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 DATELINE: HNIC CORPORATE HEAD QUARTERS, COLUMBIA, MD,  12/31/15  2:08am

 HNIC 1^ST ANNUAL FIELDTRIP HUGE SUCCESS

 LEFT TURN LEBLANC WINS 1ST EVER  HNIC IDOL CONTEST

 RENE BECOMES HNIC’S VERSION OF FLAT STANLEY

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It was a little after 1am when a bewildered HNIC Fieldtrip Director Steve Emburey took to the mic, escorted by HNIC Commissioner For life Forbes Kennedy.  Forbes was over heard whispering “You can do this Stevie”.  “I don’t even know where to start.” Said Emburey.  The pre-game meeting at The Second Chance went well.  Mike Donnelly held court collecting $30 a head for the bus ride… had quite a heap of cash in front of him..   Scavilla surprised the gang with HNIC Fieldtrip T-shirts, and Bill P stepped up asking the guys to chip in a few bucks to help defray the costs.”  JS commented “The guys were more than generous, quickly handing over $5’s and $10’s…. it was raining money”.  Meanwhile Forbes Kennedy stood in the background repeatedly pleading “Hey guys, what about your league fees?.. anybody…?… time to pay up…”  To Which Jeremy Altman said.. “…you guys hear somebody talking..?…” The response from the gang was unanimous… “nope… no… not me… what voice…?..”

 

The bus ride was an event unto itself.  Supposedly, the bus holds 30 people… not sure if the caveat is 30 munchkins, or 7 people riding on the roof.  It was cramped, but spirits were high and the crowd was boisterous.  Beer and shots flowed continuously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y7HtX30BRY  Thankfully, not a single bathroom issue arose.  The ride was not without some concern, as early into the trip John S couldn’t help but notice Chip Foster was on his phone scrolling through pictures of naked men.  “Disturbing” said Johnny “I was right next to Chip.  My only option would have been to jump across the aisle and sit on Phil’s lap.”  For the record, Chip was sending those pics to Ronnie Potter.  Thanks to Greg LeBlanc for his incessant / persistent work with the Audio Visual aspects of the trip….set the mood with the lighting, put some music on, and got the HNIC Thanksgiving Fest DVD playing.

 

During the ride Forbes Kennedy was asked if he could have foreseen what HNIC has become, including this field trip “Geeze… If I had, I’d have never started it… “

 

Before the bus left the parking lot, we began getting notes from Doug Baker, who was already in the suite.  Cap’s radio announcer and HNIC alum Ken Sabourin later said “I stopped into the suite to leave a note for you guys and Doug was already there…it was so early, I was trying to figure out how he got into the building.  I also noticed the big tray of steamed shrimp was almost gone…“

 

Once we got to the suite, there was no slowing down of drinking or shots.  The breaks were only applied when Mitch ordered a bottle of tequila…. In a rare moment of clarity, the guys decided not to open it, instead opting to return it for a bottle of rumchata, which was used to mix with the coffee.

 

During the third period Rene decided to head out onto the concourse to get his picture taken with as many people as possible… our very own Flat Stanley.   Tagging along was JS…. “Rene had a great vision… however the first person he asked… a cute short black girl, who was in charge of one of the sections… basically told Rene to F-off….if he had taken one more step towards her, I’m pretty sure she’d have started swinging.”  Not to be deterred, Rene created 6-7 more photo ops… which would have went much faster if Rene knew how to use his phone.  He held up 2-3 Red Rockers for several minutes due to his ineptness… or… maybe he knew right what he was doing…

 

The return bus ride was just as loud and fun as the ride down.  Upon arriving back at the Ice Palace, the majority of the gang headed for the Second Chance.  As fate would have it, it was karaoke night.  Now we head into the ‘You can’t make this stuff up’ category… If someone was to say to you “Let’s have Left Turn Leblanc serenade us by singing King of the Road, while we watch Rene dance with the DJ’s girlfriend, who has crooked nicotine stained teeth”…. You’d say what… ?… exactly.  Well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tOAcFIKi8  Feast your ears.  (For best results turn the sound way down).

 

When asked why she wasn’t wearing her HNIC Fieldtrip t-shirt, Frann Haskell replied “I put a lot of time into getting this outfit together for tonight.  Next year I’ll take a purple crayon and cross out “1^st” Annual, write in “2^nd”, and wear it then.”      Perfect.

HJ