Time To Scramble

As promised, Week #9 or November 9, 2011 will be our league's first scramble game. This is an opportunity to play with those you play against for 33 weeks. Take this opportunity to make new friends, get to know some players that you haven't had a chance to talk to and play some non-pressure hockey.

Jersey colors are listed next to the Team #. Please try and actually wear WHITE if on a white team. For schedule:
7:15 Team 1 vs Team 2
8:50 Team 3 vs Team 4
9:55 Team 5 vs Team 6

The games are still officiated, but again do not count for standings. We really want to make sure players get to know one another (even if it is just for 1 night). Our hope is that we create a better camaraderie amongst the league. I hope everyone can make it.

I have put every player on a team including those that split a spot during the season. This gives everyone a chance to play. There is NO TRADING teams. If you know in advance that you will not make it, shoot me an email. If too many cannot make one game, I may make some roster moves.

The teams are as follow:

Team 1 (White)
Steve Kuzynowski - Goalie
Matt Johnson
Rich Hyuck
Chris Hill
Adam Schnieders
Chris LeFleur
Mark Dylo
Adam Keller
Larry LePera
Nataliya Dudechenko
Nick Hrabak
Tom Kirvin
Paul Curran
Andrew Lee
Javi Rodriguez
Monty Brown
Brent Hanke

Team 2 (Dark)
Jim Goeke - Goalie
Paul Knight
Brian Gugat
Brad Dean
Laura Stein - IR
Dan Bishop
Shawn Topliff
Marc LePera
Dave Chongo
Dave Gannon
Rich Hrabak
Rich Cohan
David Ross
Dan Becker
Scott Jacobson
Matt Whitaker
Darren Stout

Team 3 (White)
Tony Hansen - Goalie
Mike Pedersen
Tim Close
Dave Green
Ben Paoli
Jeremy Knipper
Mike Fascian
Ryan LePera
Adam Krultz
Pete Anthan
Rob Wheeler
Dan Hoy
Justin West
Tyler Wallace
Dan Koenig
Jason Wolf
Todd Bentzen

Team 4 (Dark)
Scott Anderson
Tony Toigo
Scott Kundel
Mitch Stein
Dave Miller
Joe Bafia
Paul Adams
Mike Beede
Dave Natale
Will Koch
Dane Maxwell
Pat Cashman
Dave Swift
Nick Worth
Brett Damos
Caleb Harrelson
Mark Loverude

Team 5 (White)
Kacy Reeves
Mikey Dylo
Adam Lowell
Aaron Clutts
Ben Hudson
Lisa Schumacher
Chad Beyer
Mark Ramsey
Nick Radcliff
David Stember
Dan Hickey
Jon Rech
Josh Feathers
Rod Bragg
Dusty Beenen
Shon McDonough

Team 6 (Dark)
Eric Keese
Brendan McCallum
Pat Houlihan
Nate Brand
Mike Bartak
Dustin Gordon
Terry Sindelar
Rick Radcliff
Bill Goodman
Andrew Mellein
Chris Hansen
James Martinson
Mark Scholz
Shaun Greene
Nick Giunta
Ben Griswell

Gobble, Gobble, Goal, Gobble .....

It's hard to believe that 5 years ago I thought it was a good idea to cancel league games before Thanksgiving since it was a holiday and I didn't believe there would be much attendance. Scott Anderson called me and said "What the $@#& are you doing cancelling league games the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? That's the best day to play hockey." The rest is history with the Annual 3 on 3 Turkey Tourney being created.

This year, the small twist is we are playing the Friday AFTER Thanksgiving. What better day to play some hockey? You just ate too much food, watched too much football and saw too much family the day before, and now you want burn some calories. So as your spouse, girlfriend or significant other leaves your place at 4 AM headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond for that Early Bird $4.99 shower squeegie promo, you sleep in and mentally prepare for some good old-fashioned hockey.

The format has not changed. 6 players per team, 4 games each, 3 on 3 cross-ice format, free pizza and an all around great time. Teams are put together by me to keep things as fair as possible. It also allows you to play with players you normally don't get a chance to play with. Beginner skill levels encouraged to play since this is a laid back atmosphere.

Friday, November 25th

4 PM - 8 PMish

Bucs Arena

$40 (includes 4 games & pizza during breaks)

Only 48 player spots and 8 goalie spots accepted. These go quickly so register early.

You can register right here on the blog.

I Can Predict The Future!

I have to imagine after my predictions last week, some may be coming to my house to see if I have a DeLorean sitting in my driveway with me working on the flux capacitor. Well, I don't. There is no time machine, no crystal ball, and I'm not the second coming of Nostradamus. I simply take the facts and put them together to determine what to me is an obvious outcome to our games.

Last week, I predicted Red Alert wins 7-6 over Irwins. The final was an Irwins win of 3-0. Although on the surface one may say this is wrong (or not even close), I beg to differ. With the quality of refs we have in this league, goals are missed all the time. For those watching the game from the lounge, we clearly saw Feathers and Scholz each score hat tricks. Now I can understand how the refs may miss a close call, but 6? C'mon, there is so much riding on this game that the least they could do is pay attention. The ultimate mistake came with 32 seconds left. At this point the score (in reality) was 6-6 and there was a face off in Irwins zone. As soon as the ref drops the puck, he turns to the Irwins bench to get a drink of water from Wheeler. At that time, Wallace of Red Alert fires a puck into Irwins net for what is clearly a goal, but the goalie pulls it out of the net and throws it down the ice towards Red Alert's net. By this time, Hansen is jumping up and down in celebration of the goal that he believes is the game winner and the puck rolls into the net behind him. The refs turn in Tony's directions and see the puck just as the buzzer sounds and victory is given to Irwins. I was shocked along with the 5 other fans in the lounge that such an atrocity could occur.

