Suds Take Down Tigers!

Schlitz (3);(1-0) vs Tigers (1)(1-0)

Monday April 21st

Canton 9:10pm

2-1 Shootout Win!!!


Sorry to be nearly a week late on the biggest game of the year... but I was in Florida.
Nonetheless here is the story about the 3rd seeded Golden Schlitz taking on the number 1 seeded Tigers. A titanic playoff with Championship implications for all concerned.

Keep in mind the winner of this game is only one win away from the title. Keep in mind that with a win the Schlitz could be awaiting the all-powerfull and awe inspiring potential CGS (Championship Game Schlidaveur). Keep in mind our combined record against the Tigers.... re: not good at all... in-fact there is a 0 (read ZERO) in the win column. This was indeed a playoff game for the ages.
The Blogger thanks Brother Foz for the phone update on Tuesday morning, and Dr Jasse for suggesting Pealman give the recap. But Biggest and Maddest Props go to Billy Pearlman. He not only wins the game... but he stars as Guest Blogger. Here is his email to me.

"Big win tonight. I called Jasse, as i told him i would, after the game and he told me to email you. so... we had DWH, Valenti, Coach George, and Mike Daley on D, and the rest of us playing up front.
(Larry, Chris Foz, Nelson, Gregson, Elliott, Chuck Slate, and Roman Kurin)
first period is pretty back and forth against the tigers with them breaking the ice first on a 'seeing eye' goal that somehow snuck through a tiny opening on the short-side.
we pretty much had the play stuck in their end the whole first period but didn't break through until a great second effort by your bro (C.Foz). was sort of reminiscent of Sturm's goal the other night as he pulled the puck into a clear shooting position with the goalie down and buried it.
we carried play the whole second period and got our reward with a blazing mike daley shot as he carried it into the slot picked his spot and nailed it.
in the third they got even on another goal that found the tiniest of openings. we took play to them at the end of regulation but couldn't really get off a great scoring chance, even though we had very strong forechecking and were very strong 'on' the puck. The tigers were frustrated all night about not being able to get it out of their own end. a 5 minute sudden death ensued with some good up and down action but no goals.
shootout we go up first with larry making nice deke move forehand and then backhand and lifted over the glove of the very quick tiger goalie. we're up 1-0 and its down to their fifth and final shootout guy and he buries it to tie it up, but we still had a chance to win it with Nelson 'machine' Sharfman taking the final shot but he got turned away. We went to one and one shootout the rest of the way with them hitting two posts, and us trying every move possible to beat the goalie including Marky Marc Valenti pulling a Zdeno Chara move and taking a blistering slapper from about 20 feet out on his shootout attempt.
So we had to let everyone on the roster shoot once before being able to cherry pick our shooters again, and on attempt number 11 I believe, it was my turn to give it a shot.
I had larry's move in mind if I got a chance to shoot anyway, and with a little advising from larry I came down looking five hole but managed to freeze him just a second and tried larry's move, and managed to slip it on my backhand and lift it over his glove.
It was a great win to finally beat these guys, and it was very satisfying to be able to finally be able to chip in to help us win one.
Brian played great in net and was unbelievable stopping like 10 out of their 11 shooters to give us a chance to win.
Peace,
Bill "

Here is another quick recap from The Man Nelson Sharfman.

"It is only fitting that we should not only tie against the Tigers in the playoffs, but that we should go to the shootout and exchange ELEVEN chances until a winner is finally decided.

Scorers in the shootout were Larry and Pearlman. Special reverse credit should be given to myself for managing to choose the only other scorer for our team to go 11th out of 12. I don't suspect I will be tapped for that job again.

Goals by Mark or Mike[Daley] (I get confused) and Chris (no confusion there). Assists by Larry (2) and myself.

Our goalie was unbelievable in the shootout (obviously). He went to the stacked pad save on basically every shot but it seemed to work. A very heroic effort.
-- Nelson"

The Blogger stands and applauds. Not only a huge game winning performance but a stellar guest blog. You guys freaking rule.

Game Stars
3rd Star: Mike Daley. Rookie of the Year comes up big in the playoffs. Way to play Mike.

2nd Star: Goalie Brian Carey. By all accounts strong Playoff Caliber Performance holding the Tigers to 1 goal and playing great in the shootout. Great Job.

1st Star: Game winner with a Shootout Winning Goal, but Guest Blogger as well. He does it all ladies and Gentlemen... Bill Pearlman. Way to go Billy. You scored the biggest goal of the night in the biggest game of the year. Great work.


Honorable Mention 1: Larry Bell for 2 helpers, wouldn't expect anything else from the points leader filling in from the Cads roster.
Honorable Mention 2: Nelson with a helper and a strong guest blog.

We'll soon know if the Sacred CGS is possible after the Zombies face these Tigers on Thursday night. Good luck to the Skating Dead... kick ass boys.

Suds Boil Lobstahs!

Schlitz(24) vs. Lobsters
Wednesday March 26
10:30pm Canton

5-0 Win!



A good night for the 'cans and a good turn out of an even 13, once KP showed just before gametime, and the return of Mike Gash, Dr.Zero inbetween the pipes. Things looked good for the yellow as the Crustaceans didn’t exactly have a deep bench… but we all know that pregame looks can be deceiving.
Here’s the breakdown of players
D1-Campbell, James
D2 – Moorachian, JFoz
O1 –Larry, C Foz, Blake U
O2- Nelson, Parker, Pounds
O3- iJosh, Kenny, Hammit
Again, a good looking lineup, and a nice deep bench for the Brew Crew.

We settled into the game against the usually “weak” Lobsters, and immediately found ourselves in a very tight game with some good young skaters. Let me emphasize that young part again. That young thing is like Kryptonite to the skating Cans and the Red mounted some nice chances early and moved the puck pretty well.

It wasn’t long however until the Yellow got nipped by the Pentaly Bug (as they have so often this season) and Campbell went to the sin bin for a slash, just a minute into the game. The good news was that the Gold PK was excellent all night. Of course it had to be, getting several chances courtesy of a nice hand full of PIMs distributed between Mrss. Hammitt (3), Campbell(1), and James (1). Greg would take his break in the bin with about 5 mins left in the first.

The teams were evenly matched, and really the grind was on. It was clear they were going to stay in the game, and get their chances courtesy of our indiscretions. The game went to the second period with no score.

The second was all grind from start to finish. Gash turned away some good chances early and the Gold began to mount some offense, finally starting to at least get some bids on their keeper, who wasn’t tested much in the first two frames. Mike Hammitt began his acent back into the top 5 for the Campbell award with 2 penalties, a Roughing call about a minute in, and a Slash with about a minute left in the period. The PK again was strong, and the hard work was good all the way around. Despite the 2 kills the Gold was starting to make some things happen in the Red zone. The point is, The Cans began actually knocking on the door as the period wound down. The Red were tiring and it was clear we had to keep the pressure up to break through. No score after 2.

