Donnybrook: Can-Am History and a "Free-for-Brawl"

"...The donnybrook at the Halifax Mont-Blancs–Boston Imos game belied the Can–Am Hockey League's new (and supposedly improved) spirit of international cooperation..." –Mick Dupere, scribe for the St. John Gazette

Kieran: The Lord of Misrule

Every Gaudete Sunday, for as long as Seamus J. O"Sheehan could remember, his father would revive, on humble scale, a controversial Christmas tradition: The selection of the lord of misrule. Rather than being appointed by lot to reside over yuletide shenanigans that mocked the Church's hierarchy, however, Kieran would anoint himself to this household position as a means to coordinate ( albeit with a modicum of levity) a peaceful rejoicing in the season.
 

"Je suis le Prince de Sots," he would say and then light a rose-colored candle to signal his month-long reign over Christmastime protocol. Everything from the tree selection to the songs performed during the O'Sheehan St. Stephen's Day Procession to taking down the holly on Twelfth Night, this was Kieran's domain. Everything, that is, except what transpired in the O'Sheehan kitchen, for Gráinne was the queen of mince pies and soda bread.

Hockey Meets Hypermnesia

Nathalie could remember every detail of her first date with Seamus J. O'Sheehan, who knew what the word hypermnesia meant but had never met anyone who could recall with such clarity an event from five years ago.

Cloche: Covering Grianne's Baked Goods

Gráinne's Irish soda bread, baked on Saturday mornings and then covered by a fine crystal cloche that Kieran had purchased at a garage sale, would tempt Seamus J. O'Sheehan to break away from whatever book he was reading and reward himself with a late-night snack.

Ambrose Bishop: The Towering Tartar

Opponents who dared to drop the gloves with Ambrose Bishop, the towering Beaverbrooks tartar, often regretted their decisions.

Coach's Gorgonizing Glare

Coach, if interrupted, didn't need to scold the offending yacker; the team leader's gorgonizing glare served as fair warning, as if to say to his Lady Beaverbrooks: "Do not undermine my authority again."

The Malison of Misanthropy

Seamus J. O'Sheehan understood, better than most, the malison of misanthropy: Pessimism cast upon the human lot reflects a wretched self-image.

Choppy Play, Hew

Hugh Montenegro, the behometh defenceman's wooden Sher-Wood stick serving as an axe, chopped at Sheamus J. O'Sheehan's ankles. O'Sheehan, retaliated not with force of fist but by scoring a goal and then skating past his nemisis as he uttered this simple epithet: "Attaboy, "'Hew.'"

Garage Sales and Garniture

Kieran was fanatical about garage sales. Grainne less so. But she tolerated her husband's acumen for rediscovering relics, allowing some of these historical remnants—such as a vintage American Waltham Watch timepiece—to serve as garniture in the couple's renovated basement.

Seamus J. O'Sheehan: Picnic in La Belle Province

Seamus J. O'Sheehan and his bride set foot up the verdant hill overlooking the calm sea. With his left hand, he grasped his wife's slender hand. In his right, he carried a large red cooler containing the viands the inn's proprietor had prepared for the new couple: roast pork, seasoned with cinnamon, honey and garlic, and then stuffed into two croissants; a semicircle of fou du roy cheese; two triangular pieces of blueberry pie; a large bottle of Perrier; and two wine glasses etched with wishes for a happy marriage: "Tous mes voeux de bonheur."

Impressed by the Fourth Estate

Mick Dupere, an unobtrusive and soft-spoken journalist with an impressive resume, was the only member of the fourth estate that Seamus J. O'Sheehan trusted.

Kieran's Cuticles and Festinate Ways

Kieran was not one to make festinate decisions. With the thumbnail of his left hand, he'd push back the cuticles of the opposite fingers and then groom his left hand in the same fashion, all the while  furrowing his brow as he fretted when and how to explain the vicissitudes of life to Seamus.

Jack Falla and the Interrobang?!

Jack Falla, who mentored many budding sports journalists before he passed away in September 2008, was not a fan of the exclamation point. I suspect he would boo the interrobang.

 

 

 

 

"O Canada" and the Orphic Dimitri

Dimitri Kotsopoulos, the only Greek Canadian on the Beaverbrooks, would often sing "O Canada" before home games. His orphic voice, so low and commanding, offset his lack of goal-scoring prowess.

Vainglorious: A Character Defect

Kieran is not what most would call a vainglorious hockey dad, but he himself sometimes allowed his ego to swell when Seamus executed a face-off tactic he had taught his son. "I taught Sonny that move," he would sometimes whisper to the hockey patron sitting next to him—and then apologize for being so boastful.

Granda Roams and Then Follows His Nose

Stravagating Lower Sackville's streets—walking past homes on the crescents northeast of First Lake, striding west by businesses on the Evangeline Trail and then following his nose to Beaver Bank Road and Sackville Downs, Granda—his quadriceps still as sturdy as girders—smelled equines and leather and heard the thunder of hooves. "I knew I was home then, Sonny, " he told Seamus. "I knew I was home."

