Tag Archives: hockey

FOR THE LOVE OF HOCKEY by Peter Nolan Smith

January 30, 2022 – 1:01 pm

My paternal grandfather had a saying about the seasons in Maine. “There are two seasons up here; winter and preparing for winter.” My early childhood contradicted this adage, for my five year-old senses recognized a very short and wet spring followed by a little longer and slightly warmer summer capped by a short and wet […]

By Peter | Posted in 80s, boston, NEW YORK, semi-fiction, Sports | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Damn Les Habitants

January 29, 2022 – 11:38 am

My introduction to French was via the heavy accent of a cartoon skunk, who appeared on TV every Saturday morning during the 1950s. Pepe Le Pew never got the girl. Skunks smelled bad and supposedly the French also never bathed with soap. I knew little else of France. That country lay across the Atlantic Ocean, […]

By Peter | Posted in boston, Sports, youth | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

BACKWARDS ON ICE by Peter Nolan Smith

January 29, 2022 – 10:06 am

Back in 2014 the Bruins overcame a horrible 1st period to tie the Blackhawks and force another sudden death overtime. This time the flow of time was in the Bruins’ favor and Paille scored the game winner. Game 3 will be in Boston. I love hockey. Several years ago I beat my cousin Oil Can […]

By Peter | Posted in 60s, boston, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

THE RAT TRICK by Peter Nolan Smith

January 29, 2022 – 9:46 am

Hockey was bred into the blood of many New England boys. Frozen ponds and backyard rinks were our winter playground. My dreams of playing for the Boston Bruins ended with my father giving my older brother and me a lesson in how to skate backwards. We were standing the wind-swept surface of Watchic Pond. My […]

By Peter | Posted in 70s, boston, family, New England, semi-fiction, Sports | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Not For Nothing

January 24, 2022 – 5:42 pm

On winter nights as a child in Maine in the 1950s I listened hockey and basketball games on the radio from Boston and the Far North. While I loved the Celtics and Bruins, I cherished even more so the fading in and out of hockey games from the Montreal Forum, for even if I didn’t […]

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