The end is in sight

It has taken 5 games for us to get 2 wins out of these teams. On February 11 2012 Jordie backstopped his team to a tight 8-7 win.

Cris Cervoni scored early in the game and showcased his new celebration by paying tribute to a young Teemu Selanne circa 1992.
In other words ... he went all "Duck Hunt" on his glove.

Cervoni was out dueled by his main competition though. Chris Alpaugh had himself a pretty good game (2g, 2a) and now sits 2 points ahead of Cervoni for the overall points lead. Alpaugh 54, Cervoni 52, Wigle 50. Cervoni, and Wigle will get a chance to leapfrog Alpaugh on Saturday as he will be out of the lineup with "family life - like symptoms"

Game 5 was a classic back and forth game again. The goalies were tremendous at both ends of the rink and didn't allow too many rebounds. The general feeling on both benches was that another tie had occurred - this was backed up by the mathematical skills of one Mr.Borek. After a recount, it was discovered that in fact Team Jordie earned their first "W" of the series.


Team Jordie was once again propelled by the first line which accounted for 4 goals and a total of 11 points. Jorge's boys were a little more balanced with all but one player registering at least a point.

All we need is one more win from either team and we can put an end to this monster of a series that has been going on for over a month now.

Some people may have a little more incentive to get a win here as the season progresses. Only one contract Hockey-Life member has yet to record a Win on the season. It's only fair to note that he hasn't played the whole season and actually only has 6 games under his belt since being called up from the rookie league but Marcin Gluchowski will be eager to get the monkey off his back this Saturday.

See ya'll at the Brookside Bunker, that glorious ice sheet awaits...

February 4th 2012

Game Four came and went ... leaving us in the same position as we were in before it started. A 7-7 tie made sure that we were still looking for either Team Jorge to win the clinching game or Team Jordie to come back and tie this up at a game apiece.

With Jorge suffering from flu like symptoms, "Crazy Joe" came to the rescue taking over at the last minute. Joe made a seamless transition and played a good game.
He was quickly welcomed back getting two shots off the mask and two more off the pebbles. Both teams watched as he rolled out of the crease ... to the hash marks ... and back again in agony.

The highlight of the day came when Vince MacDougall went end to end and decided to go even further utilizing the wrap around for the finish. A truly classy goal from an even classier player.

Not much has changed over the week. Cris Cervoni ( 24G, 26A ) and Chris Alpaugh ( 26G, 24A ) sit at the top of the league with 50 points each. They have surpassed Tyler Courtemanche whose poor form in the last couple of weeks has left him struggling to keep up with the frontrunners.


Ryan Wigle, the defending Goal Scoring Champion currently sits atop the list with 28 Goals and will be looking to continue at this pace scoring just under 3 goals a game on average.

Looking forward to Game 5 and all the drama that it will bring:
Will Shawn "Line Change" Herman finally snap? He's been boiling for a while now, maybe this is the week.
Matt "I only fight at hockey" Spence is still looking to Tango with one of his own players.
Cris Cervoni has been doing steroids all week getting ready to make his assault on the Scoring Lead and has a surprise in store for the Hockey-Life community.... good old Cervones released a quote through his agent stating he's "Got a new celebration to unveil as well". When asked to give us a sneak peak of the new celley, Cris only said "Anisimov eat your heart out".

We have a couple of milestones to announce... it's only our second season, but a couple of players are reaching noteworthy plateaus.
Ryan Wigle has 103 career points, 63 of those are goals.
Chris Alpaugh just broke the 100 point mark last game and now has 101 career points amassing 51 goals in the process. Congrats Alps!
Closing in on the mark Adam Klimowicz (47G,45A)  is 3 off from 50 Goals and 8 points away from 100.

See you all at the Brookside Bunker this Saturday at 3:30 pm Bring your game face!

January 28th, 2012

Hockey-Life regular season action resumed after a week's break for the Ice Park Tournament.

Coming into this pivotal game 3 match up, Team Jorge was ahead holding a 1-0-1 advantage, knowing a win could seal the series victory and coming off of a good showing over the weekend Jorge came in ready to play.