Jocose and Joue un tour avec Benoit

Most hockey teams have a chief prankster—a jocose teammate who cuts a rookie's tie while sleeping on the bus or saws a stick blade of someone who's in a scoring slump—and Benoit fit that bill for the St. Andrews Beaverbrooks.

Benoit, Seamus, and the Breakneck Steps

Benoit and Seamus would awake at dawn, jog to Vieux-Québec, and then conclude their pre-training camp workouts by sprinting down and then up the Breakneck Steps of Petit Champlain—before les rues would inspissate with tourists.

Sedulous: A Penchant for Pursuit

When Jean-Pierre Giguère—most respected for his sedulous forechecking—scored the game-winner, his teammates hooted with delight and thrust their arms toward the rink's rafters, domicile of the hockey gods.

Belauded: Much Ado About Mediocrity

The belauded St. Andrews Beaverbrooks, resting on the laurels of early-season success, have lost six straight games and now coast toward mediocrity in the Atlantic Hockey League.

Dundrearies and Duh Playoffs

Benoit, the team captain and comedian, stood on his dressing room chair and issued his annual mandate: "Men, we need to play more like a team—no one here padding your stats, eh?—so we will all complement our playoff beards with dundrearies.

"Dungarees?" a rookie, unaccustomed to Benoit's French accent, asked.

"Non, you oaf," Benoit replied and then glanced at his best friend, a smirking Seamus J. O'Sheehan. "DUNN-drear--ease," Benoit repeated as he drew imaginary lines from his large ears to his jaw bones. "We let our side-uh-burns grow wild, eh?"

Lodestar: Guidance from the Galaxy

Seeking answers to life's myriad questions, some cast their gaze skyward—toward Polaris or perhaps a favorite planet or pulsar—and wait for the Creator of these lodestars to whisper guidance.

Georgic: Curious?

H. Holm photo, Nova Scotia Photo Album: Halifax

Seamus J. O'Sheehan's grandparents, accustomed to the georgic lifestyle in rural Nova Scotia, didn't warm to the notion of selling the family farm and moving closer to urban congestion, to Lower Sackville, some twenty-five clicks from Halifax.

Happy Birthday, Gráinne: WordSmart's WotD

Moved by Irish mythology and the full moon's luminosity, Nana and Granda named their first-born daughter Gráinne.

The Cantatrice and Her Captivating Performance

Nathalie’s performance in the public square that late-spring evening–her unwavering mezzo-soprano voice, a hint of French Canadian accent when she spoke to the audience, those big brown eyes and her chestnut hair—so captivated me that I fell in love with the cantatrice.

Oriflamme

Seamus J. O'Sheehan's oriflamme, a Celtic harp tattooed on the instep of his left foot, reminds him that his family is always with him.

Gráinne's Garden: Scarlet Pimpernel

When she wasn't working to secure endangered children or preparing her signature pot roast and noodle dinner, Gráinne often found peace in tending to her garden, which was punctuated with Scarlet pimpernel and blue-eyed grass.

Cerebrate

Cerebrate is my new favorite word. I mean, think about it...

Tonsorial: A Clerical Error

Seamus J. O'Sheehan, a bookish and reclusive red-headed sixth-grader at St. Kevin's Parochial School, pondered a career as a monk—until he read about one religious order's practice of tonsuring its new disciples.

Tregetour: Mario the Magician

Mario Lemieux, a modern-day tregetour, could deke many a defensemen with his slight of stickhandling.

Wallydraigle and Wishful Thinking: Wordnik WOD

Sometimes I wish I were the wallydraigle of my hockey-loving family—for baby brothers seem to inherit the lion's share of athletic talent—but I reckon being first-born has its merits, too.

Florid: Seamus, Sweat, and Superior

His face florid after an hour-long work-out, Seamus J. O'Sheehan's confidence swelled as he realized he would be ready for tomorrow night's hockey game in Wisconsin, against the Superior Sturgeons.

Yawp: Benoit Bemoans

Benoit, tired of the seemingly purposeless skating drills, slapped his stick on the ice and yawped: "When do we get to play hockey, Coach?"

Welkin: Welcome to Heaven, Gráinne

When Gráinne, a selfless volunteer and devoted mother, passed away, those who knew her well heard the welkin ring as their friend, their mother, their champion passed through Heaven's gates.

Vanward: A Fictional Account

Seamus J. O’Sheehan, a vociferous reader even at nine years old, found the fourth-grade reading material at St. Kevin’s Catholic School uninspiring, but he reckoned he could convince Ms. Donnelly, the school librarian, to provide him more vanward books like Island of theBlue Dolphins.

Luciferin and Enlightenment

Fireflies and jellyfish reveal themselves just as the universal luciferous power that whispers to us the truth of things.

Tertiary: WordSmart

Benoit's hat trick might have earned him First Star of the Game honours had it not been for his goalie, who stopped all 57 shots, and his linemate, who scored four goals; the media thus awarded Benoit  tertiary acclaim.

