SOUTHBOUND by Peter Nolan Smith

Last week Vladmar announced that he was heading to Florida. The Pittsburgh native never been there before.

"I can't believe that I'm 50 years old and have never to the Holy Land."

The Sunshine State was special, but even more so back in the last century.

"My first trip to FLA was in Spring 1971. My three friends and I drove down in a Chevy Nova from Boston to Fort Lauderdale. I 95 was half-finished. There was no beltway around Washington. The weather got warm once we hit the south and we comntinued straight to Savannah. We drank and smoked reefer the entire journey. The cops didn't stop us once. We were 18 year-old freshmen on college break. Only I had long hair."

"You were lucky." Vladmar had no luck with the police. He looked like a gypsy.

"We crossed the state line listening to WBZ's broadcast of the Bruins-Canadians playoff. Boston was up 5-3 in the 3rd."

"You never beat the Canadians back then." Vladmar was a Penguins fan. They were the Bruins' next opponents in this year's Stanley Cup. They had a big team.

"That's right, but I thought we were lucky. The station faded to static at the welcoming rest stop and I drank free Free OJ thinking about finally throwing off the curse of the Les Habs over the Bs. The next morning I woke up on a palm-lined beach.

"Fort Lauderdale."

"Our crash pad was across the street from the infamous Elbow Room in which more co-eds have exorcised the demons of alcohol than any other south Florida bar. I bought the local newspaper and read that Jean Beliveau scored 2 goals to tie the game. We lost in overtime."

"No Stanley Cup victory."

"Fucking Canadians. That night I drank in the Elbow Room." It had been featured in the movie WHERE THE BOYS ARE. "I met a girl from Biloxi and we walked on the beach. Stars glistening above the Gulf Stream. I lit a joint. We smoked surrounded by other teenage couples making out like turtles getting ready to lay eggs. I stared the constellation Orion and breathed the smell of salt off the breeze.

"Consolation prize."

"I would have rathered the Stanley Cup."

"Maybe in another life."

"Have a good time in Florida."

I remember that defeat well, but also the kiss of that girl from Mississippi.

It tasted of the South. To view segments of April 8, 1971 disaster, please go to the following URL

http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2009/11/5/1115711/habs-bruins-april-8-1971-a