Jordie's Team knew they had to play better this week in order to force this series to extra games. A key to this would be putting together a full 60 minute effort, which they have been unable to do thus far in the series blowing leads in each of the previous games.

The first shift was executed with perfection as the line of Chris Alpaugh, Adam Klimowicz and Robbie Devries dominated the offensive zone. They were rewarded with a pretty goal from Robbie Devries. Who got the puck in the slot after a defensive turnover and patiently out waited the tender, leaving him with a tap in on the side of the cage.

Shortly after the first goal, Team Jorge tied it back up with a screen shot from Ryan Wigle sneaking past Jordie.

The game stayed at a stalemate for a while. Good defensive efforts backed up by great goaltending left the scoreboards lonely on the bench.

After being taunted in the locker room about how fresh he was looking, Cris Cervoni broke out of his recent funk potting 3 Genos and 2 Apples. Some classic Cervoni with hard work down low, allowed his line mates to feed off his net presence and get to loose pucks.

Not to be out done, Chris "Mr. Hat-Trick" Alpaugh also put away the trick. He must have some sort of Hockey-Life Record for most Hat-Tricks in the league by now, and then to prove he's the ultimate teammate he added an assist.

Cris Cervoni and Chris Alpaugh are now within one point of Tyler Courtemanche, who is sitting atop the standings with 48 pts. Throw the fact that Ryan Wigle (46 pts) has now taken a contract spot into the mix and we have ourselves another classic scoring race in the works.

Team Jorge got a full team effort with almost every player on the team registering points. Shawn Herman made his return with 3 Assists and one Goal. Matt "I only fight in Hockey" Spence contributed with 3 Assists. Even last minute spare Ernie Borek found the white board with 2 Assists.

Although impressive, this wasn't enough to stop the top line for Jorge's team. Devries, Klimo and Alpaugh combined for 10 points. This was aided by a coast to coast beauty of a goal from defenseman Ryan Carter. Not to be outdone, freelancing d-man Zyad "don't mess with the Zohan" Osman proved to be in fine form, sniping one home from the slot.... Top Cheddar.

You know the way these games usually end at Hockey-life. Alpaughs third goal late in the game proved to be the one that tied it up. That's right, two games in a row have now ended in a tie. So it looks like this Saturday we are going to play Game 4.

When Jorge was told that the series would have to continue, he said "Oh come on, I am taking the Tie and running".
Sorry Jorge, but someone has to win TWO games.

Just a little side note, please see either Marek or Adam if you would like play in the Summer again. I know most of you have already confirmed that you will play but to those who haven't, we only have a couple of spots left for Tuesday nights.

Also we are looking into doing a second night in the summer time, contact us if you want more info. We will release all details once it's official.

Again guys, a huge THANK YOU! goes out to all of you. People are starting to hear about what we are doing and the word is that this is one of the funnest places to play while still keeping a competitive edge. This is a testament to each and every person that has pulled that Hockey-Life jersey over their shoulders.

WEEKEND TOURNAMENT

January 20th - 22nd

Hockey-Life's very own "London Hussars" took part in a tournament this past weekend at the Brookside Ice Park.

The tournament spanned over three days and included a final round on Sunday with the grand prize being $ 200 and a boat load of pizza.

Our boys started out Friday night about as bad as they possibly could, losing to the London Aces 4-0 in the opening game. Out played for most of the game it was clear that this was the first tournament for this specific group of players, playing together under one name.

Regrouped and ready to go, Saturday afternoon rolled around and a showdown with Insights Landscaping was on the schedule. What started out as a tight game slowly got away from The Hussars. Some bad bounces and miscued plays left the team relying on Jorge Goulart to keep them in the game. Players from the opposing team were skating past the bench asking "what's your goalie on?". Eventually the team was handed their second straight loss at 5-3.

The second game on Saturday afternoon would prove to be a critical one. After a blowout in the locker room between game two and three, the troops were ready to go into what was dubbed a "must win" game. A couple personnel changes, a couple beers and some food left high hopes in the hearts of the Hussars. Heading out to the ice for the final game of the round robin the hallways echoed "Win and you're in"....

The Absolute Pylons were the next opponents. Having lost their first game and tying their second game, the Pylons felt like they had a good hold of the final playoff spot. Taking at least a point away from the Hussars would lift them into the Sunday semi-finals.

