DUFFER NEWS

DUFFER NICKNAMES

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Go to Alphabetical Nickname List

Hyper Linked Nicknames You can see a picture of the Duffer that goes along with the name. Just click on the underlined link and it will take you there!
Our Peoria Duffers have been enjoying the Duffer News on the internet, but they would like to know a little about our names and how they were derived. Some names have a story behind them, like Wheezer. He got his name after his first shift when Beak asked him his name and he was wheezing so much, he couldn't answer. Mini Wheezer got his name by looking like Wheezer. Rick Feldman A.K.A Road trip Rick got his nick name when Beak couldn't remember his name when he was writing the list for the Las Vegas road trip. He was listed as Gilbert (Pronounced Jillbear)

Some names are derived from their given name like Agatha "Agi The Ref", Jerry “Beer Nuts" Biernat, Bob “Dill” Deau, Vidas “Formica” Cermarka (also was called Veto), Gary “Ghost” Kasper, Arvydas “Harvey” Dikinis, John “Hit man” Heitman, Glen “Par 3” Oakes, Frank “Knarf” (Frank spelled backwards) Presecky, Rich “Muzzie“ Masiulewicz, Dan “Maz” Mazanec became known as Digital Dan when he started publishing Duffer Statistics, Rick “Dizzy” Dzingel and Jerry “Scrotum” Oskroba. Wally "Waju" Kraft and Fred “Fruit Cake” Bobka got their tags from the Polish translation of their names. Perry Lea got tagged "The Flea" when he was a kid, and he carried it with him to the Duffers. Brian "The Brain" Opalka, was our youngest Duffer until GODs Joe Mazzarella III and Mike Lopatka started paying dues. Brian plays Goalie he got his nickname from a misspelling. Gene "Geno" Cromwell returned after a 10 year sabbatical leave. Emil is one of our Peoria Duffers and we started calling him Emily on our San Jose road trip. He didn't really like that name too much, so he is stuck with it. Bill Conti may be called the Maestro since Bill Conti (No relation) the musical conductor/director that wrote the themes to The Right Stuff, Rocky, Dynasty and Falcon Crest, then again, he may be called Roids after Victor Conti who supplied Barry Bonds with the Wrong Stuff. Beak invited T.O. Tom O'Connor to join us when he was 53 years old, he finally made it two years later in 2007. Another Duffer picked up a nick name with his initials, Tom Ambrosia is called T&A. His son Thomas is known as t&a. Viorel Tamasi was called V-Man the first time he told us his name was Viorel, but our dyslexic back up goalie, Tweedy, thought his nickname should be tomato seed. Kevin Rench was called "Monkey Wrench" but we started calling him "Meat Man" and move him to the occupation category since he started supplying The Duffer Picnic with beef and sausage in 2011. We started calling Harvey "Kirk" when someone thought he was Kirk Douglas when he was in the lobby of the hotel on our Pittsburgh Trip. Steve "The Hammer" Hammerquest started playing with the Duffers in 2013. He scored 4 goals on April 14, 2014. Johnny "B" Bocain was first called "Porta John", but "B" was easier to type. John got his first Hat Trick in September of 2011. He has since started playing goalie.Rob "The Ziv" Zivalich

Occupation

Some Duffers get their names from what they do. Tom "Slime Dog"Kowalkowski Was also known as the "Tooth Fairy" because He owned a dental Lab in Westchester. Paul "Commander" Jankowski was called "The cop" until he moved up the ladder of the Chicago Police Department and became a commander. His son Paul was Paul "Jr" Jankowski. Ron “Doc” Dubreuil is a professor at the University of Illinois, Keith “Doc” Suchy is a Dentist, Tim “Drano” Staats is a plumber with a teaching degree. Jim “The King” Miceli owns the Duffers while Paul “Marsha” Novak is a lawyer and he got his name during the OJ trial. Bob “Buckshot” Morgan is a hunter and Mike “The Nailer” DeVivo was a roofer. Dan “Tweedy” Lopatka got his name in 1980 when he was a 10 years old referee for the Duffers. Chris "Berserk" or Chris “Woody” Mazurk works with wood, although some say he was tagged in the shower as was Stump. Nick “The Hammer” Brescia brought a hammer into the locker room and gave us some inexpensive clothes hangers. (16 penny nails.) Tim "Basketball Jones" Smith was called Basketball Jones, because he looked like a basketball player in his old High School Hockey pants. Those pants have been retired, but the name lives on. Tim almost got in trouble when his boss came in while he was looking at this picture of Buckshot and Hacksaw. Dave Young played goalie as a guest for us, so he has been called Dave the Goalie, even though he seldom plays goalie. In 2013, Commander Ken Kroll started playing with us. He is a police commander. Mike "Tattoo " Lopatka (Beak's Grandson) is the owner of the Boundless Tattoo Co. Dan"Birdman" Margolish is a bird expert at the University of Chicago. William "Piercer" Barron he will pierce you if you. Bret "The Dick" Murawski was a detective.

