Clown Mayhem Narrowly Averted at The Doug

The Doug turned into a three ring circus, but thanks to the quick thinking of Green coach Gary "Toe" Blake no one was injured. When the city of Concord decided that bringing the circus to town would be a good idea, there were those who thought otherwise. The folks from PETA didn't agree with the city's decision and they gathered in front of the Doug to make city officials aware of their displeasure with circus acts that they feel are indifferent to the rights of animals. What they didn't know was that one particular elephant felt that they had no right to mess with his livelihood. Rosco, the three thousand pound pachyderm watched protesters picket the circus outside the Doug. He finally decided that he'd had enough. Roscoe charged the crowd that held signs with anti circus sentiment. It was thanks to the quick thinking on one man; Gary "Toe" Blake, the head coach of defending champion Green of the NAHL, no one ended up dead or seriously injured. Blake, who was hired to work as a clown during the off season, saw Rosco getting agitated by the crowd of protesters.

When Roscoe finally made an advance toward the crowd, Blake pulled out a bag of peanuts and threw the legumes in the path of the rampaging elephant. Rosco, distracted by the peanuts, halted his charge in order to consume the peanuts. Toe grabbed the tail of the mammoth and convinced the three thousand pound beast to reconsider. Unfortunately, Roscoe had a peanut allergy and blacked out. He landed on top of Toe. Blake was rushed to Concord hosptial where he was treated for a broken pelvis and cracked ribs. Dunc "Coach" Walsh who was working at the Doug just happened to have an antidote for the peanut allergy which he kept on hand for teammate Joe "Joe" Farrelly, who has the same peanut allergy as Roscoe. The injection saved Roscoe who went on to perform marvelously later that evening for the sold out Doug crowd. From his hospital bed, Toe Blake told reporters, " I was just acting on instinct. I knew Roscoe was upset, so I grabbed a bag of peanuts just in case. I had no idea that he had a peanut allergy. I feel terrible, but I'm glad that Dunc was on hand to save Ol' Roscoe. I'm relieved to learn that no one other than myself was seriously hurt. I hope to be ready for game 8 coming up in five months. This is something I will never forget." A spokesperson for the circus said, "This is something Roscoe will also never forget. He never forgets anything. He's an elephant." Earlier in the day, Blake signed a chimp named Guy Plantaine to a contract with Green. "I saw him skate earlier in the morning. He had great hockey sense and his head was always up. He has great vision. I can't believe that he's been milling around the circus all these years without ever getting a try out in the NAHL. He will fit in perfectly on the second line and I may use him on the power play instead of Tilly.