It didn’t take long for the press to break the Lobster’s defense in the early 3rd. The first line of Larry, Chris, and Blake gained the zone and started to cycle. Larry worked the puck low, shedding a defenseman and got the puck over to Chris on the right side of the net in a scramble. Chris zipped the puck over to Blake who was standing right where he was supposed to be (nearly on top of the goalie) and he finished the play, banging home the FIRST GOAL OF HIS HOCKEY CAREER for the lead. It was nice work from that line, whom had ben desperate to get something going all night. Larry and Chris on the assist. It wasn’t long after that the Gold would get another.

This time George Moorachian showed the legs that have helped the team so often. Swinging around our zone after breaking up the Red play, George swooped up ice, weaving quickly through center ice traffic only to turn one defensemen then met the other in a collision right in front, that resulted in the puck sliding over the line in the pile of bodies in the crease. Their guy clearly took George down, but after a long time sorting people out, the Zebra’s awarded the goal and brought the faceoff back to center ice. Credit George the goal, unassisted. Once more the Penatly bug nipped the ‘cans, and Hammitt went for his third, and subsequent eject button, at 11:04 remaining in the game. The PK was strong again, holding the Red down and keeping the zero intact.

Not long after the kill, that first group would be heard from again. This time Chris Fosdick made a really nice wrap around move coming right to left around the net and burying the bid for a nice 3-0 lead. Credit Underhill on the assist, giving him is first multiple point game as well. The Lobsters, who really had played well all night were clearly out of gas, and were in kill the clock mode. They did a little floating trying to catch our D but were never able to get anything going.

Ubiquitous Cagey Vet, Nelson Sharfman wouldn’t let the opportunity pass as he scored on a typical hard work effort, supplied from linemates Scott and Ken with 4 minutes remaining.
And yes, that still wasn't all. Like Sharks smelling the blood in the water the Gold kept after it. This time another end to end by Greg James. As he turned out of our zone and began gathering steam up ice you could hear "Freight Train!" yelled from several different sources. Greg didn't dissapoint banging the shot through the keeper for the nightcap, unassisted with less than 30 ticks left on the clock.

Great work by all involved. The Suds Pride was in full effect as we simply wore out our opponent and finally got the chances to fall. Nice way to wrap up the regular season for the Schlitz. Great work by one and all.

Game Stars
3rd Star: Chris Fosdick. A nice 2 point night for Chris, assisting on Blakes first (and eventual game winner) and then the beauty of a wrap around that really iced it for us.
2nd Star: A nice return to form for Dr.Zero, Mike Gash. Some critical saves by Mike right after we scored to go ahead really took the wind out of the Lobster's sails. Great work.
1st Star: Ladies and Gentlemen.... can it be any other? That's right. Breaking his Cherry for his first career goal, his first game winning goal at that, and first ever multi-point game (assist on Chris' goal) Blake Underhill takes home number one star for the night. Blake was never intimidated by the opponent, or skating with Larry and Chris, and really played great, keeping up with all concerned. You can tell he's hooked now folks. Blake, great job, enjoy the rush and savor it for a while, you really have come a long way from just strapping on skates for the first time less than a year ago. Congratulations.



HM1: George... dude covers a lot of ground.
HM2: Greg "Freight Train" James. Nice work.
HM3: Nelson. Consistantly outworking opponents since 1995 and earlier...also linemates Ken and Scott for great effort all night. (and a point each)
HM4: Kevin Parker. Almost had a couple if things bounced his way.

Fourth Period honors to everyone who stuck around. Campbell and Pounds for beer (as usual).
These notes from after the game are from Mike Campbell...
1.) Scout's in trouble. Trouble deep!
[It seems Kilroy is holding Campbell's dog hostage... apparently for "concubine" services for his dog... Neil Diamond... really that's his dog's name.]
2.) Greg might not really be Canadian...
[This came to our attention when Greg didn't know what plus/minus is...]
3.) Don't go 79 mph on 128. It will cost you $240.
[ouch]
4.) Operators for Disneyland's "It's a Small World" ride have a higher suicide rate than any other profession.
[...]
5.) Our Jersey;s need names... Everyone of us needs "Statto" on our backs.
[I'm in if everyone else is]
~ Mike

Cans and Cats Showdown in Canton

Schlitz (24) vs Tigers

Monday March 17

Canton 9:10pm

3-3 Tie

Another interesting night at the rink for the Beercans and the quest to finally put one over on the Tigers, a good solid team that has had a knack of coming back on us, or just plain beating us. See Tigers games. Going into last night, we are a collective 0-3-4 against these guys this season, our only wins against them coming last summer. Get this... all four ties ended 3-3. I guess that last night's score should have come as no surprise to anyone.

There was reason for optimism last night as the Mighty Beercans dressed a spiffy 13 man roster that should have been able to run with anyone in our division. Here is the breakdown on the personel.

Goalie: Brian

Defense 1: DWH, Pearlman

Defense 2: Valenti, Jeff Foz

Offense 1: Bell, Daley, and Jasse

Offense 2: Nelson, George, Elliott

Offense 3: Capraro, Pounds, Slate

Pretty good lineup. Wouldn't you say? There was much reason for hope that tonight would be the night for us to finally break through against this team.

Just as the puck dropped and things got underway Jeff Foz pipes up and says something to the effect of, "Ok, short shifts, lets play hard, the first goal is key. Let's get it." The words were still coming out of his facemask when the Tigers made a nice play in our zone, a quick pass and buried the shot for a 1-0 lead. Not 30 seconds into the game. Woah.

The 'Cans looked out of sorts, no rythem developing at all, thanks to the smothering play of the Tigers defensemen who seemed to be everywhere an outlet pass was made. There were not so many chances from the Gold as the period wore on and we knew that we would have our hands full all night.

With 6 minutes remaining Jeff tried to make a clear from directly in front of Brian, however he didn't bother to look first (there was a lot of this going on) and put the puck right on the stick of one of thier good D. Just to make sure the play was complete Jeff screened Brian for the shot that went right past both of them and into the net for a 2-0 lead for the Cats.

Not so good.

Before the period was over, in fact with one minute left, the Tigers would score again, this time on a longer shot that Brian was unable to get a clean handle on. The first period would mercifully end with the "no longer so optimistic" Schlitz in a 3-0 hole.

Fortunately, friend reader of the blog, I have better news to report about the second and third periods. We made a lineup change and sent Jeff up to George's position on the Nelson line and George got more ice time skating with Valenti every other shift. This was a good move because George was all over the place. Seemingly without fatigue he made several rushes as the game went on often circling around the zone and getting back on D before the play came back up ice. He did great work all night and helped turn the tide as the Beercan's chances slowly increased as the game wore on.

