Dawgs Try Their Luck In Beaver Cup Pond Tourney

 (Today we have a special guest entry from Nathaniel "N8 Dawg" Akell, who captains our Dawgs I team, currently leading the top division in the Edge Hockey League. That's Nate right below, closest on the left. Nate and some of the other Dawgs played a pond hockey tournament near Fort Collins over the weekend, and it was eventful, to say the least. Enjoy...)

           This past weekend, members of Dawg Nation competed in the 6^th annual Beaver Cup pond tournament near Red Feather Lakes, located just Northwest of Fort Collins. The tournament featured 24 teams from all over the state competing on 7 sheets of ice all within the Beaver Meadows Ranch Resort. Although Dawg Nation didn’t have the best showing, record-wise, it was a fun-filled weekend and a great chance for the Nation to get more involved in the Colorado hockey community.

            The tourney started on Friday afternoon amidst the heavy snowfall we experienced here in the metro area and other parts of the state. This made the commute a bit difficult and posed a few problems for us in getting to the ponds. I personally didn’t know how deep into the countryside the ponds were. Off of highway 287, it’s about a 30 mile drive, mostly on dirt roads, to Beaver Meadows Ranch. Throw in about a foot of snow with more coming down, it made for quite a perilous drive. Being the plan-ahead-kind-of-guy that I am, I decided to take this trek in my 1994 Honda Accord. Camille, as I call her, did a fine job in the snow for about the first 29 miles in. I pushed her as far as I could until she finally would go no further, which left me with a 30 min walk of about a mile through the snow and woods until at last, I descended upon the ponds!

            I wasn’t the only member of The Nation with troubles on the road. Long-time Dawg Nation members, Danny Packard and Jon Kolenc (both of the Ranch Dawgs) peeled around a corner in Danny’s Bronco when their tires got loose on the snow. Rather than colliding head-on with an approaching car, Danny decided to plummet his vehicle into a 5 foot ditch on the side of the road. Luckily, our other two teammates Jonathan Ripley and Andre Janusz (both of Dawg Nation) were there to pull the Bronco out. After hearing this, I quickly recalled the hole on the side of the road which I passed on the way up. Needless to say, it was a rough commute, but we all made it, more or less, safe and sound.

            Because of my extended commute, I arrived on foot to the ponds with about 2 minutes left in the first half (games were played with 2 halves of 15 minutes each, run time). They were all happy to see me, but quickly asked where in the hell my gear was. I informed them it was about a mile back and I wasn’t walking back to get it. So they had to play the first game with no sub. The game was looking great until Danny took an errant stick to his right eye dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Almost comically, someone immediately yelled out “medic!” as if we were on the shores of Normandy. Danny quickly grabbed some snow to cover his eye and skated off the ice. He asked me how it looked and well, I told him it didn’t look good and he was going to need some stitches. Luckily, and ironically, there was a Navy field surgeon on-site with full trauma gear and he was able to stitch our pal up while lying on a couch in the lobby. After this, Danny was a resident celebrity amongst the tournament public. People were asking if they could pose with Danny and his grotesque looking eye. Entire families were posing with him as if they were at the JC Penney family photo center. I think he may have even signed an autograph or two! We ended up winning that game in OT, which summed up the first day of play.


Danny

            We then headed to our cabin to get checked in. The cabin was about 6 miles away from the ponds, so we left my car where it was while the other guys shuttled us back and forth each day. While we were checking in, I asked the woman if they were getting a lot of bear sightings lately. She looked at me confused and said no, and that it was the middle of winter and they were all hibernating. It was one of those things that as soon as you said it, you wished you hadn’t. I tried to play it off by saying that I meant in the summer I could imagine they had a lot. She pretty much thought I was an idiot. We quickly got settled in to the cabin and realized that all we had for food was Goldfish and raisins. So after a gourmet dinner of Goldfish and raisins, we finished the evening with card games, beer, and Canadian Mist. Mmmm... Goldfish, raisins, beer and Canadian Mist, the true dinner of champions, and Dawgs!

