hockey deal is all about and why, to your credit, you ended up with a picture of this complete stranger, Bob Annen, on our class blog site.
Annen is the guy I walked every street in Alex with, and he does have a Kevin Baconesque connection to our class. He was a vice president at Honeywell, and, as such, shared a mutual acquaintance with Greg Johnson, our classmate and fellow longtime Honeyweller.
Bob is one of those people you ask how and why he ended up retiring in Alexandria - because he grew up in New Ulm, lived in Brainerd, and during his career with Honeywell lived in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Brussels, Belgium; and Plymouth, Minnesota. Yet somehow his and Vivian's search for a retirement place ended within two hours of their first visit ever to Alex - obviously snowed by the wonderful sales promotion of their real estate agent, Linda [Engstrom] Akenson - and they have happily lived here since 1998.
Back to the plot
Anyway, the plot thickens . . .Ruth and I moved back to Alex in 2001, and, over time, decided it would be a good idea to find things to keep ourselves busy during the winter. Having no specific knowledge of or allegiance to hockey after 30-some years living in our nation's capital, I decided one night two years ago to check out a girls hockey game (heck, we didn't even have a boys team in our era). Well, it didn't take long for even this novice observer to realize that we had a special player - and at that time she was only an 8th-grader. Abby Williams (In the Alex Hockey sweatshirt) had such charisma and talent you couldn't keep your eyes off her when she was on the ice.
And it didn't take long to realize her fellow 8th-graders, Kathryn Del Zoppo and Ashley Holmes (see photos), were also super players. I subsequently learned they had an advantage over their upperclassmen teammates at that time - because girls hockey is still a relatively new sport, they started playing at a much younger age and played against boys. I was hooked . . . but I was also alone. No one other than parents ever go to the girls games. So one day I mentioned this to Annen, who like myself had no background in hockey but unlike myself had no historical attachment to Alex. But I got him to go to a game . . . and he was hooked.
Hey, and Jerry's Bar and Grill for the "best burgers and coldest beer in town" after the games - what's not to like? I have written to the Echo advising the locals of the fun in their midst - and Annen advised me from his attendance at the fund raiser that the girls are aware of my promotional efforts (thereby making future coverage and photos easier?). I would normally hesitate to single out a single player (or players) because it is obviously a team sport and all the girls contribute. But I also know that I am a fair weather fan, and it helps if the team is winning - and Abby is that special player who puts them in state tournament class (and I think they all realize that - one of the other hockey mothers calls her Mighty Mouse).
Annen describes her as someone who is at full speed in two strides - and there are times when she has the puck, even at the far end of the rink, you just know she is going to score. In a game this year, Alex had just scored so they went to center ice for the next face-off - Abby tipped the puck between the opponent center's legs, hopped quickly around her and got the puck, streaked between the two defensemen before they could react, went in alone on the goalie and scored exactly 7 seconds after the previous goal. Her talent is not a fluke as Annen discovered at the fund raiser - her mom, who is from Grand Rapids, has a brother who played for the Boston Bruins in the NHL. I call her Alex's version of Lindsay Whelan.
But despite having a star-studded sophomore class, I think this year is their best shot to be really special because of the quality in numbers of the senior class, which includes Brittney Bruzek, (top photo, left) Bud's daughter. Saturday they tied Bemidji, 2 - 2, at Bemidji - the goals were scored by the Toft twins, seniors Sara and Andrea. It was a big game to get a tie on the road because Bemidji is a big school team (AA) (Alex is single A), and Bemidji beat Moorhead (another AA) - and Moorhead is the only team to beat Alex this year.
The cub reporter will continue to provide reports that we hope will end again at the state tournament.
First of all, Trailboss, let me be among the first to say how impressed I am that you are able to maintain the blog site during the course of what is obviously going to be a wonderful adventure through America's great Southwest - was it through Skads Travel? [Nope -- just went south on 35 to Dallas and turned right. We're here now in a winter home we own with my brothers, Steve and Virg. When we go to Tasmania we'll call Skads. -- Trailboss]
Who is Bob Annen?
