Well, that was disappointing! So much for a rousing end to the regular season, I guess when there is nothing on the line, there is no need to show up.

First game, Team Russ has 5 runners, Team Juniors has 8, ….this is going to be painful! And the dearth of runners shows up in a lack of scoring. Team Russ set a glacial pace and the goalies come up big when called upon – end of the first  0-0 tie. The TV ratings and resulting ad revenues are going to take a hit on this game. In the 2nd things didn’t get much better though Dirka and the JKOW did show up for Team Russ. Team Juniors scored 1 early and hung on, and on, until Team Russ responded late to end the period tied again 1-1. In the 3rd, Juniors were able to pop a couple, and after exchanging a couple of additional goals,  a buzzer beating goal ended the game with Team Juniors winning 2nd place on the basis of a 5-2 victory.

In the 2nd game Team Blair was in dire straits, Ian Gordon out for the season with a knee injury, a number of players watching the Jr A game in 6Nations and even more players just missing…. 4 runners vs a full Team Bill bench. To stave off an embarrassing forfeit with the accompanying onerous fines a quick deal was made to rent a couple of Team Bill’s players for this game only – shuffling team leader Bill and power attacker Andrew to Team Blair seemed generous but ….questionable.  1st period was slow to get going but Team Bill started to get a few goals with Team Blair more or less keeping pace. The period ended Team Bill 3 – Team Blair 2.  It can’t be said that Bill doesn’t play hard all the time – who cares if he was going to return to his original team next week for the playoffs, when given the opportunity, he laid a heavy check on (ex and future) teammate Eric and put him …DOWN! Now that’s focus and drive! But it was all for naught, the 3rd was all Team Bill (and a whole lot of Team Blair shots off the posts and crossbar!), Team Bill scored 5 and only allowed 2 to increase their season’s wins by 50% and doubling Team Blair’s loss total to 2. Final score Team Bill 10 – Team Blair 6. The message has been sent – see you next week!

So….. the 2015 regular season is done and what have we got to show for it – 2015 regular season champions (Greasy Bucket of Used Balls Trophy/Bucket/Cup/ Certificate), in a worst to first run, Team Blair, with a convincing season run, only 2 losses, dominant (at times) scoring, surprisingly good defense (at times). Team Bill with the dreaded participant certificate (Roll of Crumpled Up, Used Tape (3M) Participant Ribbon/Certificate), a substantial drop from their strong 2nd place finish last year. Overall, goals per game dropped by nearly 4 from  just over 19 per game to 15.6. I credit that to stronger goaltending but I may be somewhat biased.

In any case, on to the playoffs! Next week, Wednesday August 19, 2015 Kinsmen Arena

Team Juniors (Gord)  vs.  Team Russ (Guntis)     8:00pm – 9:00pm

Team Blair (Gord)  vs.  Team Bill (Trevor)     9:00pm – 10:00pm

G2