Welcome to

Duffers Summer Fun

The Duffer Picnic was Saturday July 29th at Tommy’s House

Morton Arboretum Origami

August 1; Kane County Cougar Game

August 6; Parkinson's Fund Raiser

August 18; Summer Game

August 21; Total Solar Eclipse

August 26; Golf Outing

September 1; Muzzy passed away. He gave us more laughs than any other Duffer.

This was 1997 when we brought up Robby Granato to give the Bombers 2 Illinois ringers.  We filled most of the coach seats and avoided a fun tax.  This is the year that Muzzy shocked Hayward church goers when he came out of the church and boarded the bus with toilet paper streaming out of his pants. Read More....

Read the lyrics to "Wayward in  Hayward" by Jim Coughenhour

Season Starts September 8, 2017

Click Here for the schedule.

For those of you who didn't have the pleasure of knowing Muzzy, here are a few things that you should know about him.  Muzzy was Richard Masiulewicz AKA....Dad, Rich, Richard, Dick the Milk Man, Da Muzz, Muzzy, Uncle Rich, Uncle Muzzy, GaGa, Dzai dzai,

He was the last Duffer to play without a helmet.  He was our Doug Wilson, but better looking. The King finally told Muzzy that he had to get a helmet if he wanted to keep playing with the Duffers.  So the next week, he showed up with an old helmet that looked like the infamous Butch Goring helmet.  Butch wore the same helmet in the NHL that his father bought for him in 1961 in Winnipeg when he was a 12-year-old. It was a Snaps helmet, which stood out because of how it looked and how many paint jobs it had and how it was covered by tape. But it was a comfortable lid, so why get something else?

Butch and Muzzy wore that helmet until they retired.

Vidas reminded me that Muzzy was an Air Force veteran.  I asked his daughter Paula about his service and she sent the following: 

He retired from the air force with 40 years combined active and reserve service. During his reserve, he was based at the O'Hare national guard base. In the reserve, he would usually go somewhere for a couple weeks each year on some maintenance / engineering project. That is how he got to go to cool places like Cuba, Greece and Spain. He achieved the rank of Master Sergeant, and judging by the party his troops held for him at O'hare when he retired, they all loved him.  He also was a reserve officer for the Cicero police force.

Muzzy went to Hayward with us in 1997

We planned to report to Midway Airport, at 10:00a.m. on January 22, 1999.  Donny Granato will meet us at the Columbus Airport  at 2:00  (EST) and take us to the Rink for our 3:30 p.m. ice time. We never got to play that game.

Our flight was delayed for hours by fog, so we had a few beers and pizza.  We we got noisy and reached the limit of the manager, so Muzzy and Larry started cleaning up the mess that some over served Duffer made.

Muzzy even helped a delivery guy unload cases of beer.

Muzzy started to win over the manager and he was offered a cookie.

Klinger decided that we needed real food.

Berserk got his hand slapped for looking at Beer Nuts' Pizza.

It started to rain and we watched our hockey bags get wet.

We finally arrived in Columbus at 7:00 for the 7:30 game.

We went to Columbus to see Donny Granato coach his ECHL team, the Columbus Chill. We were delayed at midway by fog, so we arrived just in time for the National Anthem. Donny sent a van to pick us up at the airport.  When we arrived, Donny was standing on the bench looking at the flag with his hand over his heart when  Muzzy went to him and banged on the glass to let him know that the Duffers had arrived. Donny had a hard time fighting back a laugh, but he managed then laughed when the Anthem was over.

We went into the TV truck and had some fun.  You can read about our Columbus Road trip at:

 http://www.lopatka.net/1-29-99-181/index.html

Donny did get us ice the following night and Mike "The Nailer" scored his first Duffer goal. Donny also got us a goalie (Right) who was escorted to the locker room by the Trooper. He also met us at the door when we arrived for the Columbus Chill game and showed us to our seats. Muzzy slipped away to great Coach Granato with a bang on the glass.

We formed a hockey stick arch for the Berserks.

 Leave it to a goalie to screen Muzzy's Mug.

(Right) My son Dan loved Muzzy, he told me he wished that he could have gone to high school with Muzzy and Thor.