            After a groggy morning, we all made it to the ponds for our 10:30 a.m. game. This was the first of 3 for the day and we were handed our first loss. We had about an hour and a half before our next game which we used to eat pulled pork sandwiches and drink beer. We played our second game of the day and were handed our second loss. It was at this time when I had the pleasure of meeting my pulled pork sandwich again as I deposited it firmly into the snow at halftime. Looking around our table, we were a beat up bunch. Danny with his eye, the rest of us coughing up what was left of our lungs as we all had colds. Another hour and a half later, and after a few more beers, we played our final game of the day, and yep, you guessed it, were handed our third loss. It was a close game- we lost in OT. Not a good day for the Dawgs, but we still had a blast. Danny manned up and played 2 games that day and only missed 1 game all tourney despite his newly-found fame due to his eye.

            We headed back to the cabin to get showered up, and came back for the tourney banquet Saturday night. We had the pleasure of sharing our table with Denny Tennant, who as most of you know, is a recipient of Dawg Nation aid. Denny suffered a serious head injury in a car accident while driving home from this same tournament last year. We were able to present a check to him at our Comedy Works night ,and he was present at this year’s tourney, decked out in full Dawg attire. It was really cool to visit with him as he let out many emphatic “Dawg Nation!” cries. It was a great reminder of why we do what we do, and to see the power that The Nation has, which is made possible by the generosity of you all. The tournament directors acknowledged Dawg Nation, and we were honored with a large round of applause.

That's Denny in the Dawgs shirt

            The banquet proceeded with a raffle, where the only one of us to win anything was Danny. Not only was he a celebrity, but he also wins a prize. I tell you, it’s just not fair! Granted, the prize was a sweet new Con-Air curling iron, which Danny gave away. Although I don’t know why, as he could have used it to curl his beautiful red locks. We headed back to the cabin for another late night of cards, which again, made for a rough morning.

            Sunday morning, we were lucky enough to have Rip’s wife, Robyn Ripley, whip us up a delicious, hearty meal. Rips wife, along with their two sons Mason and Chase, were able to enjoy the weekend with us. All 8 of us became one happy family in our humble cabin abode. We had a 9:00 game that morning and were able to come out with a win. Based off of the two previous days' results, each team was placed in either the top, middle, or bottom division. Apparently a stellar 1-3 record doesn’t get you into the top division. So yes, we were bottom feeders in the loser’s division. But, we showed that team, and came up with our second win of the tourney. This put us in position to be one game away from competing for all the marbles of the lower division and to be crowned “best of the worst”. Intense, I know.

After a hard-fought battle, we dropped our 2^nd game of the day, halting the Dawg Nation freight train and ending our 2012 run. A few brats and beers after the game, and we were all set to call it a weekend and head back to the metro area, licking our Dawg wounds.

            One final story on the way out; as my car would not make it to the cabin, I contracted Rips to take me the rest of the way. His car was full with Robyn, Mason, Chase and hockey gear, so naturally I stepped foot on the back bumper and held on to his ski racks as he took me for a winter wonderland ride. We hadn’t been driving for 3 seconds when we heard the daunting sound of a sheriff’s siren. Not a cop in site all weekend, and the minute I’m riding on top of Rip’s vehicle, we get pulled over. I quickly jumped down and explained the situation to the sheriff. With an unwavering scowl, the sheriff told me that I had better find space in the cab or he was taking me downtown. Really? Take me downtown? I thought they only said that in movies. Oh, but it gets better. His next line was, “There will be no dead bodies on Main Street while I’m in charge”. I swear he must have had that line tucked in his back pocket for years. He must have been so happy that he had an excuse to lay that down! So I squeezed in the trunk and we were on our way.

            The tourney was a hit. Dawg Nation got a huge round of applause at the banquet. The tourney directors were all given Dawg Nation shirts, and we got to see our friend Denny and the affects the Nation can have. It was a great weekend and I’m glad I got to share it with my friends/ Nation members/ family. Love you guys and love the Nation. “Play hard, play fair, GIVE BACK!!!”