Frozen drinks, grillin' and gazebo.

Ok, now Im not sure where we can go from here. Last night was yet another step up for the TWAHT organization. A frozen drink machine being run on a generator, a pop up gazebo, and a full grill of burgers and dogs with all of the fixin's. To say our little group has come a long way since our newspaper and lighter fluid dogs flame broiled on an old weber charcoal camping grill is an understatement.

Lest you forgot, we started with this:

The rain fell outside as we tripped, slashed and did our best to maim each other inside. As usual, the team who dominated during regular play fell quickly to the wayside during our "first to 5 championship", which in the end was great, because we got to eat and drink that much sooner. The rain did slow down to a drizzle, but the pop up gazebo made all that much difference with staying dry and creating an atmosphere of partying down.

Rob and Chris did a superb job of catering this soiree. Rob brought the frozen drink machine and all of the mixes, as well as the pop up gazebo, and Chris brought his generator and grill. Thanks to them, and to anyone else who supplied alcohol, burgers, dogs and fixin's, as well as Vesa who took a couple of the pics posted which I couldnt get with my daughters POS camera. Truly we have a noble group of men.

The frozen drink machine was a whirlwind of activity. I personally had one each of the banana, strawberry and pina colada frozen goodness, and shared an ice cream headache with several of you. The machine:

The process begins with some tequila...

...Rob starts the puppy up...

...and pours one out.

We did also have food, of course. The grill was always full of various meat, and just as quick as each course was done, it was consumed even faster.

Chris did a superb job of grilling it all up and manned it for the whole evening. After 2 hours of fat guys coming up to ask when the dogs will be ready, Chris looked a bit exhausted.

Ive always enjoyed "before and after" pics of almost any kind, but especially ones of people "before and after" a few drinks. Here is Linus very early on in the evening...

...and later trying to pawn off US Open tickets for pennies on the dollar.

Scott and Tj decide to bid on the tickets for 45 cents each (or are they just laughing at the spectacle?)

Fred watches the proceedings while Ray enjoys the simple things in life...a Guiness and fat cigar.

Joe and Rich were JUST making fun of me for some reason when I came upon them, Here they are trying to play it off.

Holt is one of our newest Twahts. Fresh twaht....just nothing like it. I think Bill was filling Holt in on who there was not advisable to shower with.

Bill, Bill, Linus and Brian enjoy another awesome TWAHT adventure.

Bill is told about TJ's continuing constipation problems.

Marc calls out for help while Bill and Matt try to fix the flux capacitor. All three men were due back in 1955 to make sure Vesa's parents got together at the dance.

Vesa finds out he was a Finnish army experiment, and his parents were actually gay mutant gerbils. Awkward...

Bill salutes with a drink, while TJ listens to John about White Castle and Dairy Queen franchise opportunities in Connecticut.

Geoff laughs at Holt for suggesting they shower together.

Where are they now? Part one...

In the many years of TWAHT hockey, we have seen players come and go. Many we enjoyed, some we hated, and some....well, were interesting. Chris "the thief" goalie, Gumby, and James "you win this round" P., as well as some other less recognizable characters. So let's salute our missing pieces...


GUMBY
This person, who we never actually got a name of, was one of our favorites. A sub twaht player circa. 2006, he disappeared one night after a game, and never came back. No one ever saw him again, and the news is he got slight brain damage while hanging around my car and drove off the highway that evening. Here he is, in a rare shot at wonderland warming up, caught by the security cameras.


JAMES P.
James played with us a couple of years, until an alcoholic evening turned him into the most wanted man of New Haven County. A state trooper, local police and 2 EMS workers were needed to contain this player at some pool party. As well, liability for the rink is limited to the ice surface, so the picnic table shenannigans of James was the final straw. TWAHT players are upstanding citizens, and we do no tallow players to tarnish our record of philanthropy. Last we knew, James was in rehab at the "Theo Fleury center for rehabilitation" and is doing well. The last known picture of James after he had fallen off The Table in a drunken stupor, and smacked his head on the cement, resulting in a bloody mess.


CHRIS "THE THIEF" GOALIE
What can be said about a 17 year old goalie with dreams of playing pro, who couldnt stop Gumby's shots? Poor Chris. Delusional fantasies of stopping Joe Thornton on a breakaway in game 7 of the Stanley Cup to win the big one. I distinctly remember our conversations:
"Dood, do you think I can make it pro? I mean if I really work at it, I put the time in...I mean I already feel like I am almost there, ya know? I think with another year with you guys or so, I can try out, I mean I really feel like I have some good skills....what do you think?"
"No, you suck."
Oh well, someone had to tell him. I may have been the catalyst for Chris to court a life of crime! Who knew he would sneak back into the locker room to steal cash from people's clothing and bags!? At least he didnt rob us, his "friends". Instead, he decided to go into the other locker room to pilfer: unfortunately, it was the police's locker room! Oh boy. I dont know what happened to Chris, but I heard many stories around the NHL of a thin wiry guy seen sneaking around like Gollum in the locker rooms, and stories of missing cash. No photos exist of Chris, so I'll just put up some representation as if he went pro, but didnt change his ways.


I know there are others...any submissions are welcome!