This Week in SCOHA - April 12th, 2022

First of all, welcome to spring where no matter what jacket you pick, you’re wrong. I am recording this week’s blog from sick bay where this stomach virus combined with a chest cold makes me feel like I got ran over by the Lakeshore West Go-Train and I don’t mean big #9 on the Intermediate Flyers, Ryan Maybrey. Also, speaking of the Intermediate Flyers, let’s hope their team gets well soon as they battle some illnesses at such a pivotal time in the season.

JUNIOR DIVISION:

FLYERS 4 REDWINGS 2: Flyer’s goalie Lino Cosco keeps filling his cart with saves and doesn’t mind waiting in line for an hour for gas. SCOHA director of player safety Yves Bisson is reviewing the last time Cosco went to Australia and beat up a kangaroo, you heard it here first, folks. Anyways, a big 4-2 win over arch-nemesis Redwings secured first place after round robin play for the guys in orange. Kevin “90” Watt lit up the scoring sheet with a pair of beauties and an assist to secure the win. This game saw some dinnertime drama as Redwings captain Yves Bisson was late getting to the rink after a lengthy delay at the airport when it was revealed he was trying to bring back a resort cat.

BRUINS 5 OILERS 3: The Bruins killed off 4 minors and had a great game between the pipes from newcomer Jacob Prenger as they got by the Oilers 5-3. 5 different scorers lit the lamp for the B’s who had their injured netminder Steve Cuthbert watching in the gondola from up above. Cuthbert had hand surgery and is expecting to be ready for training camp in September. His bowling career and homemade meatball rolling careers are on hold for now while his hand heals. These LaPorta guys are in sync out there. They go together like gnocchi and pesto. A wraparound goal by Luca LaPorta in the first period brought the crowd of 5 to their feet.

INTERMEDIATE DIVISION:

BLACKHAWKS 5 BRUINS 4: 5 different Hawks made the game sheet as they held off a pesky Bruin team 5-4. Hawks goalie Scott Johnson swears by his pre-game meal of pancakes. I personally think pancakes are like compressed sand but whatever gets him game-ready. A strong game from Bruins Wayne Slewinski on and off the puck as he scored a goal, added 3 assists and sat in the box after a thunderous check on Hawks captain Paul McGraw into the end boards. Dave Johnson scored the game winner for the men in white. Johnson was a late-season acquisition who has toiled in the SCOHA ranks but is a great fit with this veteran core of players in the Hawk room.

CANADIENS 1 FLYERS 0 (forfeit)

These Flyers are sick and I don’t mean the sick the kids say after a skateboard trick at the mall. Get well soon, fellas. Who should we award the Canadiens goal to? Let’s give it to Bruno the goalie. This guy was a 1st round pick in the 1982 SCOHA expansion draft and has carved out an illustrious career while balancing a busy work load off the ice. We hope to get Bruno on our Pucks In Deep Podcast one of these weeks to talk about his long road to the league.

MASTERS DIVISION:

BRUINS 6 KINGS 6: Kings Steve Smith thanked the fans that made the road trip with the team to Boston from LA. Steve scored a hatty as the Kings tied the Bruins 6-6. Bruin’s rookie phenom Dave Armstrong also scored 3 goals. I swear this kid is going to go far in this league and with his contract expiring at the end of the season, he will be looking for a bigtime increase in pay next season. B’s captain and GM Gord Bryce had a can of pop before the game and went out there and scored a goal and 2 assists, tying a career high in points in a game. Gord autographed the game puck and is auctioning it off for Save The Whales, a charity Blackhawks Bill Kircos has spearheaded for many years.

SHARKS 2 FLYERS 1: The super heroes of the stringed solariums, Tymen Edelkoort and Richard Paquet, put on a goaltending clinic for the ages as the Sharks fended off the Flyers 2-1 in a typical defensive playoff battle. Sharks John Carvalho drove home the game winner with 7 minutes left to mail home the W. Flyers captain Pat Sergi scored a howitzer for the Flyers but it wasn’t enough. Flyers deserved a better fate in this one but they gave it all they had. Great game, fellas!

BLACKHAWKS 4 STARS 1: Four key Star players were missing for this big game and it showed on the scoreboard. Make the final 4-1 for the surging Hawks. Blackhawks dean of the disk dormatory Brian Deanes steered away 32 saves for the win while four different players scored for good measure. We reached out to Stars captain Chris Barrato for comment after the game but we are still awaiting a call back.

REDWINGS 6 FLAMES 2: The SCOHA first star of the week, Larry Litzgus litz the lamp 4 times as the Wings doused the Flames 6-2. Despite 4 hooking calls, the Redwings played their best all-around effort at both ends of the ice. Wings Dennis “my heart will go on” Dion scored a goal that we will see on highlight reels for a long, long time. My neck is sore from agreeing with Dennis when he says he still has a lot of hockey left in him. These Redwings are hungry for the cup, folks, write it down.

Well I coughed a total of 583 times while writing this so I need a green tea and a new lung. The season is winding down and the intensity is at an all-time high out there. It was good to see all the teams having fun up at the bar afterwards, no matter what the scores were. By the way, whoever invented autocorrect can go to Hello. Carry on with your week and see you all in a few weeks. Some bunny decided we need a weekend off to eat a big dinner and slow things down a bit. Enjoy.

Chris Marttila

SCOHA E-Columnist / League Motivational Speaker When You Lose