We played our first rec league game last night and lost 8-0. Still, the tenor of the game was friendly enough: I had half expected the other players to be bitter old failed jocks, and they weren't, at least not in spirit. Moreover, the rec centre had indicated that if the teams were unbalanced, they would share the wealth by making a few "trades" and evening things up, so our suffering will not be as protracted as certain teams I could name.

In unrelated news, Detroit tied up the Cup finals versus Carolina last night at one game each. I am frankly surprised that the Hurricanes won either of the first two games against the Red Army. Their roster strikes me as devoid of any stars, unless Ron Francis having been one five to ten years ago counts. I mentioned my bafflement to one of the other players on my rec league team, and he said that Carolina plays the dreaded Neutral Zone Trap to perfection. Maybe my team should try that.