This Week in SCOHA – December 13th, 2024

Hey folks, I feel old when I am excited for a Christmas baking party on a Sunday afternoon. Talk about a crazy week, was the windiest day since 1983 this past Thursday, my garbage can made it all the way to Dunnville for crying out loud. Anyways, here’s what went down last weekend in Scohavile…

United Division:

No Games Played

 Masters Division:

Sharks 6 Senators 5: This was the craziest game of the season so far and I refuse to hear any arguments otherwise. Sharks were folding up the Sens like a Moose Jaw street map 4-1 after the 1st half. Senators stormed back to tie before Brad Stapleton scored his 4th of the damn game with 39 ticks left to seal the win. Stapleton did everything but throw a basketball at a baby. Per Darren Dreger at TSN, Brad will be asking for a considerable increase in pay next season. I say he gets it. For the Sens, Warren DeForest continued his impressive play with a pair of snipes while Larry Litzgus chipped in with a goal and 3 assists. Sharks Dave “Le Legende” Langille added to his point totals with a pair of assists. This guy could sell 500 threads of Egyptian cotton to a guy that doesn’t put sheets on his bed, lemme tell ya.

 Devils 7 Blackhawks 2: Alfonso Tinebra arrived at the rink ready to show everyone he deserves to be here. He scored 3 magical goals as his Devils roasted the Hawks 7-2. Rookie Eddie D’Ostilio threw his hat into the ring, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists for the winners. Hawks veteran Glen Mannella was madder than the drummer of Brain Cabinet after this defeat. Blames the absence of captain Jason Hoffman for the disappointing loss. Guess driving around looking at Christmas lights is more important.. who knew. Dino Guidice and Brock Hotrum scored for the Hawks in a losing cause. This Devils team aren’t sitting on their hands. They have all the tools in the shed to win the cup and other teams are noticing their strong play of late. Stay tuned, folks, these guys are making a mid-season push.

Bruins 2 Penguins 2: In a battle of the top 2 teams, it was the Bruins who prevailed 2-0 as Brad Ballman turned aside 22 shots for the poppy seed bagel. Wayne Sliwinski scored both goals for the B’s who is having a great season, kind of like my fence brackets at home who deserve a gold medal for still holding things up after this week’s gale-forced winds we had. Penguins were missing their speedster Steve Horner for this one. Steve is an energy vampire out there, exudes confidence, and was missed out there, that’s for sure. When he and Walt Blagdon didn’t appear in the dressing room before the game, the rest of the Penguins looked more nervous than a bunch of chickens reading what was on the menu that night. But give them credit, they gave it their best, fell a bit short.

 Grand Masters Division:

Redwings 5 Sharks 0: Redwings coach and GM Terry Gudgeon has lofty standards for his hockey club. They had a closed-door meeting before the game and went out there and took the Sharks behind the woodshed 5-0. Ted “from the planet” Marszalek stopped 19 shots for the goose egg while Steph Rioux recorded a hat trick for the winning side. Let’s pause and reflect on the effort put forth by Wings veteran Bill Kircos. Reliable as an old Polaroid camera, still enjoys slow walks along the beach, mystery novels and doesn’t mind the snow. He is always fired up as I understand it and we are all happy he still comes out to the rink every damn week. For the record, Sharks grizzled veteran Paul Shorer missed this game. Apparently he swallowed 6 plastic horses. His condition remains stable.

Flyers 2 Stars 0: This might be a SCOHA record for most shutouts in a weekend… 3! Flyers J.J. MacNeil recorded his 37th career whitewash, passing Bernie Parent on the Flyers all-time list as the boys in orange beat the Stars 2-0. Mike Lubrick and Pat Sergi scored for the Flyers while the Stars goal production is dryer than a bull’s ass going up a hill backwards of late. No worries, GM Chris Barratto has gone over the game films and promises a better effort this weekend. I believe him and his players trust him. Chris maintains a productive and organized home office that shows in his style of play week in and week out.

 

Well that puts a bow on the week that was, sorry for the lateness of this report, this week was crazier than a double-neck guitar. Enjoy the weekend, folks! Was great to hear Paul Cleary was back in the lineup last week. One of the great guys in this league. Shows an encyclopedic knowledge of the game on and off the ice.  

THE PREMIUM PLUS TOOL REPAIR & PACKAGING WORKHORSES OF THE WEEK:

UNITED: Michael Haslam   even though he didn’t play.        MASTERS: Alfonso Tinebra        GRAND MASTERS: J.J. MacNeil  

 Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blog Guy