Ok, gang, there’s a few players in this league who could play in the KHL with a Northface winter jacket under their jersey, no shoulder pads, no elbow pads, and still pile up Bedard-like numbers. Every game is too simple. Don’t we all wish. The rest of us are just trying to keep the damn puck moving. A few United games got the barn buzzin’ on Friday night. Fans were so loud, the players couldn’t hear the refs whistle. Let’s take the lid off and see what things looked like last week in Scohaville.

Well folks, the holiday season has come and gone. Thumbs down to those players who failed to air out their gear for the past 3 weeks hoping it would air out naturally if left alone. Rumblings from the arena staff are that it smelled like hot sick in the dressing room corridor on Sunday night. Could’ve been United’s Marc Poulin throwing up for the 18th time this season but was most likely awful smelling gear. I have a deeply engrained belief that the games will have more intensity from now on as we start what we like to call the 2nd half of the season. United Division standings are tighter than a snare drum as we kick off the post-Christmas rush to the playoffs. Meanwhile, Masters Flames are hotter than a grass snake in a wagon rut, still waiting for their first loss of the season.

My pen froze and my paper blew half way down Barton Street, therefore the weekly blog will return for more shananigans first thing in the New Year.

Merry Christmas, fellas!

Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blogologist

Well folks, Shelley from CHCH news is warning us of a winter ice storm on Thursday but lucky for us, we Scohaians know how to maneuver on slippery terrain. Bring it on. But first, let’s take a dive into last week’s action before things freeze up on us.

A few teams had closed door meetings before Sunday night's games but that didn’t seem to help. Back to the drawing board as they hope to tie a few wins together like a bow before the Christmas break.

Before we get to the action, let us turn our focus to this week’s SCOHA hero spotlight brought to you by Red Bull. Master’s division veteran Mike Vanderzee is a smart, industrious forward with a strong lower base which helps him maintain puck possession and win board battles in the corners. Mike also displays a solid goal-scoring acumen which his teammates admire.

Welcome to another fresh out of the oven edition of the SCOHA blog. The holiday season is in full swing and I still fall asleep before the 3rd line of Away In A Manger. This past week saw goals scored from every angle except from in between the urinals up at the bar. Thanks for the spare players and goalies for stepping in to fill roster sports of those stuck having to do whatever they had going on.  Stick tap to Bob Tenison who stopped by Friday night to take in some SCOHA action then hang out afterwards.

Our SCOHA family is sad to hear of the passing of past SCOHA player Bruce MacDonald early last week. Bruce played in our league for numerous years and will be missed by many. Not to be confused with the current Bruce MacDonald playing in Masters, Bruce’s years in the league brought up many conversations over the weekend about his style of play on the ice. He would hook or tug on opposition jerseys to gain an edge. His teammates laughed whereas the other team… well not so much lol. These types of personalities make SCOHA a unique league to play in and we offer sincere condolences to the MacDonald family and all of Bruce’s friends he met along the way. I sat down Friday night with a few SCOHA Masters veterans who shared some great stories about Bruce. I would have drafted him on my team if I was a GM and if I was in Masters.

For starters we need to tell the kids to stop banging on the glass in warmups with signs saying they want a signed Terry Gudgeon stick. This is getting right out of control and I raise the motion to stop this immediately, if not sooner. Anyways, tons of scoring this past weekend. Compiling the player stats was impossible, like trying to get Pavarotti into a wet suit. Anyways, let’s unpeel the onion from this past weekend’s action.

Hello again, folks. Let’s start this off on the right foot by wishing those fellow Scohaians that are nursing injuries or are trying to shake off a virus speedy recoveries and hope you are back at the rink very soon. It’s never fun to miss games, not to mention the before and after game fun we all look forward to.

The possum lodge edition you ask? Well United Division sniper Brent Haslam showed up at the rink Sunday night, unzipped his hockey bag and a live possum jumped out and scared the daylights out of everyone in the proximity. Easily the Panasonic play of the Week, folks and I am not making this up. You might ask how did he not hear this thing running laps around his gear while he was carrying it in the damn arena.. or how did it not piss all over everything. Those are questions you will have to ask him yourself. Or I will and will report back next week. 

At any rate, I was away for work last week which is why you didn’t see the weekly roundup on here but I am back ready to go. Week 6 of this nagging sprained thumb from summer hockey is feeling about 90%. Thumbs up to that.