The 2nd games prediction was Alien 5, Hawgs 2. The final result was Alien 5-3. My prediction took into account our own goalie playing in that game. Turns out he was unable to make it last minute and we acquired Tony Hansen as a sub. As invincible as our defense is, we still cannot make up for Tony's lack of effort in this game and he lets in a softy to skew my prediction just a tad. Thanks Tony...thanks for nothing.

The final game of the night was predicted as a Voodoo win 5-4 with Koenig scoring the game winner at the very end. Turns out the score was on the money, but it was a Huyck/Johnson combo at the end to win it for Kryptonite. There are some things that even I could not predict. Who would have thought that when the game was on the line, the players of Kryptonite would even allow Huyck and Johnson on the ice during the last 4 minutes of the game. Typical win strategy would suggest that your worst players sit on the bench with their helmets off observing their teammates try and win the game. Bystanders thought it was a brilliant strategy to have these 2 out there, but in reality it was a mistake. As the clocked ticked down with the score 4-4, Huyck and Johnson skated to the bench after some horrifying play. Hill yells down the bench "You guys play like sin!". Johnson and Huyck quickly jump back onto the ice and scamper to Voodoos end to team up for the game winner. Afterwards, Johnson says he thought Hill had said "You guys get us a win!".

In the end, short of the craziness, I was pretty well dead on. So to keep the string alive, here are Week 5's picks....

Kryptonite Vs. Red Alert
With Paul Knight back in the line up for Kryptonite, the team is bound for a loss. Red Alert breaks their winless streak this Wednesday by a score of 5-3.

Alien Vs. Irwins
As powerful as Alien is this year, they will have a challenge stopping the Martinson/Cashman duo. Regardless of who is in Irwin's net (the world never knows until 5 mins before the game), they still sneak out the win 6-5 over Alien. Bishop of Alien gets tossed from this game due to inappropriate team uniform.

Voodoo Vs. Hawgs
After disappointing losses for both teams last week, someone walks away with a 4-1 record. Goalie Reeves for Voodoo is fired up for this game after an altercation with his own teammate Damos last week. Some negative words were thrown, then Damos threw a tape ball and hit Kacy in the knee. "We're all better now" stated Whitaker, "our team needed that passion on the ice." Defending champ Hawgs looked like 14 year old molasses on the ice last week. The LePeras struggled, Schumacher looked sluggish and Bartak decided to not even show. I believe this team is on a slide with Voodoo getting the win. Voodoo wins 8-7.

Week 4 Updates

7:15 Irwins Vs Red Alert
Someone's getting their first win tonight in the first match up of the night. We have two teams coming in 0-3 and both are ready to ride the celebration train. "We're lining the locker room with plastic so it won't ruin the place when we spray champagne all over" proclaimed Jim Goeke of Irwins. With only a 4 point differential in their last 3 games, Irwins feels like they could be 3-0. "If we scored more points than the other teams in each of our last 3 games, we'd be sitting at 3-0" observed Stember of Irwins.
Red Alert on the other hand believe it's the netminder that will earn the win. With Tony Hansen bringing in a respectable 5.3 GAA, he thinks the rink tilts in their favor. "I've told me defense what they need to do" stated Hansen of Red Alert. "They really weren't trying and were very afraid, so that changes tonight" With Green and Hoy coming off some concussions from week #1, they are ready to play at the level they once did.
In a close game, Red Alert edges out Irwins 7-6.

8:35 Alien Hockey Vs Puck Hawgs
Always a good battle, this match up pits the defending champs against the rising powerhouse of Alien. "We've played on the frozen ponds of Eagle River, so this will be a piece of cake" pointed out Adam Keller. The Dylo brothers have stepped up with 3 points each this season and are ready to get some more. "You can contain me, but you can only hope to stop me from containing myself" cried Mark Dylo. With solid defense, 3 strong lines and a mediocre goalie, they Extra-Terrestrials are ready to invade.
The Hawgs on the other side also have a brotherly combination. The LePera duo of Marc & Ryan have also combined for 6 points (although all 6 are from Marc). "Not only are we the better bro-duo, we also have a dad that loves us enough to play with us." called out Ryan. "What's Dylo's dad doing? Playing online poker while cheering for the Packers?" Hudson and Beyer are 2 of the strongest guys during warm ups and this alone is intimidating.
In another close battle, Alien assaults the Hawgs with a final of 5-3.

9:55 Voodoo Vs Cup O Kryptonite
"Quit re-living 2009-10!" yelled captain Whitaker of Voodoo when he was reminded that only 2 short years ago, Cup O K was on top of the ABC League world. "They are going to keep referring to that season 20 years from now" Voodoo brings a 3-0 record to the late night game and is ready to go 4-0. Bentzen, Griswell and Brown already made t-shirts for the game that says "Kryptonite...Prepare to meet your Voodoo" The first 8 fans into Bucs arena for this game get a free jersey to wear, but they have to give it back at the end of the night.
Pedersen, Green & Hill of Kryptonite have had a serious falling out. With each player signed to a long term deal and none of them wanting to get traded, it leaves some serious concerns. It all stemmed from a late night out where the 3 were left to determine who picks up the tab with nobody budging and reaching for their wallet. After sitting at Ridgemont until 7 AM Thursday morning, Pedersen gave in and grabbed the bill. "I'll buy this time, but we will never speak again", promised Pedersen. Johnson has his hands full with this one and the fighting may just be too much to overcome.
Voodoo goes 4-0 in a last second goal by Koenig to win 5-4.