Goals: Aben(1) Chapman(1) Brainard(1)
Assists: Robson(2) Subs(1) Akins(1) Aben(1) Coliton(1)
Dateline: September 9, 2024. The air was thick with anticipation at Frank J Lada Civic Arena in Allen Park. Who would score the first goal of the 2024-2025 FHL season? Lots of proven firepower in this tilt. Would it be Chapman? Joe Z? Rocco? Maybe Barta? Nope. It was Will Aben. Will, who definitely should not have been downgraded and who, by all credible accounts, is a far better golfer than Albert, gathered a loose puck in front of the Galaxies net and buried a pretty backhander with less than a minute to go in the first. And with that, is written into the history books.
First star goes to DeMars, though. The Galaxies threw plenty of pucks his way, and, until Chapman was able to bank one in off him from the side of the net with Killer pulled and the Mustangs on the PK with :40 to go, he shut us down.
Great effort from nearly-as-drafted Galaxies. Killer played great in net. All the youngsters showed their speed. And the old guys held their own. Welcome back, everyone! It's going to be another fun FHL season!!
Mustangs first game of the year, first game of the league, first time rep and will aben led the league in goals for the first time in his career. Another goal came later by first time FHLer franzen. Scored from right in front of the other teams net, just where we planned our Defense to be. Another first for the mustangs is we spent the first half of the game in our zone with demars rejecting every attempt (and there were plenty). One goal was let in late in the 3rd coming off of a 5 on 3...maybe 6 on 3 into a 6 on 4. Great rink drink following the 5 o clock game with joe z starting the beer strong bringing 30 cold ones and then some bonus beers from a saddened aerostars team.
Goals: McCaig(4) Bazzy(2) Putek (2) Crisi(1) Lauth(1) Konstantino(1)
Assists: Jones(4) Hoernke(3) Lauth(2) Konstantino(2) Springer(1) Lacaria(1) LeFevre(1) Schmidt(1) McCaig(1) Ginman(1) Seeley(1) Rea(1) Bazzy(1)
Well, after a good summer off we are back to the FHL season. It definitely came about way too fast, but it feels good to be back and with a strong team too.
The Fiesta start off with a decent first period while we knock the rust off. We go down by a goal from a scrum in front of our net. Not settling by being down a goal, we battle back and Rich gets the scoring going with a quick wrister from the side boards that slips past DeGagne. We finished the period 1-1, but we really found our stride in the 2nd and 3rd.
We would get goals from Bazzy, Konstantino, and myself which would catapult us to a 5 goal lead and ultimately a 8-3 win. Very solid start for the Fiesta and it's a promising look at what's to come in the games ahead. Great game by Russ and we definitely left him out to dry on a couple of those.
Side note: Crisi had his stick sighted in and put a laser in the top right corner. Even though he's on the Aerostars, I got to see it first hand and I expect 29 more this season.
Goals: DiMarco(1) Vincent(1) Smith(1) Sparks(1) Walker(1) Gorski Jr(1)
Assists: DiMarco(1) Subs(1) Smith(1) Spurlin(1) Tyson(1) Gorski Jr(1)
The FHL is back! New season, and a new look SuperChiefs team with just myself and Shane returning from last years group. The team has a lot of depth on defense this year and a good mix of speed and grit up front.
The rematch from last years final begins as expected a bit sloppy, and choppy with a summer of booze being sweated out in the 85 degree ice rink!
The Maverick line gets things going with goals from Walker, and DiMarco. The Tbolts pull within 1 with .1 seconds left on the clock at the end of the 1st.
The SuperChiefs continue to build the lead with tallies from Doug "Once a SuperChief, Always a SuperChief" Sparks and yours truly. That's the way the 2nd ends.
The 3rd sees us pad the lead with snipes from the returning Blake Smith (welcome back), and Gorski.
Overall a very good first game for us, and nice to see 6 different players score goals. Excellent goaltending by Sale, and stout defense as well limited the Tbolts chances. Thank you to rookie Pink for subbing in.
Goals: Peters(2) Bordeau(1) Adams(1) Donaldson(1) Lenhard(1)
Assists: Lubig(1) Subs(1) Colarusso(1) Rosen(1) Deluca(1) Davis(1)
The Bullitts have a new team, and a new attitude. Well, maybe not a new attitude. But definitely a new team. It's always an exciting time playing with a new team to see how Well you gel.
First game of the season was against the Diesels.
First games are always tough to get your legs under you and some breath in your lungs, and it certainly showed. At least in me.
