I was enjoying my re-entry into the hockey world and taking full advantage of the situation in this new league. The A division was actually pretty competitive and I had my challenges with some opposing players. Always handled it in a most diplomatic way….except for Lerch. Lerch stood about 7 feet tall on skates, a very imposing figure. He looked just like Lerch from the Addams Family. A really scary looking dude. And he hated me! I would chirp him incessantly and he was constantly trying to hurt me. I didnt blame him. On the last face off of our championship game, I was in our left defensive corner. The center pulled the puck back to me and with only 10 seconds left in the game I turned my body towards the boards and covered up the puck in my skates. The bodies started flying at me as I kept the puck secure and my teammates all tried to fend off the attack. Out of the corner of my eye, this huge animal of a man, full of rage and spitting nails, came flying at me. Lerch was trying to kill me. I ducked. He missed and slammed ferociously into the glass. I took off and the refs grabbed Lerch and escorted him, one ref each side, away from the fracas. At that point the celebration began, the Championship won. While the refs were holding Lerch I skated up to him and jumped up and punched him square in the face. I took off like a lightning bolt to my locker room and locked the door! Sorry but not sorry!
I was heading into my first full Holiday season at the store and now it was time to make the money. Hockey had gotten me in shape and ready for the grueling season. Twenty four straight working days until Xmas eve. Crazy but satisfying as we would always catch up so much on the debt. Never fully, but close. I always closed the 26th of December. A day of rest for my employees and a day for our family to be in New York with the In-laws. Christmas was so hectic being a Jeweler. The holiday turned out terrific. The boys loved their gifts and Joey at one and a half was finally feeling it. I was feeling great and life was good.
The New year brought an invitation to join the Team USA tournament in Holland, Europe that May. My great friend Chris Longo and I were chosen to represent the Philly area to play on the Team USA Mens Senior team in Europe. Players were chosen from all over the US to join together and play against similar teams from France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, Sweden, etc. It was a big deal. We arrived in Holland and traveled to an area just outside of Amsterdam. We settled in and met the other members of the team at the hotel and prepared for the next day. Two games. Italy first and then Germany. At the rink the next day we received our beautiful Team USA jerseys. It was a proud moment wearing the red white and blue jersey, listening to the Star Spangled Banner and getting ready to play against guys who didn’t speak your language. Well here goes.
First off, I never played on an Olympic surface. Absolutely huge! The first shift, an Italian winger came at me with the puck…no problem. I had him forced to the outside. Not. He just went so wide and blew past me. Way too much room on this wide rink. I adjusted for him the next time, poked the puck away from him and then immediately got a nasty elbow to my eye! Not easy being an American in Europe. We won though. We adjourned to the hotel to rest and get ready for our second game of the day. We had some lunch, rested, taped and iced my eye and then made our way back to the arena. Getting dressed, I realized that I forgot my jersey back at the hotel. The USA B team had just finished their second game so I ventured into their locker room to beg for a replacement. A nice guy threw me his jersey to use. Lifesaver! I put it on and jumped out on the ice. This game was against the local favorites. A Dutch/ German team comprised of area referees and named “the refs”. Good luck. We were in trouble. In the first 10 minutes we had 5 penalties called against us. It was fixed. To make things worse, a non check game became a slugfest, no holds barred war. Chris got the moniker of the “Hammer” by the fans for running the Dutch players and piling up the penalties. I just got a bloody ear! Standing next to this humongous Aryian assassin at a face off, the guy elbows me with all of his strength right in the side of the head. Like What! That freaking hurt. I took off into the play and kept my eye on him. The next face off, guess what? Slam! Elbow to my head! That was it. Slashed him across his wrist..that hurts, and got into a major tussle that “the Refs” gave me no help with this monster. Like a scene out of a WW2 movie. I said ” What the F is your problem!!! He looked at me and said “Juden”! What! I skated to the penalty box to join Chris in his new home and immediately asked him what the name was on my jersey? He started laughing and said …GOLD. I was Jewish! 1998 and being discriminated against for being Jewish but not being Jewish. I felt violated! When the Hammer and I got out of that box we ended up right back in. But not before teaching that big dude a lesson. By the end of the game we had won. It was a war. The Dutch fans knew how much the refs were screwing us all game and towards the end, were standing and chanting USA..USA..USA! AMAZING! I got my “Keenan” jersey back ASAP! Good times!
Next Up: Chris, Tom, Steve and Jeff Go Exploring.