Things turned for the better as the Third period began. Nelson took the faceoff and made a break with Elliott into the Tigers zone. One of thier D broke up the play (as they did all night long) with a poke check that sent the puck away from Matt to the top of the zone where a trailing Jeff Fosdick picked it up. Jeff shot high, but thanks to some form of deflection the puck sailed over the goalies glove and into the top of the net to finally break the ice for the Gold. There was the spark, and a crack we could work to open, and crawl back in the game.

Everyone in Gold should be very proud of the effort put forth, the chances continued to grow as we wore down the Tigers, and clearly gathered momentum.

With 10 and a half minutes remaining the Schlitz struck again, this time on a pattented Marc Valenti slapper that went low and fast to the back of the net and brought the game back to a 1 goal deficit. The Tigers could feel it slipping away but still were unable to mount much offense against the smothering Gold D corps, and Brian. Good work by all.

Less than 3 minutes later (7:45 remaining) Mike Daley's hard work paid off with a nice move out of the corner and in front with a nice shot tied the game. Credit another hard worker Pete Capraro with the assist. Both guys were up and down the ice doing all they could and it was appropriate that they combined for the tieing goal.

The Schlitz were riding the momentum and showed no signs of letting off the gas as they continued to fly around the puck, getting it deep in the Tiger end, and generating shots. The next wrinkle came with 5 minutes remaining. Billy Pearlman was whistled off for a hook. It was only a matter of time before the Zebras got involved given that there had been quite a bit of "give and take" going on all night long. Of course it went against us...

Kudos to the PK because the 'Cans kept after it and executed a nice kill. Unfortunatley the trend had been started and at 2:40 Larry was called for a crosscheck and he went to the box. This wasn't too bad as we continued the kill, but Pearlman went again, thanks to a dubious call, at 1:12. This left us down 5-3 for about 15 seconds. Larry came back and despite the scramble the Gold were able to fend off a few strong chances from the Tigers in that last minute to secure the tie.

Another epic 3-3 tie with the Tigers. Nice that this time we were the ones who came back this time, and they were the ones who let it slip away. We will definitly be seeing these guys in the playoffs at some point, and we'll need to have a good game just to hang with them.

Good work to all last night, nice to salvage a point from our dreadful start.

Game Stars.

3rd Star: Brian. Despite a tough 1st period, Brian made some nice saves to shut them down for the last 2 periods and keep us in the game. Thanks.

2nd Star: Valenti and Daley. A shared star for the guys who scored (without deflections) and also showed grit and played hard all night long. Marc has become a solid factor at both ends of the ice, and Mike just plain gets after it. Good work guys.

1st Star: Talk about getting after it. George Moorachian didn't figure in the scoring but he figured in everything else. "Ace" covered all kinds of ground figuring heavily in plays in our own and as well as offensivley. If we could all skate like that..... we wouldn't be us. Great job.

Honorable Mention 1: Fosdick saving some "face" with that lucky goal.

Honorable Mention 2: Everyone who brought out a water bottle to the bench.

Honorable Mention 3: The Pete, Chuck and Scott line. Hard work and solid chances all night. Chuck is sure to be thinking about the open net from the first period today....

Honorable Mention 4: Scorekeeper Larry Hudson. Best scoresheets in the league. Thanks.

Fourth Period Honors: Scott Pounds. The Green St.Pattys Bud Lights were once again the perfect beer for the occasion, served at optimum temperature. You the Man Scott.

Ok. I promise a Stats Update before the end of the week for all you 'Ho's out there wondering where you stand.

Also we'll stay in touch and let you know as soon as we do about the playoff schedule, both teams will make it so we ought to be in for some fun, and perhaps even another Playoff Schlidaveur... hmmm that would mean a rematch of the good looking - butt ugly game... interesting.

For whom the bell tolls...rung up by the Freeze

Schlitz (22) vs Deep Freeze
Thursday February 28th
Boston University 6:50pm

8-4 Loss.

Wow. Not your average game against the 'Freeze this time around. There was a very clear thread that RANG through the stories on this one. Yes the Freeze came out of nowhere with a Ringing win against a well-stocked Beercan Club. Too bad to have extras and add-ons decide one of our division games... but such is life... and the way it goes in the NESHL.

I'm going to turn it over to your emails and comments by they guys who played the game.
Without further ado...
Some excellent summaries from a crew of guest bloggers:
iJOSH
...Ah, the trap game. That is certainly what this one looked like. After having beaten (at least I think) this team before handily and after looking at the number (we had 13 they had 5) we were taking about getting ahead early and often. Not to mention there was quite a large fan base for the gold as the Underhill and Greenstein crew were there in full, pounding on the glass behind the bench. Mrs. Elliott also made an appearance to watch her Matt...
What we didn't realize is that they would recruit from the previous session. Two guys who clearly were a cut above were inserted onto the blue team.

Anyway early on it looked good, Matt looked great in goal. Now only if I could adapt myself to a new position so handily and successfully. He made a few tough saves early on. And we had a few good opportunities, Nelson was just ON all night and Jasse was no slouch either. However our fortunes would change, but not before DWH scores from the high slot after a pass from Nelson.
Their two ringers, specifically #8 were just too good skating. Our best defenders kept getting beat and leaving Matt out to dry. Even when our guys tried to take the body, the opponent would shiftily make their way around. Finally after one of these plays, they would beat Matt to make it 1 -1. They would go ahead 2 - 1 before the period ended.

In the 2nd period, things looked like they could get out of hand. Marc Valenti, in his best effort to win the Mike Campbell award, would get called for hooking. Off he would go to the box. That would prove to be costly as the gold would not be able to hold off the penalty and went down 3 - 1. Shortly after the penalty ended, we would give up yet another goal.
Then Mr. Sharfman put on the cape and went to work. After a very good give and go from Nelson to Jasse just missed, Jasse would feed one to Nelson from behind the net and Nelson knocked it home. On the ensuing face-off, Nelson won the face off going forward, pick up the puck and cruised to his second goal in only a few seconds. That left the score 4-3 bad guys. Rumbling from the bench could be heard, could Nelson get the Natural Hat Trick? Ah but it would not be. The shift would end without another Nelson goal and before he could get back on the ice the score would be 5 - 3.
Then after DWH lead iJosh toward a break away, that he would eventually lose and slam into the board awkwardly (trust me it looked much worse than it felt), he would redeem himself on the next play, taking a pass from Matt Elliott, take a shot and fall. He would collect his own rebound while on the ice and knock it home to make it a one goal deficit, 5 - 4.
That would be all the scoring the red and gold could muster. But certainly not for a lack of trying. Matt Elliot had a few chances that just couldn't get through, he even had men waiting for the rebound, but the goalie just would not give it up. The third would be marred with 2 gold penalties (Valenti and Goldenberg) and 4 blue goals. But despite it all Mr. Kilroy looked absolutely fabu in goal. I think he might have found his true calling. Look out OEJ I think with a little more work, Matt might be challenging your GAA.
The Greenstein clan did not stay for the 4th period, so someone else will have to give a rundown, if there is one.

