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.