This Week in SCOHA - May 3rd, 2022

Hey fellas, lots of things to cover this week so let’s get right to it!

 

 

It was an exciting season and we should all be proud of what we achieved. We finished the season in a difficult Covid year. Congratulations to the Junior Flyers, Intermediate Canadiens and Master's Bruins as our 2021/22 Champions.

 

There is only one last task left and that is the 2022 AGM (Annual General Meeting). It's every member's right to be there so come on out for a chance to ask questions to the executive board and participate in elections. Also, the championship jackets will be given out! Hope to see you there! June 13th 7pm Council Chamber at Old Stoney Creek City Hall (777 #8 Rd. at Jones Rd.) 

 

 

 

INTERMEDIATE DIVISION:

 

CANADIENS 5 BLACKHAWKS 1: The Blackhawks were “foiled” by the scoring prowess of Bill Foley (3 goals, 1 assist) and a heroic effort by Canadien’s goalkeeper Bruno (don’t call me Carlos even though he played a “smooth” game) Santanato. Hawks could’ve ran away with this one if Bruno didn’t make several acrobatic saves. When the dust cleared, the Habs skated off with the cup and left a Hawks team wondering what happened. Hawks GM Paul Mcgraw vows revenge and decided not to submit a protest due to a Habs player’s cat urinated gear being the reason why they lost.

 

 

MASTERS DIVISION:

 

I was sad that I missed Joe Venditti present the trophy to the Masters Champion Bruins.

 

Piks from all 3 finals will be posted for everyone to see. I first met Joe when I played Thursday shinny with a bunch of Scohaians. Great guy and the great stories from the past are legendary! Players urged Joe to come out to watch more games next year, see you then, Joe!

 

BRUINS 7 BLACKHAWKS 2: Thank you to Bruins GM Gord Bryce for some input on their game for me as I was busy playing my game on the other rink. “Right after our 3rd playoff game, we got a shock after the game as Joe “thank you very” Muchynski let us know that his season was over and he had to start treatment for cancer. Joe was our second-best player this year (next to Super Dave Armstrong) and is in better physical condition than anyone on our team. He also gives maximum effort in every game and we all felt he’s the hardest working player in SCOHA. We somehow managed to continue our unbeaten streak through the playoffs with a last-minute goal to tie our 4th game and scored a last-minute goal to win our semi final against the Redwings. We really wanted to win the championship not only for ourselves but especially for Joe. We were all thinking of Joe during our big game and he emailed the team on Sunday morning before the game with some encouragement.”

 

Joe left the bruins with one of his favourite quotes from Derek Jeter, “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do….”

 

Bruin’s goalie J.J. Macneil stepped up his game throughout the playoffs and the Bruins defeated the surging Blackhawks 7-2. Gord let me know they went 92% on the penalty kill and 40% on the power play through the playoffs, pretty impressive! Dave Armstrong scored 2 and added 2 assists in the final and even drank beer from the cup after the game in the bar! Someone has the pic somewhere! Munish Baranowski, Rob “cheesy” Nacha, Bob “no panic” Tirnanic and Terry “hitman” Hughes also scored for the winners. The Blackhawks took 5 minor penalties during this one that didn’t help matters but must be congratulated for a great turnaround to their season, thanks to newcomer Mike Haslam and steady goalkeeping from Brian Deanes (although he missed the final game).

 

Special thanks to the SCOHA photographers who focused on capturing the moments of all three games. They have dropped the films at Fotomat so hopefully they get done soon.

 

With that, I wrap up another season doing this blog. Thanks to everyone for reading it every week and for the comments throughout the year, I have renewed my contract to keep doing this next year and might even throw in a mid-summer update on what our SCOHA heroes are up to. For those players who are going through health issues, we are all cheering you on as you get better so you can re-join us next season.

 

I can’t end without saying thank you to Terry and my fellow SCOHA executive committee who worked tirelessly to not only get this season off the ground during the pandemic issues but also through player injuries that plagued teams over the past year. With this appreciation from all the players, next year will be the best yet, already looking forward to it! A well-run organization that will only bring more new players on board.

 

Registration is now open on our website so take a few minutes and get signed up so we can bump up the number of teams for next season! Spread the word to others you want to play in our league!

 

Enjoy the summer, stay safe, we will see you all at the rink in September!

 

 

Chris Marttila

 

SCOHA E-Columnist