Great Game story iJosh! Forget OEJ... the blogger is the one getting nervous.

NELSON
Standard story. What would have been a close and interesting game was made non-competitive by a couple of league-mismatch extras. Apparently the other squad was quite short of people so they grabbed some extras from the previous game. They were good. At one point when we had a power play one of their ringers (number 8 on your scorecard) successfully ragged the puck and kept it from us for about a minute and a half. That tells you all you need to know.
Other than that it would have been interesting. We had Kilroy in the pipes and some of our less experienced players up front. We had good defense but they had a legit chick who had the goods. Of course, had they played with only five players (from their own roster) they probably would not have lasted.
We struck first but soon the ringers became aware of some "chinks" in our armor and they went to town. They were up 5-1 at one point and we came back to make it 5-4. They potted the next three and that's how it ended.

iJosh had the fourth[goal]. It was a nice "hustle" goal that he put in as he was going down. He worked hard all night and deserved one. Matt Elliot was a bit snakebit. He had some great opportunities from his linemates but couldn't find a spot past the goalie.
Kilroy had a nice effort back there, but it was unfair to ask him to stop some of those bombs and dekes from the B/C players.
The Jass-man had a beautiful feed from behind the net for one of my goals.

KILROY
8-4 them. …they were on the edge of not having enough players. They picked up at least 1 for sure probably 3 from the game before so they had 7 skaters, we had 13. But the game before was a B level game easy. And one guy they picked up who was really good didn't hold back one bit. He was basically able to get to the goal anytime he wanted and he did a lot. He had 6 points and 3 goals. They had two others that were really good as well. #'s 8, 16, 9. 7 of their goals were scored by one of these three, every goal had one of these three involved, 6 of their goals had a combination of these three, 1 of their goals had all three of these three. Remember this team is below us in the standings and we beat them like 9-1 before. But despite the score we were only 1 or 2 goals behind until the middle of the 3rd.
Nelsons goals were about 20 seconds apart.
Ijosh's goal was a tremendous second effort, his first shot was stopped and he whacked at it repeatedly as he was falling and basically just got a stick on it as he was horizontal and about to hit the ice and scored.

CAMPBELL
Lost 8 - 4.
We had an army of skaters... Not sure how many overall, but Me and
George, DWH and Valenti on D. Ijosh and Nelson rotated through as
centers.
Wings were Gregson, Bates, Underhill, Mitch, Jasse and I forget who
else.

Goals by DWH, from the right point. Nice wrister middle of the first.
Ijosh got one. Jasse carried the puck behind the net and fed Nelson
beutifully - looked like we had done this once before! - and Nelson
scored (with hard work and determination to stay in the slot, as usual).
Then Nelson took the face off at center ice, won it skated down intot
heir zone and shot and scored again. VERY sweet. Now that I think
about it, not sure if Jasse fed Nelson or iJosh. Either way, he fed,
and they ate, and it was magical.

Kilroy played damn good. The D tried to limit odd man rushes, although
they had a floater all night - number 8. Each of the D had some good
plays where we broke up the passign lanes to the floater. We problably
did that 6 or 7 times overall, and every time it felt really good.
Otherwise, we tried to keep them on the outside, and did that somewhat
effectively. Matty took a dozen or so slapshots from the outside,
mostly right in the chest. There's a mark there today, I bet. He was
also good when they got inside, and didn't' give up any weak, flubbing
goals.
They scored a lot, though. There was a pick-up game before us... I
think some BU vets, actually. REALLY good skaters. A lot of just out
of college kind of guys. The other team was short skaters, so we think
they picked up two from the game before us. One guy, number 8, had six
of their points. He was way out of our league - taking the puck
stickhandling, playing it off his skates, behind the back - dick moves.
We stayed in it, and skated hard, but those two guys were just a lot better than us.

They also had a pretty good girl. She got a couple of goals too, and
generally I tried to make her pay for them. She was none to fond of me,
and since you're going to hear it from someone - likely Kilroy -
I'll tell you about their eighth goal. Late in the third, I was covering
Lady Bing in the slot and, like I said, she didn't like being covered,
but I didn't like losing either, so I stuck with it. We cleared the
puck to the neutral zone, but it got tied up with two or three guys
along the board, in front of our bench. Gregson was in there, I was in
there. One or two of their guys as well. Finally the puck comes free
onto my stick, between our blue line and their red line on the boards.
For some reason I have yet to figure out (I think it's because I suck,
but there may be another reason), the puck left my stick, bounced off
the boards five feet away, and back out to Lady Bing another five feet
away, skatinginto our zone. F*CK. Now I've got to go catch her.
Remember two things. 1.) It's late in the third, and 2.) I suck.
Despite my best efforts to catch her, and keep her outside, a diving,
stretching, swing of the stick at the puck, she buried it past Kilroy.
He may tell you what he was thinking, but it was something like, "I
can't believe he's gonna let her do that."

After she scored I remained on the ice, and reflected for a moment on
how much I suck.
DWH skated onto the ice to change shifts. He pointed out that if I
hadn't made her so mad - she might not have scored on me like that. He
made a good point.

Overall, good skate though. Without their last minute additions, it
would have been a good tight game. We have a damn good crew of guys. I
guess it's always a good crew of guys and that's why I keep coming back.
Even after games when I suck.
A few of hung in the parking lot for a beer or two but it was ass cold.
After sharing stories about being ejected from night clubs, we all
headed home. I tried to coerce Jasse into Poppers at the Fours, but he
had a sick house hold and had to behave. Probably a good call. I would
have made him smoke, smoke and drink 29 beers.
I don't suck at that.
That's all for now...
~ Mike

Mike. You don't suck at lots of things. In fact most things. Thanks for the great story. Sorry to put the whole thing on here but its all good stuff. I like your analysis.

Here are Kirloy's thoughts on the 8th goal.
Yes, the eighth goal. My fault despite what Mike says. It was the weakest of the bunch, I was a spectator and let me tell you of what. As soon as it was clear that they had ringers (and I think the girl was one of the ringers. she was very good) Mike understandably put away his Mr. Nice Guy style and adopted his "If I catch you I'm gonna let you know I'm there" style. He is generally egalitarian about his choice of recipients but they only had 7 and the girl was a forward on Mike's side so he saw her a lot.
Basically he enthusiastically greeted her every time they were in our zone together, eliciting multiple questioning, firm verbal opinions from her about Mike. After several such meetings with slight escalation every time. Well this last time, late in the 3rd, I see her and Mike mixing it up at full speed and basically think 'I wonder what form Mike's enthusiastic greeting is going to take?'. It is late in the third and we are losing 7-4 so I figure this is going to be a good one. So I sit back and watch. Whatever happens it is most likely going to end with both of them on the ice and probably Mike going to the sin bin. Remarkably it ends up with her in front of me with the puck on her stick. Remember I had already assumed spectator status in my mind so when she shot it I was barely aware what my job was. I barely flinched toward the puck. I did not focus. It was fun to watch though.

