It's Wednesday, it's noon, it's Grand Dukes, an Eastern European restaurant in Downers Grove. Which can only mean one thing. The Duffers are assembling.
"Hey, Bob!" says Jim Glynn, the "Young Guy" at 61, sitting at the bar. Bob Granato is hockey royalty, the uncle of Tony and Don Granato Jr., NHL former players and current coaches, and Cammi Granato, the first woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Everyone has a nickname. Greg Lopatka is "the Beak" for obvious reasons if you see him in profile. Arvetis M. Dikinis is "Harvey" — you can't expect the guys to handle "Arvetis" — and wears a Duffers jersey, which expropriates the Hamm's Beer bear (artfully if not legally) as their mascot.
