College Hockey Update:  2014 College Hockey Update Pool Winner Erin Toohey has at long last been united with her trophy sweatshirt; this union was only made possible by the gallant efforts of Super Dad, The Honorable Richard F. Toohey, who made the selfless sacrifice of a 450 mile drive north to hand deliver the Garment of Glory to his beloved daughter.

“It just came out of nowhere,” said Toohey, recently retired Orange County Superior Court Judge, “When it arrived my wife and I couldn’t believe it.  We have always thought of Erin as a special young woman, but we never dreamed that she would possibly win something as monumental and aspirational as the College Hockey Update Pool.  Sure she graduated with honors from a great university; sure she has had big jobs running big overseas offices of a huge American Internet company.  But those seem so trivial now, now that we know she has won the CHU Pool.”

He was sitting at home when the mail arrived one day.  “When we got the package we wondered what would be in this box.  When we opened it up and read the letter, well, (choking back tears), we wept, both my wife and I.”  He and his wife had quite a realization.  “That’s when it all came clear to us, the sudden departure a year ago to Dublin, to run the Ireland office, and then to Bangkok to run the Thailand office — she was dodging all the fame that comes with this, and didn’t even tell us about it; that is how special she is.”  Toohey knew that a drive was imminent, saying, “She had just arrived back in San Francisco, and I looked into flights, but it was late in the day and nothing was available until the next morning.  It was automatic.  I had two bottles of the 1947 Lafite that I’d been saving for her wedding day, and I said what the heck??  This is much bigger — she’s won the College Hockey Update Pool!!”  Toohey grabbed the two bottles, packed an overnight bag, and was in the car driving north within ten minutes.  “I listened to the soundtracks of ‘Miracle’ and ‘Slapshot’ the whole way up,  two of my favorites of all time,” he added.

Last night when she heard the door buzzer in her new, swanky, Richmond District flat alongside beautiful Golden Gate Park, Erin had no idea what awaited her.  “I buzzed him in and as soon as he saw me he burst into tears.  I was so surprised, and I told him that even though we hadn’t seen each other in a year that we’d talked almost all the time on the phone.  Then he told me he wasn’t crying because of seeing me, it was that he could present me with the College Hockey Update Trophy Sweatshirt — that he was just too proud for words.  I could hardly understand him in all of his sobbing.”  Then she saw the two bottles of Lafite in his other hand, “I have to admit, I would have been pretty disappointed with anything less for something this big,” she added.

“Now I feel very safe having this trophy sweatshirt, and wearing it around.  The press and paparazzi are now focused on finding this new guy, Ken Klein, who won this year.  I’ve heard he is staying here in San Francisco, and I wish him luck once he gets his prize — it’ll be a tough year with all the media attention.  I’m glad to be back now, but I’m glad I left the country and dodged all that distraction.  After all, I’m a fairly private and low-key young woman — I’m born free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows, born free to follow my heart.”

Well, wow, that’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!

Publisher’s/Editor’s note:  Erin Toohey’s Trophy could be the last sweatshirt trophy — none of the manufacturers made sweatshirts this year, and who knows if they will again?

— Tom