That is classic.
There were certainly some stand out performances this week despite the lack of Game Stars due to the loss.
Major Props to all the guys who guest-blogged this week. Sorry to use so much of your emails that made this a longer than average post, but you all had great tales to tell. The blogger thanks you all.

Wild night in Brockton and the return of Lizzy!

Schlitz (22) vs Generals
Thursday February 21
Brockton 9:00pm


5-2 Win!




One thing is for sure, we are like old Patriots. Win, lose or bizarre event you just had to tune in because you literally never knew what would happen or how the game would go down. Last night was a goodie. The Blogger shows to the rink a few minutes late and is greeted with rumbles and mumbles about where the F*@%^ng goalie is... Hmm. No OEJ and its less than 15 minutes to game time. A quick trip back out to the car for my cellphone and a confirmation with the home office that Mike was "In" for tonight... then a message to OEJ himself. No luck. No answer. So as I'm closing my phone..... doesn't our friend Lizzy DeFlurin come walking across the entry way to the rink.

It just so happens that our pal Liz is here scoring the game tonight. To which I say "Do you want to play? I mean can you play...please!" She says yes and calls up a friend who lives just a few minutes away to have her stuff brought down.
Now we are closing in on game time here so time is short. The Zebras (whom Liz had been chatting with the whole time) start the clock for the first period and let her (and the team) know that if she isn't ready (or some goalie for us) at the end of the (run-time) first period than the Schlitz forfeit the game. But if she CAN get ready before the period is up... we play a regular game from the time she's ready. The Schlitz will have to start with a Delay of Game penalty... but really. Who cares?
So the guys are skating around a bit Larry scores one or two while the stats don't count but we are getting some skating in and Lizzy's stuff shows up in no time and she's changing in the lobby.

Wouldn't you know it. With 1 minute and 22 seconds remaining in the first Lizzy is set to go and the refs blow the whistles while stepping on the ice and start the game.
Needless to say we all (the skating Beercans) owe Lizzy a debt of gratitude. Honey, it was so lucky for us that you were there and willing to suit up for us. We all really appreciate it. Not only that but you played great. Consider yourself back in the regular rotation, and the holder of a great big I.O.U. for a case of whatever beverage in the world you would like. Cash it in anytime you want. Thanks again.




So there you have it.The game was off and running and the play went back and forth quite a bit while the two teams kind of felt each other out as the new game began. In fact we played the entire second period scoreless, but not without many many opportunities in the General's end.

The Beercans had 13 total that broke down like this.
O line 1: Larry, Dr.Jasse, and Chris Fosdick
O line 2: Nelson, Dr.Pounds, and Matt Elliott.
O line 3: Gregson, Hammitt, and Pearlman
This group would go on to be known as the "Plummer Line" due to the fact that Hammitt and Gregson's pants are usually riding so low you can see the... well you know what I mean. Another name I liked for this group was the "Battle Ship Line". Pearlman's kid was quoted as saying "When you guys came out together the other team looked like a bunch of midgets."
Indeed.
D line 1: George and Marc Valenti
D line 2: Mike Daley and Jeff Fosdick

The Generals struck first about a minute into the third period. This after we had done a good job creating consistent pressure in their zone. Definitely not Lizzy's fault as we left her a bit out to dry without getting back. Not to worry as about a minute and a half later Marc Valenti let go a laser for the Gold's first tally. Credit hard working forwards Chris and Larry for the helpers.
The Beercan's held the play pretty well at this point and the Generals were starting to ice the puck.
At the 12 minute mark the group of Nelson, Scott and Matt Elliot cycled the puck around the zone resulting in a rebound goal. The play had been started by Scott grinding the puck from the side boards over to Matt for a good shot that gave Nelson the rebound bid... which he tucked away nicely. Good work from that line.
The play continued with the Dead continuing to get chances here and there so the game was a tight 2-1 until Dr. Jasse made the rounds with 2 minutes and change remaining.
Let's listen in to Mike telling a teammate about the goal...
"I scored the eventual game winner by adhering to Andy Brickley's mantra of sometimes you just have to throw it at the net and good things happen. I was along the goal line and previously tried a number of fancy-dan passes that didn't work out so I just flung it at the goalie and approximately 16 bounces later it fell in. Got me officially off the snake-bit club after Monday's highway robbery."
Well put Doc. Good goal.
The Generals weren't finished. A with a minute to go they took a faceoff right down the ice into a breakaway and scored to make it a one goal game again.
The Generals even pulled their keeper as time wound down but to no avail. Jeff Fosdick fed Nelson in their end for the dagger, an empty net goal with about 20 seconds on the clock.
Believe it or not, not enough strange things had happened yet, because after the ensuing face off the Generals just stood there as Matt Elliot took a pass from Nelson and scored with 7 ticks left on the clock. I suppose you can chalk that one up to "defensive indifference". But hey, it all looks good on the scoresheet.
Ok. Let's hand out some pats on the back.
Honorable Mention 1: Jasse for the "Ricochet Rabbit" game winner.
Honorable Mention 2: The Plummer Line. This has to make a return. It just has to. Also I think we can come up with a better name than that... whatever you guys like, we'll go with that....after all, who's going to argue?
3rd Star: Mike Daley. I don't think he made the scoresheet but the dude was all over the place all night. If he wasn't making offensive chances, he was bailing us out in our end. Great work as always Mike.
2nd Star: Nelson Sharfman. The Greybeard just keeps on truckin'. How about 2 goals and a helper? Ok. No problem. When #14 checks into the game, you better be ready to work. Good job Nelson, Larry's still within reach for the scoring title.

1st Star: Ok... to borrow a phrase. "...do I have to say Her Name?" I shouldn't have to. You know her, you've missed her, and last night we couldn't bleeping live without her...
Lizzy.
Some great work from a great teammate. Not only does she jump on the horn and get her stuff brought down to the rink, but she changes in no time at all and then proceeds to make a bunch of nice stops backstopping our way to a good solid win. This was a game that was 1 goal difference nearly the whole way.
Way to go Liz. Nice to have you back.



As for that other goalie... a certain someone might be getting a visit from our furry friend... very soon.

Suds fall to the Golden Gophers in Dedham

Schlitz (20) vs Golden Gophers
Wednesday February 13th
Dedham Rink 9:00pm

6-2 Loss.

A tough draw for the skating Beercans against a C level team at the new digs in Dedham. Despite a valiant effort on the part of all participating Schlitzers, the Suds fell to the higher division group who certainly played up to their ranking.

