Well folks, Mother Nature is about to hit shuffle on her winter playlist. Good thing we have Guy Shaver on standby with his shovel ready to clear the arena parking lot in time for this weekend’s games. A few guys still haven’t noticed their new tattoos from the big Collingwood Tournament a few weeks ago but I’m sure they will figure it out eventually. This past weekend saw the intensity ramp up in all three divisions. Let’s put aside our differences and recap the action.

United Division:

Bruins 4 Leafs 1: Rookie Steve Ditta mopped up the floor and left that yellow fold-up caution sign, scoring 4 as the Bruins beat up the Leafs 4-1 in a high-tempo, gritty contest. Who would’ve thought a pre-game meal of crockpot cheeseburger soup would give Steve so much energy… Zach Peachey had a 3 lb. sack of apples, assisting on most of Ditta’s goals. Jesse Dunham scored the lone Leaf goal and continues to impress other GM’s from around the league with his tenacity and vision out there. Brad Stone turned aside 23 shots for the win and is starting to make his case for the Italy Winter Olympics in February.

Blackhawks 6 Flyers 6: This game was nuts. I watched it live on Cable14 with a row of saltines and 4 cheese slices. Gusty winds up to 70km/hr as both teams were flying hard out there. Thanks to the  spare goalies for this game for stepping up and facing a barrage of pucks all night. In the end it was Dylan McInernery with a hatty and captain Mike Haslam with a pair for the orange guys while Kevin Scime had a hatty for the Hawks along with Ron Cybulski’s pair of snipes. This game was easily the most entertaining game so far this season. I was upset I missed it in person. I think both teams will shore up their defense before this weekend’s games or there will be a couple garbage cans overturned.

Masters Division:

Sharks 5 Senators 2: This game was a comedy of errors on the Senators end of the ice. In the end it was a 5-2 white-washing for the Sharks. Jason Hoffman sucked back 4 Jolt Colas before the game and the “Doctor of the Decorated Dungeon” Bruno Santanato made 18 saves for the victory, his 300th career win. Steve Saulnier was buzzing around all night, dropping a deuce for the winning side.

The Senators handed over 1st place to the Sharks after this game and now face a motivated Leaf team this week who are starting to climb the standings in a damn hurry.

Leafs 6 Bruins 2: The Bruins are facing some adversity with some injuries, mainly their fearless leader, Richard Forster but are trying their best to stay in the hunt. Unfortunately they ran into the Leafs who are hotter than Pamela Anderson at an egg-and-spoon race right now and are showing no signs of slowing down. Newcomer Marc “is that a boat? No.. it’s” Ayotte tallied twice for the winners while the usual suspects replied for the Bruins, Bill “aluminum” Foley and Wayne Sliwinski. These two get points pretty well every game. Good players that trust their training. In net for the Leafs, Sandro Marrone can stop an Ikea finishing nail right now, he is back to his usual self between the pipes. “Teams are starting to establish more net-front presence but newsflash, I can see through anything..” Sandro told reporters after the game. “Bring it on, I can handle it.”

Grand Masters Division:

Flyers 2 Kraken 1: This game ruined my Proline ticket. Dennis Haradyn and Dave Walker both scored and assisted on each other’s goals as the Flyers upset the Kraken 2-1. Brad Ballman turned aside 19 shots for the big win as the fellas in orange look to start climbing the standings. I think they will make the playoffs, bets are open on that, contact me during regular business hours. Let’s pause and talk about Kraken veteran Al Angelone. His feisty, in your face style of hockey overshadows his desire to win. Since he moved on from 12 seasons with the Flin Flon Aces back in 74’, Al had molded himself into a true leader in the dressing room. His stories are second to none and one day, once he hangs up his twirlers, he might write a book about his SCOHA career.

Bruins 5 Blackhawks 3: 6 penalties later, these two teams are officially arch-rivals. Five different players lit the lamp as the Bruins staved off the Hawks. “Christmas” Yves chipped in with a goal and 2 apples to lead the way. Stick tap to Barry Walker for sparing in net. This guy has been a good addition to this damn league and his play on the ice has turned heads from what I am hearing. I bet Barry cashes in this summer with a bigtime raise. You heard it here first. Dennis VanKlanderson scored a pair for the Hawks in a losing cause.

Sharks 3 Stars 2: Sharks captain, GM, president and founder Ron Cooper walked into the bar with a smile on his face like he slept with a hanger in his mouth. A huge 3-2 win with the wives in attendance over the Stars made for a great day for the wiley veteran. Len Potts (hold the pans) scored the eventual game winner with 1:13 left to send the fans into a tizzy. Sharks Brian Deanes survived a late barrage of shots toward the end of this one to preserve his 498th career all-time win. The DiGiovanni’s both scored despite the loss. It’s the first time 2 players with the same last name scored in the same game since …. Well since these two did it last time. The league was thrilled to see Mike Archer return to game action for the Sharks after a tough injury in the first minute of the season. Happy to have you back out there, Mike!

PREMIUM PLUS TOOL WORKHORSES OF THE WEEK:

UNITED: STEVE DITTA

MASTERS: SANDRO MARRONE

GRAND MASTERS: YVES BISSON

Have a great rest of the week, fellas. Snow is coming, you’ve been warned…

Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blog Guy

Well folks, looking forward to changing the clocks back in the spring, this dark at 4:30 stuff isn’t sitting well.

Well folks, winter is here. Enough said.

Well folks, here’s a fresh new SCOHA blog out of the oven. We will recap this past weekend’s action and give props to some of our SCOHA hockey heroes whether they deserve it or not.

Well folks, this fella stayed up to watch that 18 inning marathon the other night and I was in the office the next day feeling more tired than a pair of dentures after a cold buffet but you know what, it was worth it. There were some even better games this past weekend, albeit men’s beer league but it’s our world series each and every weekend and no one can take that away from seasoned veterans like Mike Vanderzee and Al Angelone who are both approaching important milestones in their careers for games played by players with cement hands...

A few games over the weekend started to get a bit salty. You almost needed a moose to lick the salt off. All in all, you can tell the action is ramping up as we approach the end of October. United teams are starting to gel and the games are getting faster. Flyers team rep Mike Haslam was spotted applying Rub A5/35 the other week but claimed it is his new hockey cologne, knees are fine. Hattrick by Faberge, available at Shoppers, 8 bucks. Speaking of hat trick, this new Jordan Campbell kid in United is lighting the lamp multiple times every Friday, reminds me of Sean Riley when he played for the Lethbridge Bonnets back in 81. Campbell is an early favourite for Rookie of the Year. We will try and get him on the Pucks in Deep Podcast soon…

Last week’s games were a complete 180 degree turn-around from the previous week, lemme tell ya. United’s Walt Blagdon was skating around like he had motors on his skates. I don’t know what this guy has for a pre-game meal but I bet it’s rich in essential minerals. At any rate, let’s dip into the weekend that was…

Well folks... cold season is in full swing at this fellas house. Throat feels like i swallowed a wool sweater but there's deadlines to meet. Let's dive into last weeks action.

Elbow’s up, fellas, it’s the season premiere of this silly blog. This year, we welcome the Grand Masters Kraken as a team. What’s a Kraken? No, it’s not the view you get when the plumber is bent over trying to unclog the kitchen sink.

A Kraken is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to appear in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway. Ya… just as I thought.