Secondly, it's probably time now to give a little further info on what this girls hockey deal is all about and why, to your credit, you ended up with a picture of this complete stranger, Bob Annen, on our class blog site.
Annen is the guy I walked every street in Alex with, and he does have a Kevin Baconesque connection to our class. He was a vice president at Honeywell, and, as such, shared a mutual acquaintance with Greg Johnson, our classmate and fellow longtime Honeyweller.
Bob is one of those people you ask how and why he ended up retiring in Alexandria - because he grew up in New Ulm, lived in Brainerd, and during his career with Honeywell lived in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Brussels, Belgium; and Plymouth, Minnesota. Yet somehow his and Vivian's search for a retirement place ended within two hours of their first visit ever to Alex - obviously snowed by the wonderful sales promotion of their real estate agent, Linda [Engstrom] Akenson - and they have happily lived here since 1998.
Back to the plot
Anyway, the plot thickens . . .Ruth and I moved back to Alex in 2001, and, over time, decided it would be a good idea to find things to keep ourselves busy during the winter. Having no specific knowledge of or allegiance to hockey after 30-some years living in our nation's capital, I decided one night two years ago to check out a girls hockey game (heck, we didn't even have a boys team in our era). Well, it didn't take long for even this novice observer to realize that we had a special player - and at that time she was only an 8th-grader. Abby Williams (In the Alex Hockey sweatshirt) had such charisma and talent you couldn't keep your eyes off her when she was on the ice.
And it didn't take long to realize her fellow 8th-graders, Kathryn Del Zoppo and Ashley Holmes (see photos), were also super players. I subsequently learned they had an advantage over their upperclassmen teammates at that time - because girls hockey is still a relatively new sport, they started playing at a much younger age and played against boys. I was hooked . . . but I was also alone. No one other than parents ever go to the girls games. So one day I mentioned this to Annen, who like myself had no background in hockey but unlike myself had no historical attachment to Alex. But I got him to go to a game . . . and he was hooked.
Hey, and Jerry's Bar and Grill for the "best burgers and coldest beer in town" after the games - what's not to like? I have written to the Echo advising the locals of the fun in their midst - and Annen advised me from his attendance at the fund raiser that the girls are aware of my promotional efforts (thereby making future coverage and photos easier?). I would normally hesitate to single out a single player (or players) because it is obviously a team sport and all the girls contribute. But I also know that I am a fair weather fan, and it helps if the team is winning - and Abby is that special player who puts them in state tournament class (and I think they all realize that - one of the other hockey mothers calls her Mighty Mouse).Annen describes her as someone who is at full speed in two strides - and there are times when she has the puck, even at the far end of the rink, you just know she is going to score. In a game this year, Alex had just scored so they went to center ice for the next face-off - Abby tipped the puck between the opponent center's legs, hopped quickly around her and got the puck, streaked between the two defensemen before they could react, went in alone on the goalie and scored exactly 7 seconds after the previous goal. Her talent is not a fluke as Annen discovered at the fund raiser - her mom, who is from Grand Rapids, has a brother who played for the Boston Bruins in the NHL. I call her Alex's version of Lindsay Whelan.
But despite having a star-studded sophomore class, I think this year is their best shot to be really special because of the quality in numbers of the senior class, which includes Brittney Bruzek, (top photo, left) Bud's daughter. Saturday they tied Bemidji, 2 - 2, at Bemidji - the goals were scored by the Toft twins, seniors Sara and Andrea. It was a big game to get a tie on the road because Bemidji is a big school team (AA) (Alex is single A), and Bemidji beat Moorhead (another AA) - and Moorhead is the only team to beat Alex this year.
The cub reporter will continue to provide reports that we hope will end again at the state tournament.
No comments:
Post a Comment