Let's roll with the guest bloggers.

Here's Greg James on the tilt:
"Lost 7[6]-2 to a C division team that clearly practices once per week, we missed several great chances including a Nelson breakaway, I was thrown in the box when an opponent fell down simply for being within 2 meters of me, I fell down several times just stepping onto the ice, Campbell was thrown out of the game... Nuff said..."
Good recap Greg.

Now here's CEOBMF Madd Matt Kilroy's take on the game:
"Lost 6-2. They were the bottom team of the C division. I think it was Paul's test to make sure his divisions are correctly aligned. Anyway, they were pretty good. They all could skate and they passed great. We scored first and stayed with them through the first and most of the second. I think it was only 2-1 them, at the end of the second. Then they scored more. We had lots of penalties and they had a couple power play goals. Campbell had three penalties by the end of the 2nd and was tossed. It was a skate your balls off game. Good natured game, no one got out of hand on either side. We were a little winded at the end. Much fun though, good workout. Brian made some great saves. If I were in goal it would have been about 12-2.
1st goal parker from nelson
2nd goal hammitt

Another nice recap. Thanks Matt.

Here is another from regular guest contributer Matvey: "Good game, we were right there with them for about 2 periods. I think the score was 3-1 after 2nd period. We actually scored first, and then they got a couple of power play goals. We were out of gas by the 3rd period and Campbell was thrown out on his 3rd minor of the game end of 2nd or start of 3rd - can't remember.

They were quicker and better than D level teams - so when a D team usually turns the puck over 50% of the time - they wouldn't, so instead of jumping the play trying to force a turnover and getting ourselves out of position we needed to skate with them and just play better positional hockey. I think with their quickness they got us running around in our own end a few times creating a lot of chances.


Here are a few brief notes from Mike Campbell:
"It's a new rink.
The doors were still sticky.
I felt it was necessary to contribute to the well being of the rink by
"breaking" in the penalty box door, by opening and closing it
repeatedly... Seven times, in fact. (Once was to let Parker in.)
I was just trying to help."
Ok Mike.

Lastly some more notes from Nelson Sharfman:
"For the record, Nelson was stoned on two break aways and one beautiful feed from Kevin. The goalie was good. I was not.
I did have one assist on a goal by Kevin. Hammit had the other goal on an assist from Kevin.
We skated with them for a while, but our legs gave out and theirs didn't.
The goalie played a hell of a game and kept us in it much longer than we deserved.
Greg did actually back into the person who fell over, but it was a pretty cheap call nonetheless."
Good effort boys.

Let's hope our future games at the new rink go better than this one.

Double header-Double wins against the Clinic.

Schlitz (19) vs. Clinic Maroon
Tuesday February 5th
UMass 9:20pm
9-1 Win.

Cadavers (21) vs Clinic Blue
Same night 10:30pm
5-1 Win.


Well how do you like that? The last two games to be played at the Prison by the Bay this season by ANY NESHL team's and its a double header starring US and the clinic... both Blue and Maroon. At least we made the most of it and had a good night all the way around by all the reports that have been coming in to the Blogger.
Two big blowout wins against a pair of Clinic squads that really... we should blow out.

Let's give it to the Guest Bloggers...
Matvey on Game 1: we had 12 skaters to start and then Nelson came in a little late, so we went with 3 full lines from the middle of the first period. Line that I was on was: Roman, Jasse and myself.
Then one line was centered by Nelson, I think he had Matt Eliot on a line and another center was Mike Daley. Scott, Peter and Killroy were the other wings.
D: Mike Campbell, Marc Valenti one pair
and then Dan and Dan another pair.
I think we started slowly, but it was 9-0 or so close to the end of the game and then they got several chance and magaged to score one late.
Final score was 9-1.
Scoring plays:
Our line had a good chemistry with Roman stepping by passing the puck :)
I scored a goal that was assisted by Roman and Jasse.
Jasse made a very nice pass to Roman who took a quick shot, but shot it into the sprawling goalie. I got to the rebound in time to flip it over the goalie.

Another goal was a nice play, Roman passing me the puck, I send it Jasse's way and Mike just flipped it behind the goalie.

One scoring play was Campbell taking a good shot from the point after getting a puck from Roman.

One more, Nelson winning a face off and in the same motion passing it to Eliott who took a quick shot and beatthe goalie.
There was one small altrecation and Peter was sent to the box as part of matching penalties. I think Peter was just trying to pick up some PIMs to get on a goon squad for the next Schlid.

Nice recap. Now we'll get some thoughts from Dr. Jasse:

Greg James-Freight Train Down the lane. A forward in a D's body. Played hard all night.Kept jumping into the o-zone with the puck and creating opportunities.

Mike Campbell was his usual hard-chargin' self. A bullet of a wrist shot for a goal. Lot of talking out there to his teammates; we need more players to communicate like he does.

Nelson-He only had like 17 goals I think. Played ass off as usual. Always setting the tone for his line-mates.

Matt Kilroy-some spectacular passes (one behind his back from his but). Set Pete C up with a sweet pass for a WIDE open net that.....well, we all remember Glen Wesley vs the Oilers.

Brian the goalie. Got some good zzzzz's the first game but played very solid in the second.

Marc V-what a cannon. When he has the puck at the blue line I'm usual camped out in front of the net in prayer, "Please don't hit me." Very solid 2-way game.

Thought Mike Hammit skated very well-continuous to get low hard shots on net or make plays from the point.The Russians-Brialliant passing and playmaking. They set me up for mine that my grandmother could have finished.

Excellent work. Major Kudos to both Matvey and Jasse and everyone else that chimed in with some info. I'm finishing this a long time after the fact so that's going to do it for this one. I leave you with some lasting momentos of our least favorite league venue...that with any luck we shall never visit again.

Beercans tied up by 'suckas.

Schlitz (18) vs. Windsuckers

Wednesday January 30th

UMAlcatraz 9:20pm

5-5 Tie

All kinds of stories coming in from last night at the Prison by the Bay. A rousing matchup with the Windsuckers at our less that favorite (but about to be eliminated) venue. Here are a group of guest bloggers to tell us the tale.

First up is Goalie Mad Matt Kilroy:

"Right away they score twice. Wrister on my right, he made me move first. Then a wrister on my left, I over compensated from the first goal. Didn't look good, I wasn't at all focused. BUT from then on out it was mostly in their end and I focused. Kenny gets us on the board with the first goal, being where he is suppose to be in front of the net. Neslon and Larry scrapped it out to Kenny who punches it home. Then Kenny ties it up the same way, being where he is suppose to be.
They go up 1, then Daley tied it up.
They go up 1, then someone else from our team ties it up.
We go up 1 with Nelsons goal to make it 5-4. This goal was great because Ken broke out of our end with the puck deeked by a defender and took it all the way to the net but missed wide. Nelson was right there and scooped in the slop.
Kenny gets first star easy, with maybe second and third star too. He played great. Jasse also was all about the place playing well. Some great passes and a great move to the net a couple of times. His assist on Ken's second goal was much the same as Ken's assist on Nelsons. Jasse broke out of the neutral zone with the puck made a couple of good moves and got a good shot off.
After their first two goals, we were in their end most of the night with a ton of shots. We got unlucky. All three of their last 3 goals were deflections that went in. Oh and their last goal to tie it up was with like 20 seconds left in the game."

