Kyle "O", St. Patrick's Day & Irish Coffee

Having been “almost” Irish for at least six years of my adult life, I’ve come to really enjoy St. Patrick’s Day. Usually starting at lunch with Irish coffee and heading into dinner hour with pseudo Irish cuisine, red wine and … more Irish coffee.

Somehow, things have changed, and now it’s hard to find people to play with that won’t get me in incredible trouble. But that’s another story for another day.
Decked out in green for the holiday, and with no one to have lunch with, I decided to go have lunch with newbie Kyle Okposo. This basically meant I went to IceWorks to see what the new kid has to offer. Not as intoxicating as a lunch hour with really good Irish coffee, but interesting non-the-less.

He’s fast, he’s learning, he’s got a great smile, and everyone seemed to be taking him under their wing. There were more media people there than visitors. But I did manage to sit with some friends from the boards and my blog box buddy OkposoNet Ken. Of course Ken was there for Kyle’s debut. And I promised him I wouldn’t try to get some sort of interview, as that would basically be “mowing his lawn.” No. I was just an observer for the moment.

So what did I see…?
Jon Sim looking good for a change. He’s much happier on the ice for sure. And when I said he did his best impression of Apollo Ono, it was because the last drill was speed skating around the nets, and he did great.

No Rick DiPietro, but there was a practice goalie named Lenny. (Or so Steve Mears told me.)
Freddy Meyer is even smaller than Mike Comrie. Who knew?

The power play still looks pitiful, even in practice (there wasn’t a shot on goal.)
Ted was smiling when he was talking to Kyle on the ice, which was very nice to see.

I went back to work after about an hour and 15 minutes. Knowing that this was probably one of the last practices I’ll witness for the season. Drat…

So I came home, made my pseudo Irish dinner of roast chicken, caramelized leeks, mashed potatoes and gravy, pillsbury biscuits shaped like clovers and of course…. Just a few Irish Coffees.

Tomorrow, the battle of the “we ain't in the playoffs” and my boy Jason. Or as I may end up calling it... Me against Frank.