Association The following Duffers get their names from who they associate with: Tom "Butt Head Morgan hangs with Jim “Beavis” Coughenour. Joe “Cuzin Joe” Gotfryd got his name when his cousin Tom “Slime Dog” Kowalkowski brought him to the Duffers. Other family oriented names are Jerry “Prince” Miceli (Son of The King), Mike "Son of Frank" Presecky also called “Rich Storm” when he is contributing to the Duffer News. He was known as Cross Check Mike in his younger days when he didn't know how to stop. Mike became known as The Czar when he took over the King's job of running the Duffers in 2003. Bob “Uncle Bob” Oskroba, is Mini-Wheezer's Uncle. Ken “Beak Jr.” Lopatka, is Beak's son, he was later called Grandpa Kenny when he became a grandpa. Rob “Piggy Bank” Granato is the son of Don “Brinks” Granato who got his name from his kids. Whenever they asked for money, Don would say, “What do you think I am? Brinks!” We have "Peoria King" Koudelka he got his name by helping set up Peoria road trips. Ed "Special Ed" Radakovitz joined the team with that name, because he is special. Scott "The Bookie" Wayne looks like Mike Moffit (The Broken thumbs guy from Seinfeld) who played Kramer's Bookie. Scott quit playing with us and we acquired Anthony "Bookie" Antonini. John "Cupcake" Bobka, Fred's son, was known as Mini Cupcake since he was the little brother of Cupcake, but Mini Wheezer claims that there should only be one Mini. We almost went with Lil' Fruit Cake, but his big brother quit playing. The Duffers acquired Greg "Z" or "Circus" Zerkis at a funeral when Beak was chatting up his very attractive wife. She called Greg over and told him to join the Duffers. Dan "Rent a Goalie" Smith AKA Snowman Dan has been our go togoalie when we have a road trip. Barren "The Bear" Williams became a very dependable goalie until he moved to Knoxville in 2019. Physiology Greg “Beak” Lopatka got tagged for his nose. He has also been called a "Chick Magnet". Ken “Stump” Barczynski was as high as he was wide when he joined the Duffers as a 16 year old goalie. Jim “Titz” Michaelsen (#29) could fill out a DDD Bro-zier. John “King Kong” Zagorski had his picture taken with ex-Black Hawk, King Kong Korab, and was a head taller. John was later tagged "Back hand Johnny" when he started scoring many back hand goals. John’s brother, Tom “Ahb” Zagorski got his name by stuttering every time his parents asked an accusing question, he would say, “Ahb, Ahb, Ahb. Tom was later called TZ. Some ladies refer to him as Dimples. John “Magoo” Landry is as blind as Mr. Magoo. Bill “Klinger” Giffune would have been named Beak but that name was taken when he joined us in the early 80s, so he was tagged Klinger since he looked like the MASH star. Bill Louis was called "By the way Bill" on his first night when he introduce himself that way, he was later called Blue Ball Bill when he complained about a pain that lasted a few months. Bill's wife read the front page article on The cover of the Sun Newspaper and had him call the King. During our trip to Toronto in 2006, Bill brought out some old Canadian friends to play with us. Darren Lamont called Dexterous Daren and Lu Pinet, now known as Leapin Lu. (He is the one sitting behind Hitman with his back on the Electrical box) They had so much fun with us in their home town, that they joined us on our Phoenix Road trip in 2008. After playing 3 games in 4 days, Lu was signing his e-mails with Limpin Lu.

Behavior
Bruce “Disco Bear” Schmitz danced his way to a name at a Duffer New Year's Eve party years ago. Boris “Hacksaw” Pavichevich exposed a 20 inch scratch on his back when he removed his shirt. He got that when he scratched his back with a hacksaw blade. Boris is also known as Mr. Clean. John “Cone” Koss gets his name when he plays defense. He was called “Anti-Koss” last week when he complained about too much ice time. Lorenzo "Sanchez" Dibaco got that tag for no special reason, other than to irritate him, he took it well. Bill “Alien” Allen is out there, he has problems adjusting to planet earth. Larry “The Goon” Hansen is a Hansen Brother. Ed “Anvil” Hawrysio and his son Nick DeJesus. Bob “Geek” Friedlander, Joe “Papa Joe” "The Judge" "The Barber" Mazzarella, Joe Jr. "Skeeter" Mazzarella. Joe Jr. Picked up "Cowboy" in Pittsburgh and "GI JOE" when he showed up a few times in his U.S. Military Desert Uniform. Joe's Son "Joe 3" became a dues paying member in 2013. Gene “Thor” Miller was named after the God of Thunder that is caused by his love of sliders! Tumblin Terry Nance falls a lot. A.K.A. Crash. Jeff "Speed Racer" Lopatka got his nickname by skating too fast for conditions. He brought his friend Brian "Fuzzy"Stewart to the Duffers when we went to Detroit in 2015.

Papa Joe found out that there are three ways to get in the Duffer News.

Score a meaningful goal
Do something stupid
Be a judge at the Randolph Science fair (No longer works, since Beak retired)

Joe Evans was tagged "Face Plant" in Nashville when he was just learning how to skate. He went on to win the Klinger Krash award for his face plant after dropping the puck in the face off circle. A year later, several guys started calling him Drago, because he looked like the Russian Boxer who starred in the 1985 Rocky IV.

Go to Duffers History

The Docs at work

You can e-mail History updates to Beak.

Duffer road trips