It was about this time that the action on the ice began pick up.

"Wait a minute, Pauly. What do we got here? Maybe a fight brewing?"

"Oh, nothing. They're just eyeing each other again. Look like a couple of fags.

"But do you remember the fight that broke out in the stands in '60 or '61?"

Pauly did. "Must have been against Montreal," he recalled. Those Kunuks would come down from Worcester for the game. They'd get a couple of beers in 'em, start gettin' cocky, and all hell would break loose."

"Usually a couple of broken noses after those fights," Dennis said, "But nothing serious."

"Ya know, what's ridiculous about the Mayor's plan? It's not gonna stop any fights," Pauly said. "Guys are gonna fight. There's nothing anybody can do about it--least of all the Mayor."

But maybe Pauly was wrong about that. It was, after all, 16:30 into the third period and there hadn't been any "action" that night. It wasn't like the old days.

"Hey, remember that huge fight in '65," Pauly asked Balcony Section 26. "It lasted after the game was over. Talk about action. Everybody was fightin' in the street, and on the bus, and of course over at McFinney's. Finally broke it up, since it was stopping traffic."

"Remember that some guy died in that brawl?" Dennis asked.

"Yeah," Pauly remembered the story. "But I never believed it. Have to do something pretty stupid to get killed in one of those fights. Look at us, worst that we ever got was a couple of broken noses, and we been doin' this for 35 years."

"Looks like this thing's almost over, Dennis," Pauly said.

"Yeah. Let's head over to McFinney's. We'll beat the crowd."

"Have a couple 'o drinks for the old days--and 'real' hockey," Dennis agreed.

"And one for the Mayor. Maybe someday somebody was take care of the Mayor's worries, but it sure as hell is not going to be him. Where is he when ya need 'em?"