Joyous Buschna!
I am a day late, but I hope all of you had a Joyous Buschna.
Of course, many of you don’t know what Buschna is. (Pronounced BUSH-nah) Buschna is the made-up holiday for those of us with Eastern European heritage. It is the day when we go out and feast, mostly on sausage and potatoes and sauerkraut, and wash it all down with a good beer.
Though quite honestly, anyone can celebrate Buschna, and we welcome all that want to. The whole idea was to get a holiday in August (which doesn’t have any) to fill the void between July 4th and Labor Day. So mark August 15th on your calendar and remember to wish everyone a Joyous Buschna next year!
Late Birthday Dinner
So along with celebrating Buschna, we also celebrated my birthday last night at the Bethlehem Brew Works. It was a small get together, with Marcia’s Uncle Joe, and our friends Andy and Yvonne. It’s been a while since going to the Brew Works and I noticed a couple of slight changes to the menu. The only one that disappointed me was the Bessemer Bratwurst. Instead of potato pancakes along for the ride, they changed it to German potato salad. Probably not a bad move, but I don’t like German potato salad that much and loved the potato pancakes. So I stuck with a burger that I asked for medium-well and ended up medium-rare. It still wasn’t bad though. But too much of the great lobster dip before hand didn’t allow me to finish the burger.
The seasonal brews were bit tame, but that’s because it’s summer (another reason I don’t like my birthday being in August). So I decided to go with the Wing Nut Brown Ale. It had an interesting flavor that almost made me think that it was misnamed. It had a hint of a sweet taste about it. I don’t know if there was something wrong with the batch, or what. It wasn’t like any brown ale I have had before. But still good nonetheless.
We ended the evening at the Steelgaarden, which is the floor below the Brew Works. I may have explained it before, but it’s a coffee house layout, with big comfy couches and lounge chairs, some pool tables, and a great selection of beers, mostly Belgian imports. I opted for Monk’s Flemish Sour Red Ale, which originally was only available at Monk’s Café in center city Philadelphia. (I had it BEFORE.) It was nice to see other Flemish reds on the menu which I will have to go back and try later.
It was a nice relaxing evening, with good company, and good beer. What more could I have asked for?
Beezer’s Going to the Hall
One of my favorite hockey players, goalie John Vanbiesbrouck (van-BEEZ-brook), has been VOTED into the US Hockey Hall of Fame. He is being inducted with Aaron Broten, Bobby Carpenter, and John MacInnes.
Beezer spent 20 years in the NHL, coming up with the New York Rangers. Given the Rangers glut at goalie, they exposed him in the expansion draft when the Florida Panthers and the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks entered the league. It turned out to be a great move for both teams, as Mike Richter lead the Rangers to the Cup in 1994, and Beezer became the backbone of the Panthers, leading them to the Finals in 1996. Beezer then spent time with the Flyers, Islanders, and Devils before hanging up the pads.
Beezer won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender in 1986. That helped solidify my favoritism of him. It also helped that he had a long last name (like me) and grew up in Detroit (like me). Beezer’s skills really shown through when playing for the Panthers, showing what a strong goalie and good defense could do for a team (can you say “the trap”?). But moving to the Flyers, expectations were too high (like all goalies feel in Philly), and soon he was content to be the more then capable back-up to Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. It is there where he earned the nickname “The Doorman” from Marcia. You see, Brodeur usually starts 90% or more of the Devils games, so the back-up sees little ice time, and usually ends up at the end of the bench holding the door open for his teammates making line changes on the fly. (For the record, in his two season with the Devils, Beezer played in only nine regular season games.)
Beezer though has disappointed me since retiring. He headed back up to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario where he played junior hockey with the Greyhounds, and where is wife is from, and became the owner and coach of the team. But he made a few racial slurs along the way, and since been removed from behind the bench. I never expected anything like that from him, but that proves that you just can’t know public figures as well as you think you might.
Regardless of his mistakes off the ice, I still think that Beezer belongs in the US Hockey Hall of Fame. In the last 20 years, as far as American goalies go, only former teammate Mike Richter has made the same impact as Beezer has. Other don’t come close, though Guy Hebert (yes, he’s an American) is stuck between those two and the rest of the pack. Beezer was also one of the last goalies (along with Mike Vernon) to play the more traditional stand-up style as compared to the now popular butterfly style that all goalies it seems use now.
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