Oof. Sounds like a tough one... but a hard fought match. Here are some more comments.

This one from TSW Larry Bell:

"No 1 star: Ken "don't call me Mitch" Goldenberg. This was without a doubt Ken's finest performance in Beer League hockey. He was only a "net-dislodged" whistle away from a natural hat trick in the first period as the first of his three goals was disallowed when the net came off its mooring. He followed that up by knocking in a rebound from one of my drives to the net. Next, Jasse took the puck to the net, was denied, but Ken was there to follow it up with his 2nd allowed goal of the game. In the third period, he set up our go-ahead (at the time) goal by racing for the puck down the right wing, getting off a shot that left a juicy rebound for Nelson to find the twine with.
Scoring was:
Ken from LB
Ken from Jasse
Daley maybe unassisted
LB from Elliot
Nelson from Ken"

Lastly this in from Dr. M. Jasse:

"Ken 2 goals and assist (first star)Larry had a nice break-a-way goal on a sweet feed from Elliot (I think)I had a helper on Ken's 1st.Nelson scored our last goal after Ken took a loose puck from center ice and had a nice bid for the trick. Took the shot and the rebound went sky high. When it finally landed Nelson buried it home. Should have been the game winner but we couldn't hold it.Good skate, good game. We should have had a big X in the W column, though. Sigh."

The one theme running through here is the play of longtime vet Ken "Mitch" Goldenberg, who has been overdue for a night like this for ... a couple years. Great to see him break through... shame he couldn't land the 'trick.

Too bad also that the Beercans couldn't lock this one away... but it sounds like there was no lack of effort.

So... we don't usually do this but I'm giving game stars for this one...if only 2 since it was a tie.

2nd Star: TSW Larry Bell... goal and an assist and good hard play...as always.

1st Star: Who else... the man of the hour... Ken Goldenberg. Ken has been with the club... hell Ken RAN the club (Cads) for many years before the current administration. Its great to see him have a break out night. Great work Ken!

Beercans Melt the Freeze!

Schlitz (17) vs Deep Freeze
Wednesday Jan 23
UMalcatraz 9:20pm

6-2 Win!

Alright, alright. A nice sounding win for a change...esp at the prison by the bay. Here with the long and short of it are the guest bloggers.....

iJosh with the "short & sweet recap": Pretty much our game all night. We scored about 15 seconds into the game. Were up 4 - 0 at one point. They got as close as 5 - 2 with the final score rounding out at 6 - 2. Their goalie was pretty bad. Our fill-in goalie was decent.

A very nice recap from Chris Fosdick:
Lines were:Chris F. LW, Larry C, Nelson RWScott LW, iJosh C, Ken G. RW Roman floated Defense: DWH, Dan G., Mark V., Bill P.
I scored 2 and 1 assist, I know Larry scored 2, Scott scored 1, Dan G. scored 1, Larry had two PIM's and iJosh got a dbl minor for a meele that erupted with about 2 mins left in game. One of their guys hacked Ken down next to their net, then iJosh crosschecked him from behind and continued to crosscheck him while he was on the ice, at which point one of their guys (#11) comes off their bench and tackles iJosh. Meelee ensues.
Generally, we were all over them most of the game. My line was passing like we knew what we were doing. There were so many close chances that the score could easily have been 20 - 2.
D played great coming back after pinching a little too much. Bill P and Mark both caught up to save a few odd man rushes. We did let up about 4 clean breakaways, but Brian denied all but one. Both goals they scored were good ones, nothing to apologize for on the goalies part.
4th period was good with Mark & Larry, Scott, and Myself supplying beer.

Good gratifying spanking of a weak team. Nice to get thrown a bone once in a while.

Larry on the "melee": The end of the game featured some melee as Ken "the Goon" Goldenberg was sniffing around the net for a rebound just before the whistle blew. The deep freeze defense took exception and planted Ken on his ass. IJosh stood up for his teammate and quickly retaliated on the df dfense. Then, #11 on df came skating off the bench straight into the crease and cross-checked Ijosh from behind. The resulting call - 2 minor penalties on df, one on #11 (who should have been thrown out) and one on the dfense who planted Goonberg. Double minor for Ijosh.

iJosh himself on the "melee": "With about 4 or 5 minutes left in the game, Ken (Mitch) tried to put a loose puck into the net and wound up just hitting the goalie's glove (and apparently knocking it out). The whistle blows and Mitch is hit from behind and hits the ice. That prompted me to take out the guy who started it, with a solid hit. Some pushing ensued and some f*gg*t jumps off the bench and gives me blindside crosscheck. No more hits are thrown as it is stopped pretty quickly unfortunately. Somehow, the guy who started it and the guy who jumped off the bench to join in (should be an automatic game misconduct) get a single minor each. I somehow get the ire of the fat-assed, lazy referee who slaps me with a double minor. His reason? It was a crosscheck from behind (um, and I didn't get crosschecked from behind). Anyway we scored again during the 5 on 5 that resulted and the game ended. Good times indeed."

The Official Scoresheet from Larry...
Goals
1: LB from Chris
2: Big Dan from Ijosh?
3: Chris from Nelson
4: LB from Nelson
5: Scott from Roman
6: Chris unassisted.
Penalties
LB 2 Penalties
IJosh 2 Penalties

This came in from Billy P: "One last thing, you know the scene in the beginning of SlapShot when the guy comes up to Reggie Dunlap and says he shitfaced and if anyone hits him he's gonna piss himself? Well, the DF had this asian kid on defense who apparently was shitfaced. He probably pissed himself too, because your bro Chris took him down like a ton of bricks during a scramble in front of the net, that left the guy 'twitching' on the ice. Later on, during a scrum at the blue line he ran into me and fell like a ton of bricks and did the whole twitching on the ice thing again. Numerous times all night he would take these horrific falls (due to lack of skating ability) and slowly get back up, only to have it happen again and again. It was pretty amusing!"

Game Stars:

3rd Star:Nelson Sharfman. Two assists from the ever-hard working veteran.

2nd Star: Larry Bell. Two goals and a pair of penalties for the always relevant to the scoresheet Mr. Bell.

1st Star: Chris Fosdick. How about 2 goals and an assist for the night. Not to mention a solid blog contirbution AND he brought beer. The guy does it all. Great work bro'.

