FALMOUTH, MAINE, DECEMBER 25, 2011 - With the sticks and skates momentarily put aside, may you all enjoy Happy Holidays, a very Merry Christmas, Chanukah Sameac, and all the very best this season has to offer!
Hockey the way it should be! Somnus est hostes hostium
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Richelieu Cup Does Vegas
Richelieu Cup Does Vegas In Style
By R. Inkrat, Special Hockey Correspondent to the Los Angeles Times
LAS VEGAS, December 16, 2011 – The prestigious Cardinal Richelieu Cup, awarded to the Maine Morning Hockey Club playoff champions, was brought to this desert town for a frenzied celebration of hockey madness unparalleled in anything seen here before, when MHC Gold Weasel sharpshooter Steve “Mr. Freeze” Freese brought the famous flagon to the Vegas strip recently.
Freese (pictured below with the Cup), a noted Portland, Maine, restaurateur and athlete, had been asked to bring the Cup to Vegas as part of his time with the relic. Each player on the winning club gets to take the Cup for a prescribed period in order to share the accomplishment with family, friends, hometown, or anyone of the player’s choosing. Given the illustrious provenance of the Cup and its namesake, Freese, an alternate captain on the Weasel squad, thought that Las Vegas was probably the best place in America for the Cup to be displayed in all its glory. “I figured that if any American city was the right place for a cheap ewer it was Vegas,” Freese said, surrounded by an admiring crowd of Elvis impersonators. “These guys with me here today represent fully the class of the Richelieu Cup and the Gold Weasels,” Freese added.
Freese (pictured below with the Cup), a noted Portland, Maine, restaurateur and athlete, had been asked to bring the Cup to Vegas as part of his time with the relic. Each player on the winning club gets to take the Cup for a prescribed period in order to share the accomplishment with family, friends, hometown, or anyone of the player’s choosing. Given the illustrious provenance of the Cup and its namesake, Freese, an alternate captain on the Weasel squad, thought that Las Vegas was probably the best place in America for the Cup to be displayed in all its glory. “I figured that if any American city was the right place for a cheap ewer it was Vegas,” Freese said, surrounded by an admiring crowd of Elvis impersonators. “These guys with me here today represent fully the class of the Richelieu Cup and the Gold Weasels,” Freese added.
 |
| MHC Star Steve Freese with Admiring Fans |
The occasion of the display of the Cup in Sin City was so momentous that Brother Louis Philippe Richelieu, the great, great, great grandson of the infamous Cardinal himself, and the spiritual leader of Les Gardiens, a suppressed French secret order that keeps custody of the Cup between playoffs, personally traveled to Vegas for the ceremonies. Richelieu, pictured below with some local showgirls, declined to speak or be interviewed. Through a translator he said, “This is too emotional for me given my family connection to the Cup and the greatness of this honor. After I spend more time with some of the local entertainers I may be able to talk to the press, but not now.”
 |
| Richelieu Descendant In Conversation with Vegas Entertainer |
Other Weasel players have also arranged for high honors for the Cup during their time with it. Sniper Matt Fitzgerald brought the Cup to Portland City Hall for a gala celebration. Wiley Weasel all purpose player Pete Eremita took the Cup to Boston for a celebration with Boston Bruin legend Bobby Orr.
But hockey lovers and commentators worldwide agree that nothing could top the pomp and dignity of the Las Vegas events orchestrated by Freese and his people. “I have to admit I have never seen anything quite like this,” said hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who had come from Phoenix, Arizona, to Las Vegas for the event. Current Bruin goalie Tim Thomas remarked, “I am just glad Glenn (legendary MHC goalie Glenn Michaels) retired before this happened.” Versus network hockey analyst Barry Melrose said, “There is no chance the Bruins will beat the Philadelphia . . . er, they what?”
Of course throngs followed MHC’s Freese wherever he went, and the crowds pressed for a chance to see, touch, and be photographed with the Richelieu Cup. Great ambassador for the sport of ice hockey in general, and Morning Hockey in particular, that he is, Freese was gracious to all and glad to oblige all requests for an experience of the cup.
 |
| Freese Denied No Fan During His Vegas Cup Tour |
-30-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)