This Week in SCOHA, January 11th, 2026

Well folks, That loud cheer you may have heard through the gallows of the Liuna 4pad Arena Sunday night were in fact the 5 fans of the Grand Masters Sharks as SCOHA mainstay Gord Johnson lit the lamp for his 1st goal of the season. They jumped up off their seats in unison letting out an ear-piercing scream as the puck crossed the line. Afterwards, they all went up to the canteen for some celebratory cordials as they chatted about the snipe with some Shark players. That said, let’s dive into the whole weekend of action that went down in Scohaville.

United Division:

Flyers 4 Leafs 3: This game had it all: Grit, gallantry and glory as the Flyers prevailed 4-3 against a fast Leafs team looking to climb the ranks and enter the chat about a championship win. When the final buzzer sounded, it was Brent Haslam who had the game winning goal way back in the 1st period. Heck of a game by Brent who is eying a hefty contract this summer, whether it’s with the Flyers or elsewhere. The Leafs scored twice but the guys in orange held on for the big 2 points. Looking at the Ozempic United standings, the Flyers lead in first place seems to be slimming down rapidly, several people are noticing it. Mike Rostecki, playing in his 500th career game, scored twice for the winners while Kyle Relf, John “brand new” Carvalho and whoever #20 is (not on game sheet) replied for the guys in blue. Leafs Peter Tompkins made his debut for the Leafs, acquired during the week from the Blackhawks for a substantial amount of cash and future considerations. Spoke to Leaf rookie Jake Alexander after the game. He regretted having a spicy beef grilled cheese before heading to the rink. He apologized to his teammates for the stomach issues in the locker room and on the bench and will stick with a garden salad, no dressing, going forward.

 Bruins 5 Blackhawks 3: After being down by a score of 3-0 after the first period, the Bruins climbed all the way back and defeated the Blackhawks 5-3 thanks to a 2-goal effort by Joe Shulist and a pair of apples from Braden Lapointe. We had Shulist on the Pucks in Dep Podcast last week and he had some insightful comments about how his game has evolved since joining SCOHA, “Hey listen, the game gave me a dream, the fans gave him a purpose”. Joe received a $4 store credit at the Scoha Fan Store for appearing on the podcast. Should be a doozy of a game next week between the Flyers and Bruins, you heard it here first.

 Masters Division:

Senators 4 Bruins 1: The Sens continue to have a strong season. Their Ai drafted team shows up every week with their workboots on ready to work. Marc “taco” Bellhumeur scored twice and added an apple as those Senators got past the Bruins 4-1. Henry Marfisi and Marc Poulin also replied for the winners while Bill “aluminum” Foley had the lone Bruin goal. Kevin Jaggard played his first SCOHA game inbetween the pipes for the Bruins. Looked good in there, the score could’ve been a bit more pear-shaped if it wasn’t for some 5-star saves by the rookie netminder.

Leafs 4 Sharks 3: The Leafs wore their yellow 3rd jerseys tonight, used only during special occasions. This week it was a throwback to the bright yellow sun that we haven’t seen in 8 damn weeks. They seemed to work as the Leafs edged the Sharks 4-3 thanks to a Larry “ballroom” Litzgus goal with 7:33 left in the game. Sean Pesce scored a beauty as well and continues to be a favourite for rookie of the year. He also netted a $10 Towers gift card for scoring the goal of the week.  Dave “Le Legende” Langille, Chris Scott and Joad Durst scored for the Sharks in a losing cause. Dave’s pre-game meal of veal ravioli with a pancetta and mushroom sauce wouldn’t be a lot of guys choice but hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. My stomach backfired on me just thinking about it.

 Grand Masters Division:

Blackhawks 2 Bruins 0: This game had a playoff atmosphere from puck drop. John Pogorzelec scored the eventual game winner as the Hawks shutout the Bruins 2-0. Richard Paquet turned aside 16 shots for the 3-cheese bagel, his 23rd of his illustrious career. Richard once dated a weather girl back in the day. They talked up a storm. Give the Bruins credit, they came out with plenty of hustle, just couldn’t beat Paquet. Correct me if I am using the wrong words but this Hawk team has all the puzzle pieces they need to bring home the damn cup. Bill Kircos went into the draft with a new strategy never used before. Pick guys who can not only drink a lot of beer quickly before the arena kid kicks them out of the room but can also pile up points each week despite hangovers. He created a scoring formula on his Commodore 64 computer and the rest is history.

 Sharks 3 Stars 2: I think proline is fixed. Third week in a row I picked the Stars +5.5 and they screwed me. Never again. Kelly Rintjema filled in for the Sharks and was a difference maker out there, scoring a pair including the game winner with 11:29 left as the Sharks swam past the Stars 3-2. Look at Paul Cleary start to pile up points. He is clearly back to his old self, adding 2 more assists to his resume. Stars had goals from Rob Harrison and Robert DiGiovanni in a losing cause. Stars GM Chris Baratto turned off the locker room music to have a closed-door meeting with his troops after this defeat. He told reporters after he is nit saying what was said but his team isn’t ready to fade into the sunset, not because there isn’t a sun anymore but because there are plenty of games left to right the ship here. I agree with fella.

Kraken 3 Flyers 1: This game didn’t exactly turn into a Medeival Times dinner and tournament because both teams are good friends. There were only a total of 4 hits in this game but Kraken coach/GM and all around nice guy Terry Gudgeon reiterated that it’s not how you win, it’s the final score on the gamesheet. My neck is sore from agreeing with Terry. Kelly Rintjema scored all 3 goals and took the game puck home as the Kraken continued their winning ways. Joe DeFaria played a pretty solid, calculated game in the crease for the win while Flyers Brad Ballman blamed a spinach, carrot and kale smoothie on the way to the arena as a problem keeping his stomach feeling well all night, clearly a distraction all game.

 Well folks, better late than never, that’s a wrap on last week’s SCOHA action in a nutshell. Next blog will be a crazy one as I took in some United action a few nights ago. I will get to that next time.

 PREMIUM PLUS TOOL WORKHORSES OF THE WEEK:

UNITED: BRENT HASLAM

MASTERS: SEAN PESCE

GRAND MASTERS: KELLY RINTJEMA   

 Cheers Fellas,

Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blog Guy / Chief Software Ninjaneer