Good job by one and all. Never a dull moment with the Suds. Good work.
See you all this week!

Tigers chew up Beercans

Schlitz (16) vs Tigers

Monday Jan. 21

Milton Academy 9:00pm

3-1 Loss.

The Tigers seem to be having thier way with us lately. Not so good. It didn't help that the boys took the ice last night with only six (6) skaters to start the game. They ended up with a hearty nine but it sounded tough. Look. Things happen. Things come up. But if you know you can't make it...be sure to let management know... early. This public service message brought to you by Schlidaver Management and the 6 wheezing dudes that took the ice last night.

We'll have some guest blog action today to help out with the game story. This one wasn't pretty so here we go.The lines (after the 9 showed) looked like this.

Offense 1: Larry Bell, Kevin Parker, and Chris Fosdick

Offense 2: iJosh, Scott Pounds, and Chuck Slate

Defense: Marc Valenti, George Moorachian, and Stephan Wennik

Here is iJosh on the first Period: [We were] slow and tired. The Schlitz can't get out of their own way and certainly cannot even clear the puck. No whistles blow and rest is nothing more than a fantasy. The team is skating more like the Skating Dead than the team we usually know. The Tigers get on the board early to make it 1 - 0. Then later in the 1st as our Favorite Team in yellow tries to create an opportunity, it loses the puck in the neutral zone. The Tiger player shoots the puck. OEJ makes the initial save, but the puck bounces high and just over his head, where it wobbles into the net, 2 - 0 Tigers.

Here is Chris Fosdick with a nice whole game summary: "As usual we played them pretty close, although the Tigers seemed to have only their best players, and we had legs of lead at first. They scored two goals in the 1st. They seemed to be very good at intercepting passes, and generally getting in the way. They were playing better than I have seen them play in the past. They were very good positionally. The suds one bright spot was that we did continually improve over the course of the game including our legs. We held them from the 1st on, and Larry finally put one home as he flipped it out from behind the net and it ricocheted off the goaltender's pads back into the net. During the 3rd, in particular my line, and iJosh's too, had MANY great opportunities, but their goalie was pretty good, and we just couldn't put 'em in. Many post ringers, etc. We were really swarming on them, but it was too little, too late. We pulled OEJ with about 2 mins and they got a lucky empty netter on a clearing shot right at the end. So final was 3 - 1. We had two penalties I think, and don't recall who they were. Both on D, I believe.."

Feel free to "fess up" to the penalties in the comments section gentlemen.

Here is Larry on the 3rd Period: "We were all over them in the 3rd period. Chris gave me a great feed for a one-timer from the high slot with Parker in front of the net. I dinged it off the inside of the post and out. Next shift I got a rebound in front, deked the goalie down and skied a backhander over the empty net. Next shift, I tried to make a pass from behind the net that bounced off their D's skate and into the net. Last shift, got the puck to the left of the goal, tried to slide a backhand feed to Parker on the other side of the crease. The puck bounced off the goalie's skate right to their D who whipped a blind backhander down the length of the ice into our open net. We just didn't get the bounces last night..."

iJosh's thoughts on the end of the game: " As the 3rd period began, the team put it into desperation mode. Working as hard as they could to even up the score or even get on the score board. Larry barely missed two opportunities as he put one past the goalie, only to have it hit the far post and bounce back out across the crease and out. Then minutes later, he would be stuffed by the opposing goalie on a seeming goal. As his shift came to an end he would jump off and iJosh would jump on, only to have the same thing happen to him as Parker would give him a perfect pass with the left side of the net mostly empty. He would lift the puck about two feet up, but it would not be enough as the goalie kicked it out with his pads.

[In the closing minutes] OEJ rushed to the bench and I rushee onto the ice as the 6th man during a 6 on 4 power play. I kicked the puck at the blue line to keep it in and carried it a few feet before throwing a wrister at the goalie. A save is made and it deflects to Larry "TSW" Bell. Larry throws it toward the net, but it deflects off a skate between a few yellow jerseys. But the yellows are just not close enough to beat the red jersey as he bindly backhands the puck perfect and straight for the empty net goal ...3-1 Tigers.

Wow. Rough night for the Skating Beercans.

No Game Stars for sure.

Better luck next time boys.

Doubleheader Game 1 Schlitz vs Deep Freeze

Schlitz (14) vs Deep Freeze

Wednesday Jan 9

UMass 9:20 pm

7-1 Win!

Game one of the Alcatraz State double header was a good one. The flying Beercans ended up with an even ten against the blue clad Freeze and didn't wate any time getting down to business.

Marc Valenti opened the scoring in the first period with an unassisted goal that was apparently a slapper through traffic. 1-0 good guys.

Mike Daley was next on a feed from Larry Bell, and then iJosh put one home before the end of the period with assists from his line mates Pete Capraro and Matt Kilroy. Larry was skating regularly with Matt Elliot and Mike Hammitt as the other line. Daley was paired with Dan Gregson and Mike Campbell with Valenti for the defensive groups. The game saw some good action, mostly in the Deep Freeze end with lots of chances for the guys in Gold.

The second period was really more of the same as the Beercans kept up the pressure. Larry got a goal assisted by Valenti and Elliott, then Mike Hammitt put one home from Campbell before the middle frame was complete. At this point, even the Suds, who have been known to give up a lead were feeling pretty good. Mike Gash was barely tested until the third period was well underway.

Speaking of the third.... Mike Campbell was whistled off at the 13 minute mark (the first, and ONLY penalty of the game for the Gold) and the Freeze was able to convert on the powerplay. Colapsing in thier own zone the gold gave up a number of shots, one of which made its way through. Too bad about the shutout.... Campbell wasn't happy about it given his unprintable comments upon returning to the bench.

Mike Hammitt finished out the period with a very nice unasssisted goal of his own to bring the score to 6-1. That was the way that one ended.

***this just in***

iJosh tells me that Mike Daley scored one more before the end of the game so really it was 7-1.

That goal was Daley's second of the game and was assisted by Kilroy and iJosh hizownbadself.

That kinda changes my gamestars a little....

Game Stars.

3rd Star- Larry Bell for a goal and an assist and lots of ice covered. We are going to add Mike Daley here as well given that after a recount he ended with 2 goals on the night. Mike has been outstanding in his rookie season so far....

2nd Star- Marc Valenti, another goal and assist performance, worthy of note.

1st Star- I'm going with Mike "The Hammer" Hammitt. Again Mike is showing that his mobility has increased and he is really making some nice contributions. The chances have been coming and his 2 goal performance shows he's making good on them. Plus he brought 16oz. Schlitz pounders for after the game! Keep up the good work.

Honorable Mention 1: Mike Gash... sorry dude... one goal is good... but you were never really tested.

Honorable Mention 2: iJosh for bringing his camera to the bench. Here are a few pics of the game for your enjoyment. And for reminding me of the actual score of the game....