This Week in SCOHA – February 7th, 2023

Well that’s a wrap on the Masters 2022-23 regular season. The Flames folded up all opponents like a used picnic blanket and are poised to lift the championship trophy in a matter of weeks. United Division still has some sorting out to do as far as seedings go but that will all come to fruition this weekend.

Let’s scrape the ice off the window and see what happened last weekend in Scohaville. No more Friday games this year so you will have to spend it at home watching old Alf re-runs or if you are lucky, some Hallmark “oh no how are we going to raise enough money to keep the bookstore open” movies.

FLYERS 3 CANADIENS 2: Let’s hear it for the boys… the Haslam’s that is.. Father Mike scored a pair of snipes and son Ryan also scored to propel the Flyers to a 3-2 victory over Les Canadiens de Montreal. Flyers Al Granata, known for his scoring prowess around the net, set up the Flyers 2nd goal on an acrobatic, behind the back pass that made all 4 fans stand up to cheer him on. For the Habs, Andrew “fedex” Fedoruk and whoever suited up as #93 scored some pretty sweet goals. This game was pretty tame or the refs left their whistles in the car. Not one penalty was called, a great show of sportsmanship amongst the two teams.

BLACKHAWKS 4 BRUINS 1: The Hawks were down 6 bodies, Blackhawk Down! That didn’t stop the rest of them from putting in an honest night’s work as they cruised past the Bruins 4-1. The Bruins were missing rookie sharpshooter Chris Conroy and are really missing Charlie Polizzi on the blueline. Charlie is done for the season with a leg injury. Hopefully his recovery is going well. Richard Forster can stickhandle around a wet paper bag. Well anyone can but he can do it better and faster than anyone else. He scored the lone goal for the B’s. Let’s give some props to Hawks call-up goaltender Xavier Jackson who played a thriller between the pipes.

OILERS 6 SHARKS 6: Quiet down the crazy as the young kids say. This game saw the Sharks get out to a 4-0 lead before the Oilers got their act together. With a bit over a minute left, the Oil went ahead 6-5 only to have the Sharks tie it up 42 seconds later. Both teams loaded up their respective buses and left the rink with a hard-fought point. Jason “hitman” Hoffman scored a hatty for the Oilers while Justin “limeridge” Mol and Joe Shulist ran away with a pair each for the guys in teal. Quick advice for all you pre-game meal enthusiasts out there, don’t and I repeat Don’t ever settle for a beef gravy on your hot chicken sandwich. It sat in my stomach like a block of cheese the size of a car battery the whole game. 8 Redbulls wouldn’t have given me anything remotely close to a wing.

MASTERS DIVISION:

PENGUINS 2 BLACKHAWKS 1: Hawks Lee Paule (aka Pauly) scored late to make it a close game but it wasn’t enough as the Pens inked 2-1 win to keep their strong play going as they look forward to the playoffs. William Reid and Captain Steve Smith scored for the Penguinos as they fired 39 pucks at Joe DeFaria. I don’t know what else to say about this Penguin team. They have the best fanbase in the league, their ticket sales have already surpassed all of last season and their GM Steve Smith has all but promised he will run with the same lineup next season. Pretty hard to accomplish that feat but he’s a smart guy, I’m sure he will do his best.

BRUINS 4 STARS 2: United Division lent the Bruins Brad Ballman to guard the twine and it paid off as he turned aside 23 shots for the big 4-2 win over the Stars. Steve “around the” Horner returned to the lineup after missing some games and didn’t disappoint. The Bruins pending free agent scored 2 goals and added an assist for the winning side. Was nice to see Bernard Boulianne lace up the twirlers again, he looked great out there, even came up to the pub after to say hi to the fellas.

FLAMES 2 REDWINGS 1: This game garnered the most interest amongst us SCOHA fans. The Redwings had so many chances to tie this up but Tymen Edelkoort had cellophane across the goal mouth all night. Flames Dave Graham led the crusade with a pair for the winners while Steve “killa” Watt scored the lone Redwing goal. You could tell during the handshakes that the Wings left it all on the ice. Great game by both sides.

FLYERS 4 SHARKS 1: The Sharks were handing around for the most part but the Flyers turned up the volume and escaped with a 4-1 victory. Both goalies played well and are certainly still feeling some lower body soreness as we approach mid-week but they will be ready to get on the plane for Sundays playoff openers. I had the over 5.5 on this one so thanks guys, you owe me one.

Ask anyone who’s ever played in this league, it doesn’t matter what place you finished at in the regular season, there are always upsets in the playoffs. Goalies get more dialed in and add a few more weird rituals to their game day routines. They tap each goalpost a few more times than normal and wear the same underwear until they are eliminated. Hope no goalie has chile and toast as a pre-game meal… or beef gravy.

Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blogologist / Stat Keeper / AANG (all around nice guy)