First period went back and forth with some chances by each team, but we go into the second with no score.
Within the first minute of period 2, The Franchise Eric Peters gets a nice feed from sub Kevin Walker to open up the scoring.
We go almost the whole rest of the period with no scoring until about a minute left when Collarusso gave me a great feed in the middle that I was lucky enough to get a stick on to redirect it in. Big second period has us up 2-0.
After some back in forth in the first couple minutes of the 3rd, Diesels get on the board and cut the lead in half. Luckily, EP goes in by himself and gets a great goal 10 seconds later. By the way, thanks for downgrading EP this year, fellow reps. We're only one week in, but EP is looking his old self!
Tommy Bordeau gets his first of the season with a feed from Rosen, and besides a last second goal by the Diesels, we were able to hold them off and get the first win of the season.
Player of game is of course The Franchise.
Great night of drinks and food and not getting yelled at was had at Mick's.
Next week we try to keep the ball rollin'.
It's good to be back, boys!
Goals: Upplegger(1) Bartkowiak(1) Durst(1) Pinkowski(1)
Assists: Ceccarelli(1) Kalinski(1) Chase(1) Deroche(1) Lyons(1)
Just like that we are back to the best time of the year, hockey season! A little bit of a twist for me this year as I got the nod for rookie rep. The first game is always a good one. The first 2 shifts are fast, so fast it makes you question why you’re doing this to yourself again. Then all of a sudden, no one on the ice is moving because we are all so exhausted. At least that’s how this game went.
Durst wastes no time, picking up a loose puck in the slot and buries our first shot on net 12 seconds into the game. For the remainder of the period, it was back and forth with great defensive plays on both sides of the ice. With just under a minute to go, rookie Adam Pinkowski puts away his first of many from a beautiful cross ice feed from Vinny.
The Edsels shut us down in the 2nd and 3rd period. I don’t know who blocked more shots, Timmy and Bordeau or Kirch. Speaking of Kirch, we peppered this guy and he had an answer for everything! The Edsels strong defensive game allowed them to battle back and tie the game. And that’s exactly how it ended, a tie. Great effort from both teams!
Onto week 2!
Goals: Cowart(4) Pearson(3) Jensen(2) Harris(1) Robillard(1)
Assists: Subs(3) Jensen(2) Petravicius(2) Johnson(2) Soper(1) Subs(1) Kluegel(1) Korepta(1) Cowart(1)
week 1 of the 24' FHL hockey season gets underway for the Mariners against Jensen's Marauders. Things start out back and forth with both teams getting some early chances and Pearson gives us the early lead against his former squad. From there it pretty much turned into the Pearson and Cowart show with Aco netting 4 and Pearson getting the hatty. Both teams tire out a bit late but the Marauders had a little more in the tank and pull away late and sealed the game with an empty netter.
Week 1 in the books and it feels great to be back.
This year the Raud Squad looks considerably different than years past and is taking on a new strategy. That adjustment primarily consists of scoring more than 2 goals a game.
Against the Mariners we would historically look to batten down the hatches, but with the new look Marauders we decided to unleash the cannons and open up fire.
Last year’s Marauder sensation Pearson opened the scoring to give the Mariners the first lead. Grashik made a spectacular save but as the Rauder Rep went to clear the puck, the ref kicked it back to Pearson who was all alone for the goal. Scottie actually gave the ref the assist on the score sheet which I thought was pretty funny. The lead wouldn’t last long as returning Marauder Chris Robillard blasted one in from the slot off a pass from the rep. Welcome back Chris, glad to have you on the squad. Shortly after that, ACO would put in his first (of many) Marauder goal to give us the lead. Pearson put in 2 more before the period ended giving him the hat-trick and the Mariners the lead going into the second.
ACO and the Rauder Rep would each go on to score a goal each in the second to give the lead back to the Marauders. We also decided to maybe not let Pearson shoot as much. You think I would have known that, but apparently it took me a period to remember.
The third period was a tight back and forth battle. ACO would get his third off a nice set play from an offensive zone draw. Soper with the nice give and go pick move. The Mariners would get that one right back making this a one goal game with only 2 minutes left. The Raud Rep would give us little more insurance off another nice face off play, and ACO would net his fourth goal of the night with the empty netter.
3 quick notes:
1. ACO with the POG. 4 goals and 1 assist. That is why you move up in the first round.
2. Game was closer than the score indicates. The Mariners were right there until the end.
3. Great bar showing at Mick’s from the Raud Squad and the rest of the league. Looks like we may have a civil war brewing between bar groups this year.