You
would think that after all these year, I could adjust quicker to being back home and at my desk. But just like in past years,
the days following the trip to Vail are filled with
many moments of longing for the great company, excellent lacrosse, fantastic
scenery and near perfect weather. It is hard to capture all my feelings,
but here is my best shot.
LACROSSE
I truly believe that we reached a new high in our playing level this
year. Both the Masters and Super Masters teams played excellently.
As a crude indicator, we scored 70 goals to our opponents 45 goals! I
hope some of you guys chime in and contribute your best memories from the
games. Here are some of my recollections and a
few game descriptions that I found on the Tournament's web site.
Practices - Friday night we couldn't get on a field, so we just had a light
throw around practice. But on Saturday morning we had a full field
scrimmage. It was mostly Masters vs. Supermasters. It was a excellent way to get up to speed as a team. I thought
it was the best "alumni" game I have ever played in. Given our
slow starts in the first games this year, we plan to play a longer and more
game like scrimmage next year.
RESULTS
Supermasters - 7th place (out of 10)
Sunday: Bowdoin 8, Middlebury 6
My Notes: Bowdoin went on to take 1st place. They told Will and I that our team was the only team to give them a game.
Unfortunately, we had to beat Bowdoin to even get into the consolation
bracket. The worst part of losing to Bowdoin for me was that I had to
make an executive decision the night before leaving for Vail. Jim Soran, tournament co-director, called me and asked me if
the Bowdoin team could use a Master division 40 year old Bowdoin graduate as
their goalie for their game against us since their Supermasters goalie would
not arrive in time for the game. (The rules of the tournament do not
allow play in both the Masters and Supermasters divisions.) I said
yes. He played a great game. We could have beat him with our "A"
game, but we didn't have all our players and like in prior years we started
slow due to our lack of playing time. As the game progressed, we got much
stronger, and in fact, I think we were down by at least 4 goals and we staged a
very comeback and even held them to no additional goals for almost 2
periods. If they have the guts to show up next year, we will make them
pay!
Monday: Middlebury 16, WOOF 4
Tournament Notes: Middlebury races out to a 7-0 lead after one period and
never looks back. WOOF overmatched throughout as Middlebury takes almost 60
shots on the WOOF goalkeeper, Penner. The Middlebury
attack of Burchard (3 goals, 3 assists),
Tuesday: Middlebury 15, Air Force 6
Tournament Notes: Air Force only managed 1 goal in the first three
quarters with 4 of their goals scored by Nowak. Middlebury scored more than 4
goals in each of the first three quarters, their leading scorers were their attackmen with Ladd (5 goals, 3 assists), Sheehan (3
goals), and Reilly (3 assists).
Masters - 3rd place (out of 6)
Sunday: STX-Lacrosse Unlimited 15, Middlebury Alumni 12
My Notes: This game was a very high intensity game.
Monday: Middlebury 14, Hollywood Masters 6
My Notes: Before the game, Ian McCray '92 said that Middlebury can not
lose to a team named "
Tuesday: Middlebury 7, TOGS 6
My Notes: TOGS tied the game with 34 seconds remaining. We won the
face off, Chip Kenyon '85 charged the goal and George Lee '88 put in the
winning goal with 20 seconds on the clock.
GOLF - Saturday afternoon
As recommended by Jon Peterson '86, we played Masters
vs. Supermasters and scored the tournament using the Stapleford
method. There were 8 Supermasters players and 3 Masters players. The Masters players won by a final Stapleford score of 0 to the Supermasters' -23. (The Masters team met their points goal and the
Supermasters missed by 23 points.) The Masters team took home the honor
and a $96 gift certificate from the Eagle/Vail pro shop. We had so
much fun that the Middlebury Vail Masters vs. Supermasters golf tournament will
be come a new tradition.
SOCIAL EVENTS
Saturday - Bouchard '76 annual Middlebury
barbecue - a bunch of folks, mostly Supermasters players, drove to
Sunday - Middlebury Alumni Reception - Pres. McCardell
took time out of his busy schedule to fly out to Vail and attend Sunday's game
and host the alumni reception. Pres. McCardell
joined Pete for verses 1 and 3 of the Park School Song. He also told that
group that his wife and Pete constitute the
Monday - Pizza party - we had an impromptu pizza/pool party. We managed
to eat 24 pizzas and a consume several cases of
beer. It was standing room only around the pool. Surprisingly no
one fell in! I think a new tradition was started.
Tuesday - Los Amigos - for the sixth consecutive
year, our last night was celebrated at the Mexican restaurant at the base of
the mountain. About 60 adults and over 20 children attended the
celebration. We ended the evening with one of Pete's best ever renditions
of Park School Song and a great round of Cheer Boys Cheer. Of course, the
Pete Kohn Ice Cream Conga Line formed again this year and all the kids were
treated by Pete to their favorite ice cream.
THE LEGENDARY PETE KOHN DOCUMENTARY
Pete has announced that he is really going to retire at the end of the 2003 lacrosse
season. Because of this, Erin Quinn, Jim Grube and I engaged a video
documentary producer, David Gaynes, to film a
documentary about Pete Kohn and his involvement in Middlebury lacrosse.
David's presence in Vail added an interesting dimension to this year's
tournament. Not only did he shoot the lacrosse games, he was also at all
of our social events and additionally, he captured on film, interviews with
many of us. There will probably be another two or three days of shooting
at Middlebury during the 2003 lacrosse season. Our goal is to produce a
PBS quality 30 minute documentary. By the end of the week, I should receive
from David two VHS tapes consisting of about 15 hours of raw footage. We
will add a few more hours next spring and then phase II will consist of editing
it all down to a 30 minute piece. If you are interested in getting
involved with this wonderful project, I am active!
ly seeking potential
investors.
NEWS
Masters age cutoff will be 32 next year! Therefore, all you guys from the
class of '92 should be with us next year! Ian has already committed you to
play. You just have to turn 32 sometime in 2003, not before the
tournament.
Next years tournament dates:
Masters: Sunday - Tuesday, June 29 -
Supermasters: Sunday - Tuesday, June 29 -
Men's Elite: Thursday -
Women's Elite: Thursday -
That's enough for now.
See you in 2003!
Bobo