Week 11

As the cooling winds whipped around the uniquely parked cars outside the Bothwell Arena (a sign December and old man winter are rolling in.) The group inside were witness to some of the hottest action of this season so far. After the 4 games were done there were 2 shutouts, an intense & tightly played 1 goal game (7pm) and the night was capped off with a hat trick by a rising beer league legend. 

Game 1 was between the Raiders and Bullies which turned out to be a battle of the goalies. Tim “Koop” VanMiddelkoop and Scott “T-Top” Tricker put on a show, matching each other with save after save. Nolan VandenBoorn missed his 2nd straight game which takes away a lot of the Bullies offense but they were determined to hold onto 1st place in the BMHL. Honestly nobody is really sure who was there because the numbers aren’t being written down so it’s anybody’s guess how the action flowed in this game. Let's say Greg Roose missed the net high and hard at least 3 times and Matt McLean sat the game out because he can't stand on a ladder for more than 3 hours without hitting the IR. Was Gordy Bray there? 6pm game is doubtful but reports are unconfirmed. Anyway it wasn’t until the last 5 seconds of the 3rd when a turnover allowed Derek Shaw to set up Mike Mawlem who slipped the puck into the back of Trickers net. Raiders top Bullies 1-0

“Well if my stick was 10ft long I could have taken that regroup pass but I was more shocked Shawzy passed it for the GWG after we turned it over to be honest” Adam Minall on turnover that lead to game winning goal. 

Game 2 was a back and forth affair between the Warriors and Hustlers. Reports are there were some suspect plays that went unnoticed from both sides which left both teams a little heated. Jesse Welch got the Hustlers on the board in the 1st with his 5th goal then added an assist to continue his hot play for the Hustlers. Taylor Sisson’s 10th and 11th goals (including the GWG) bookended a Michael Vanek strike in the 2nd period. Although down 4-1 the Warriors clawed back in the game led by a Justin Staels “monkey on my back” removing goal and then Shawn Bogart’s 10th of the year gave his team some hope. Sadly for the Warriors, it wasn’t enough. Hustlers held on for the 4-3 win. 

“Can’t go down 4-1 in this league and expect to come back. This isn’t 2007 and there isn’t any blind goalies in the league anymore.” Darrel Heyink on going down 4-1 in the 2nd. 

Game 3 saw the Chiefs dress 10 men against the Matt Clarkless Streakers and of those 10 it looked like 9 were defensemen. Steve Beenackers tried his best to carry his Chiefs to a victory but he was unsuccessful after what seemed like 18 shots on net. Also with defensemen Evan “Ticks” Lambrecht and Wendel Heyink playing forward, the Chiefs seemed to have little fire power. Streakers tender Chris Dewulf also played outstanding kicking out several highly dangerous chances and the league thought the videos of his acrobatics would be pouring in but it is not to be… hopefully someone can draw some penciled still shots of Chris’s saves. Dylan Oderkirk provided all the offense with 2 goals (7 & 8) when he scored in the 2nd and 3rd period for the Streakers. Final score 2-0 Streakers 

“On forward, I just look for Beans and give it to him… same as if I’m playing defence…didn’t work tonight though”- Evan “Ticksy” Lambrecht on playing forward 

The late game saw the short handed Flyers take on the 8th placed Stars. Flyers were missing the entire top line but the Crazy 8’s line (or kid line) of Wes Van Lith, Luc Chambers and Garrett Lowry took over as the top line. Rookie Zander Wright opened the scoring in the 1st for the Stars after the Flyers carried most of the play before Lowrys 4th of the year knotted the game a 1’s. In 2nd the Stars took the lead back on Aaron Underwoods 6th goal before Lowry took a feed from Luc Chambers to tie it with 0.01 left. In the 3rd the Flyers took off and Matt McGuire's 1st of the year turned out to be the winner. Lowry completed his hat trick late in the 3rd with help from Chambers and Van Lith again. Then Matt Smith converted a Brent Sherman pass for his 2nd of the year on what’s being called the oldest and slowest 2 on 1 in league history. Flyers finish off the Stars 5-2 

“With that hair and the way he’s playing and the beer league career he’s building, Imma start calling him Jaromír Láger”- Brent Sherman on Garrett Lowrys game. 

It's 5:09am... I'll edit mistakes later.