 

We went to Green Bay twice in 1995

Donny Granato was coaching the Gamblers.

Muzzy's Daughter Paula is always happy to greet her dad's friends in Arizona.
 

Duffer News

Harvey Abuses the Bear!

Romeoville, IL August 18, 2017  Attendance: 22
Way back in the early 1970s, we got excited with the "Century Line" where we had 3 guys in their 30s that totaled 100 years of age.  In our August game, we had over 200 years on one line when Harvey (81), Beak (77) and T&A (59) took the ice. Geno (Welcome Back) got the Reds on the board first when he took a pass from Tom "T&A Ambrosia who was behind the net.  Lil' Bill Conti helped Beak set up the second goal when he laid a soft pass on Beak's tape. Beak fired an ice hugger that Harvey was able to tip into the Bear's 4 hole. Anthony the Bookie scored while wearing Beaks #99 White Jersey to cut the lead to 2-1. Anthony "The Bookie" Antonini will be wearing a brand new #7 jersey when the season starts.  Brian "Fuzzy" Stewart will have #24. Congratulations to these new fine Duffers who have proved to be Duffer Ready.  Arvydas "Harvey" Dikinis gave the Reds a 3-1 lead when he tipped

Harvey and Beak were the stars for the Reds!

in another Beak shot.  This time it was T&A who passed to Beak for the secondary assist.  That goal appeared to piss off the Czar, because he made a rush from his own zone and fired a shot that was wide left and hit the boards with such great force that the rebound came right back to him.  When The Anvil missed swatting it away, The Czar had an easy rebound goal that made the score 3-2. The score stayed that way until late in the game until Beak told his grandson, Monet Mike Lopatka, to get a goal. Mike went right in and flipped a backhander into the Bear's #1 hole.  Mike had hit the post several times earlier with no results except for the

loud clang.  The game featured great goal tending by Eddie The Anvil and Barron "The Bear" Williams. Dylan  Nance and Lil' Bill Conti did a great job neutralizing each other. 

Harvey had a Klinger Krash in the locker room while getting out of his pants.
Final score.  Reds 4, Whites 2.

The Bear and the Bookie were the Stars for the Whites.

81 year old Harvey had 2 goals that were assisted by Beak.

The Bookie and the Bear were the stars of the White Team.

Harvey had a Klinger Krash in the locker room while removing his pants.

He was able to get up without assistance.
Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, outdoor Total Eclipse of the Sun, Forever® stamp
  • U.S. Postal Service announces new stamp to commemorate the 2017 eclipse (USPS Press Release).

This awesome composite photo of the Eclipse in       Oregon by photographer Jasman Lion Mander.         

My wife and I went to Missouri and spent a few days with Uncle Bob and Cindy.  We drove down to Eureka MO. where we were able to see over 2 minutes of totality.  I set up my telescope in a Verizon parking lot where we could cool off between pictures.  We thought we would be in lawn chairs in a field somewhere, but we had easy chairs in the lobby.  The temperature was 95 degrees when the eclipse started.  The temperature gradually dropped over 20 degrees when the sun was eclipsed.

 

Tom O'Connor viewed the eclipse in Hopkinsville Kentucky.

 
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We had a record number of Duffers at the golf outing including Blackhawk coach Donny Granato.  The Mazzarellas won a referee golf bag.

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We had a great time, but we didn't see a deer this year.

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Last year, Dan had a talk with this deer.
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I spent the summer watching these hawks grow up.

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The Hawks have left the nest to hunt on their own.
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Anthony didn't get in the picture, but his daughter did.

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We had 6 Duffers participate in the Parkinson Fund Raiser.
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We saw a good game on August 1st.

 

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The last time I was at the game, my grandson Luke was on the cover. The Cougars were a Cub A team back then, so he drew the attention of the photographers when he wore his Uncle Ken's 50 year old Ernie Banks uniform. We saw Kyle hit a home run in his first game. He was on the cover this summer.
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We brought The Duffer grill out of retirement for this year's Duffer picnic. You need young strong guys to carry it. It weighs less than a ton 

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My brother's son Mark let me try on his Lopatka world series ring.

