Well folks, everyone knows we Canadians LOVE our hockey….particularly a nice CLEAN game. However it is a well known fact that on OCCASION…in a close, HEATED game… tempers flare resulting in a fight. Today’s fights in professional hockey though are a little different from when I was a young man when “bench clearing” brawls would erupt and fists would be flying left right and center. ( hmmm…one wonders if this is where this phrase came from??) BECAUSE of this, some years ago, the NHL instituted a “Third Man In” rule whereby, if a fight erupted on the ice and another player got involved in that fight, he would be immediately ejected from the game (but not before getting a few good punches in!!) because he was the “third man in”. Fair enough. So let’s go back a few years to Long Point Ontario where Jim and I are building a combination garage/workshop/bunkie at his cottage. Jim and I had been HARD at it for a couple of days and we had arrived at a point where the plywood cladding for the walls and roof were being installed and who should show up but our good friend Rick “Fatty” Muldoon. (And right now yer probably wondering why I’ve gone from the NHL to cottage bunkie….trust me…I’ll get there! ????) Well you can imagine how pleased we were to see him! This meant that Jim could concentrate on cutting the sheets of plywood, I could install them and Fatty could transport them to me and hold them in place while I nailed them down. We were BOTH very thankful for his presence as it made things a lot more efficient, and at a certain point I yelled down: “HEY FATTY!!...good to have you on the job site!!...makes things a LOT more efficient!!” …to which he replies “NAH!!!....I’m just the “Third man in!!”…after which we both looked at each other and commented in unison “ HEY …GREAT title for a song!!” And thus Mr. Rick (El Fatador) Muldoon became the inspiration for this new tune. So…ladies and gentlemen, I give you a composition which encompasses HOCKEY as a metaphor for a “not so happy” marital situation…. (And right now yer saying …Only in Canada could you get HOCKEY as metaphor for MARRIAGE!!!”….To which I say …Well YEAH!!!) This one has SIMMMERED for awhile, but I think it is worth the wait Here it is: “Third Man In” ….I would be remiss in not mentioning the “always correct and always astounding” keyboard work by good friend Chris McGuire on this. ENJOY!!