In the bleak midwinter

 In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

I first heard the name Mark Pavelich like the rest of our Country in February 1980. He was the 5ft 7 spark plug for the United States 🇺🇸 hockey team at Lake Placid. On February 22nd on a Friday afternoon, WE beat the Russians......Still the Greatest Hockey game....not just my lifetime but the Nations....

I later was lucky enough to be in the blue seats in February of 1983 when Mark Pavelich became the first (and still only)American Born player to score 5 goals in a game....... with a flair for the dramatic it also happened to be CAP night.... and everyone at the game received a Red baseball cap compliments of Winston cigarettes.......10 or 15 thousand it seemed were tossed on the ice with the hat trick...... and some more with #4 ..... and still more with the 5th goal.

His tenure with the Rangers ended abruptly when he quit the team in the prime of his career because he was feuding with then coach Ted Sator.

He often refused to attend the Olympic team reunions and a few years ago was arrested for beating his neighbor with a tire iron.....it was later disclosed that he was suffering from mental illness and living like a hermit in the woods.

Mark Pavelich haves me two of my greatest thrills as a hockey fan.... and I always loved him for that.

Yesterday, in the bleak mid winter; he died.

Rest In Peace Mark