A Long Pass Completed

OK, who would have thought that …

Two guys who were friends at Monongahela Catholic High School in Pennsylvania …

Would move to Connecticut …

Frequent the same Windsor Locks restaurant to watch Pittsburgh Steelers game …

Sit 30 feet from each other …

Pass each other on the way to the rest room for about four years …

And finally meet up a couple of years ago and reacquaint some 40 years after graduation. 

Welcome to the world of Jack Magurany and Tony Gargon, Monongahela Catholic, class of 1971, every game day during Steelers football season.

"Isn't it a great story?'' asks Magurany, who now lives in Ellington. "Who would have thought that, after all these years, we would find each other and then watch Steelers games here together."

Gargon, an East Hampton resident, says that he would sit at a table near one end of the bar and that Magurany would sit at the opposite end of the bar. The two realized they were both living in central Connecticut during a conversation about a reunion, and then wound up watching games together at AD's restaurant in Windsor Locks, which hosts a Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Club on game days during the NFL season.

"Crazy stuff, but, as you can see, it's pretty good to find this guy here aft all these years,'' Gargon said as Magurany nodded in agreement.

The two were part of  packed house at AD's on Sunday night for the Super Bowl. The Steelers lost to the Green Bay Packers 31-25, but Pam Tillona, who heads up the fan club with her husband, Jim, says it was a welcome  relief to get together with so  many people after a week filled with snow days, shoveling, and roof collapses.

"It was a tough week. It was off to work, back home to check on your children, and then back to work - and then shoveling,'' Tilloma says. "We love these events, and the Super Bowl makes them even more special."

The week was filled with several roof collapses in the region because of packed snow and ice. With sunshine and temperatures above freezing on Sunday, many residents of north central Connecticut scrambled around for ice melting compounds, snowblowers  and shovels, which were all hard to find, in an efforts to clear their roofs and driveways.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy urged residents to be "safe and savvy" when employing contractors to clear their roofs. Malloy suggested that consumers contact the Department of Consumer Protection for information about contractors and always get estimates in writing.

"We have several days of good weather forecasted, which will give us an opportunity to clean up and get ahead of maintenance like roof clearing," Malloy said. “We are getting reports of possible price gouging by contractors offering roof snow removal. The best advice is, if possible, to get a price from more than one contractor, and always have the contractor put the price in writing.”

Manchester fire officials responded to a minor blaze at 10:15 this morning at the Donwell Corp on Sheldon Street, and extinguished it quickly. The cause is under investigation. 

Meanwhile, Target in the Buckland Hills shopping district was able to reopen today after work crews scrambled to clear snow and ice off the roof of the building. It was closed Saturday for precautionary reasons.

Vernon, East Windsor, Windsor Locks  and Tolland schools will be closed on Monday for more snow removal.