Quiet here?

This is why:

Sean Simpson channels Herb Brooks?
Sulander gets belated respect
"No love for Hallenstadion"
"We underestimated them"
"ZSC on top of the world"
For Sulander, it's now or never

And now I'm in Finland, my old country.

Just a reminder: my hockey stuff is now at Puckarinen (www.ristopakarinen.com/hockey/)

Three years ago, I claimed a word. I coined a phrase. A few weeks ago, I saw a Finnish version of the word in a paper. Was I the first one, really, or did somebody else’s brain produce a similar gem?

I’m sure it was the latter.

» Continued

A part of hockey’s lure has to be in the equipment. There’s something magical in the ritual of putting on all that gear that looks nothing like anything in the real world. Nothing.

Gloves are so padded that when the players do the now-ubiquitous gloved hand-clap to thank the fans after a game, it looks bizarre, unnatural. Same goes for the helmet, the socks (yeah, right), and the pants.

When I was four years old, following my father to hockey games in Helsinki, I was fascinated by goalies who, to me, looked like freaks of nature. I mean, where did these people live? I had never seen such creatures - with their wide legs, their chubby upper bodies, and their big, blocky hands - out on the streets.

» Continued

Where I live, honking is a lost art. I’m not going to tell you where I live, out of paranoia, but I will tell you that it’s getting pretty dark pretty early around here these days. And that people are polite and fairly quiet, and don’t wave their arms and hands when talking.

That’s why honking is often interpreted as something hostile, like a rude gesture, or a shove in the back. An elbow to the ribs in a crowded elevator.

» Continued

INT. ITALIAN GROCERY STORE - DAY. CHECK-OUT LINE NUMBER 7.

WIFE, SON, and DAUGHTER lift a lot of groceries from a basket onto the conveyer.

WIFE
Put that pasta on there, please, Daughter. Thanks, good job. And Son, don't pile all the stuff in one spot, OK?

WIFE, SON, and DAUGHTER keep adding groceries onto the belt.

WIFE
I wonder ... I wonder which side the bar codes should be. Oh, see, over here they have the bar code reader installed facing up, in the same place where we at home have the scale, so we should probably turn the groceries so that the bar codes are facing down, OK, Son?
Husband, can you give me that divider bar so that that lovely and picturesque Italian couple - don't look now, but he looks just like Rocky's brother-in-law - behind us can put their stuff on the belt.

HUSBAND
Here.

WIFE
No, wait, the bar code reader is where it is at home, so everybody, turn the groceries over so the bar code faces us.

INT. ITALIAN GROCERY STORE - DAY. CHECK-OUT LINE 6:

» Continued

» Continued