Deflagrate: The Great Fire of 1892

A month without much rain, a high westerly wind, and weak water main pressure were trigger points in a 1892 fire, when a spark of dubious origin ignited a stable and then proceeded to deflagrate St. John's, Newfoundland.

Skirl: Sweet Music

Nova Scotia is not so far away that I can almost see the "new world Gaels," their convex cheeks puffing life into their bagpipes as they synchronize my soul with the skirl of "Amazing Grace."

Quatorze Juillet: Oxford English Disctionary

Quatorze Juillet, Bastille Day, La Fête Nationale: No matter the title of this French national holiday, parades and fireworks are among the festivities that commemorate this day in 1789 in Paris, when a mob of angry demonstrators morphed into a revolutionary force and overran the Bastille garrison.

Silly Season: A Fictional Account

Benoit's intermittent alcohol-induced behavior, which transformed a shy teetotaler into an outlandish drunkard, lasted two years—a period he would later refer to as his silly season.

Tucket: A Poem

A departure from the sentence, but to not dismayI crafted a poem for today's Word of the Day

There lived a kind trumpeter on the isle of Nantucket
He stood on the dunes, tooting mellow tunes
While his son shoveled sand into a bucket
Then a friend from Methuen, carrying balloons
Hiked onto the scene, with a smile so serene
The trumpeter welcomed him by blaring a tucket

Sciential

The Internet affords the erstwhile novice novelist a a sciential pool of opportunties to fortify his stories with credible content.

A Triumvirate of Terms

While I was unplugged and on vacation in New Brunswick, PEI and the Magdalen Islands, I missed the challenge of infusing my vocabulary with an Internet-generated word-of-the day. I did, however, bolster my Atlantic Canada vernacular by reading Wayne Johnson's, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams.

A triumvirate of terms I plucked from Johnson's novel about Newfoundland's first premier, Joe Smallwood, and the history of this colony/country/province:

syllogism: a crafty argument
dory: short, flat-bottomed boat with high flaring sides
confederation: alliance

Tempers flared, like the sides of dories, as politicians and all manner of pundits cast their syllogisms in favor and against Newfoundland's proposed confederaton with Canada.

Wordsmith.org: Monish

My achy-breaky lower body—the squeaky knees and give-up groin—monish me to rest, but I disobey; Christopher Cross ("Say You'll  Be Mine"), Great Big Sea ("Can't Stop Falling") and Madonna ("Respect Yourself")—my iPod disciplinarians—order me to keep dancing, sweating, living.

Thesaurus.com: Abstergent

"We prize them for their rough-plastic, abstergent force; to get people out of the quadruped state; to get them washed, clothed, and set up on end; to slough their animal husks and habits; compel them to be clean; overawe their spite and meanness, teach them to stifle the base, and choose the generous expression, and make them know how much happier the generous behaviors are.'' -Ralph Waldo Emerson ("Conduct of Life"), as quoted at Thesaurus.com.

Ralph Waldo's words inspire me to create a more abstergent inner aura as I center myself in this new day, full of promise, adventure and service.

Oxford English Dictionary: Moonball

Uncle Danny knew I wasn't the next John McEnroe, so he let me have fun launching erratic serves and lobbing wild moonballs.

M-W.com: Frolic

Whenever I gaze upon an unfrozen pond, I envision its potential, come February, for frolicking about on sharpened skates.

WordSmart: Counterpoint

I enjoy classical music for its counterpoints, those mingling melodies, and Boston Baroque exudes quietude that calms my runaway mind.

Thesaurus.com: Chockablock

Although Boston's Esplanade will be crammed with Yankee Doodle dandies and the Charles River chockablock with boats, grateful US citizens will celebrate the Fourth of July in peaceful fashion.

M-W: Wetware

Rapid advancements in hardware, middleware and software can boggle the brain; before I deploy these fast and flexible technologies each day, I find it helpful to first reconfigure my mind, to the slowest possible setting, and to calm my installed-before-birth wetware.

WordSmart: Acerb

A crunchy, acerb apple—I prefer a Granny Smith, a.k.a.,Green Delicious—and a hunk of sharp cheddar cheese make for a tasty mid-afternoon snack.

Wordnik: Estivation

While the classic New Englander might find a summer vacation on Cape Cod idyllic, I prefer the less-populated paradise of St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, NB for my estivation.

Thesaurus.com: Penseé

Today's word of the day morphs into today's thought for the day as I share another personal hockey penseé, this one again pertaining to the type of puck-moving implement I prefer: Wood is good. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

The Learning Network (NY Times): Alloy

My wallet and my hockey gloves bond better with simple wooden hockey sticks, so I eschew the expensive contraptions manufactured with steel alloys.

M-W Word of the Day: Pungent

I was going to use a hockey reference, something like sweaty socks and unwashed hockey gear, to highlight today's word. However, M-W's example beat me to the punge, as it were, as today's entry cites a stellar hockey sentence from Chip Scoggins.

So here's my sentence: Is it not odd and wonderful that a frightened (or dead in the road) skunk's pungent stench is similar to the aromatic quality of certain brewed coffees?