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I took my great grandkids to the Morton Arboretum to see the origami sculptures, it was great.

ISS Transit During 2017 Solar Eclipse

This composite image, made from seven frames, shows the International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 near Banner, Wyoming. Onboard as part of Expedition 52 are: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer, and Randy Bresnik; Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy; and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.  Photo Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/2017-total-solar-eclipse-composite

animation of SDO observations of Aug. 21, 2017, solar eclipse

While many in the U.S. experienced a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO — observing the Sun from Earth orbit — saw a partial eclipse.  SDO sees several lunar transits each year from its orbit 3,000 miles above Earth. However, an eclipse on the ground doesn’t guarantee that SDO will see anything out of the ordinary. On Aug. 21, SDO also saw the Moon briefly pass in front of the Sun at the same time that the Moon’s shadow passed over the eastern United States. SDO only saw 14 percent of the Sun blocked by the Moon, while most U.S. residents saw 60 percent blockage or more.Credit: NASA/SDO

This composite image of eleven pictures shows the progression of a total solar eclipse at Madras High School in Madras, Oregon on Monday, August 21, 2017. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

 

Go To the Last Duffer News

Beer League Hockey

Go to Duffer History   Duffer Nicknames

Wags Hockey

  Alphabetical Nicknames

Classic Duffer News

Go to Lake Placid News for some laughs.

http://www.lopatka.net/1982-Lake%20Placid/index.html

1996 March Hayward Trip  We saw Comet Hyakutake

December 6, 1996  Duffer news #85

December 15, 1996  Duffer news #86

December 20, 1996  Duffer news #87

Go to 10/25/96

Go to 9/6/96

January 12, 1996  Duffer news #50

 

Go to 2012 The Last MLF Game

Go to 2011 MLF Game

(Anvil's Daughter won it!)

Go to 2010 The First MLF Game

Visit The Rampage Women's Hockey Team web site at: http://www.rampagehockey.org/index.cfm

They Have 2 WODs and  on their team. Their DOD moved to Canada for Graduate School.

WOD=Wife Of a Duffer, DOD = Daughter of a Duffer

Links to Duffer Hockey Newsletters

2008-2010 Stats page

Tweedy's Wags Game

Links to 2016

Links to 2015

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Bar-toons

Peoria History

Nashville Game 2

Bill Gaston interview

Michelle Spillman hits and fields

      

To E-mail the Duffer News Web master, just click here! g.lopatka@comcast.net

You can e-mail History updates to Beak. 

Duffer Nicknames

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Opened Monday May 11, 2015

16030 S. Lincoln Highway Unit 106 (Lincoln Plaza/same strip as comics)
Plainfield, Illinois

Mike won 11 awards for his artistic creations at the Tattoo convention in Champaign.

mikeylotattoos@att.net

(Above) Mike's work of art on Joe Mazzarella III's leg.

(Above) Mike's work of art on Joe Mazzarella III's ribs.

Ann Arbor Music DVDs are ready to ship.  $10 includes shipping and handling. you can also get classic copies of:

 

You may find the following links useful:

Ben Oskroba's First professional goal for the Peoria Rivermen

Drago's Hockey Lessons

Here is a video, thanks to Perry and Paula on How to be a Hockey Player 

 

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Michelle Spillman

Michelle Spillman 10-31-10

Michelle hits a 2 run home run for Romeoville High School in a 3-0 victory against Joliet Catholic Academy.

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JC-Homerun.MOV

Michelle Spillman hit a 2 run Home run to beat Joliet Catholic on April 18, 2012. ... greg Lopatka ... Michelle Spillman and Romeoville High School. ...

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Highland Park-Homerun.MOV

Michelle Spillman hit her 4th homerun on April 21, 2012 to beat Hershey High. ... greg Lopatka ... Michelle Spillman "outdoor sports" ...

 

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Michelle3Base hit.MOV

Michelle hit a triple to help beat Highland Park High 8-5 on 4/21/2012.

 

Patrick Kane Stickhandling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REAqCB9vfbU

Brandon Bollig Stickhandling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3B8v_ZHA10