The game started out as one would expect, both teams came hard and ready to play. You could feel the hostility in the air as the first half proved to be a penalty filled affair that left the Hussars down 2-1. The lead came with a cost to the Pylons, who had a couple of players ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.

 The Hussars had a team huddle between periods and made a pact not to get caught up in the head games and chirping that was taking place between the Refs and the Pylons. Their resolution paid off as the second half started off with a couple of power plays and two quick goals from Marc "The Pride of Creemore" Corbeil who finished the game with a Hat-Trick. The frustration continued for the Pylons when the Hussars tightened up defensively. Any chance that they managed to get was turned away easily by Jorge Goulart. Having a few more players ejected from the game was salt in the wounds for the Pylons as the Hussars cruised to a 5-2 comeback victory.


Their games may have ended for the day but some of the boys stuck around and watched the final two games to see if they would get to play on Sunday. The calculators were out as players were formulating all of the possible outcomes with goals against, points and wins coming into play. After the smoke cleared, the Hockey Gods would smile down on the Hussars and allow them a shot at revenge on Sunday morning against the Aces, who had defeated them on opening night 4-0.

Sunday morning.... 11:00 am.

Most of The Hussars had arrived at the rink on what was a frigid morning in London Ontario. To add to the cold, dressing room #8 was assigned to the team. For those of you not familiar with the famous # 8 room, let's just say it's colder than the stare you would get from Matt "I only fight at Hockey" Spence, while trying to crash the net.

The team was in high spirits as they opened the scoring and held a 1-0 lead for most of the first half. The Hussars were more like pit bulls in their own end, jumping on any loose pucks they could see and killing penalties with text book precision.

It took a truly special play to break the shutout. A perfect shot from just above the circle made the iron sing as the puck ended up in the net tying the tilt at 1 apiece.

The Hussars continued to skate with the Aces and deserved better than the 3-1 score line suggested heading late into the second half. A couple of scrambles in front of the Aces net saw the puck slide across a wide open goal mouth. Jorge Goulart turned in what had to be his best performance of the weekend, keeping the highest scoring team in the tournament to only 3 goals.

With time winding down, The Hussars managed to pull one back and just like that it was 3-2. The tides were shifting as they could feel a third goal was coming.

Jorge stonewalled the Aces on a breakaway late in the half giving the Hussars a chance to tie it. Adam Klimowicz caused a turnover deep in the Aces zone with less than a minute remaining and fed a pass to Marek Klimowicz at the point. Marek stepped in, wound up and.... Faap, what was originally thought to be a fanned shot has since been revealed to be a broken twig. The Aces went the other way. Jorge made another quick stop which gave The Hussars another chance for the tie.

Brad Amberley came streaking into the zone with Adam Klimowicz on the wing. The Aces collapsed hard and before he could make a play, a sliding D-man sent him head over heels as the buzzer sounded.

That my friends, is how the first official Hockey-Life team did in their first tournament. We believe we got a good taste of what it takes to compete with some of the other teams around town. For a relatively new team trying to find their place among the many divisions around we are pretty happy with the end result.

Did I mention that the Aces ended up taking the Final by a score of 7-2? ....  Congratulations go out to them.

January 14th, 2012

With team Jorge up 1 - 0 in the series, the teams took to the ice in a critical game 2 match up.

The game started off with a nice Tic-Tac-Toe goal finished off by Chris Alpaugh, who has taken the goal scoring lead again after potting 2 genos. Almost immediately after the goal, Cris Cervoni took advantage of a bad line change by Team Jordie and sniped one in as he stepped into the slot off a Hail Mary pass.

The day saw much of the same pace as it went on, both teams traded chances and goals en route to a 6-6 draw in what many players called the best game of the season.

This series is truly turning into the Goalies Series' as both had tremendous games. Jorge kept up his recent form making great saves at key times. Jordie improved his penalty shot record to 2-0 after turning aside new Hockey-Life member Mark Corbiel, but the save of the game had to come just past the mid-way point. Jordie was seemingly beaten and out of position when he dove across the net and made an amazing paddle save.

Team Jorge had two call ups from the rookie league come out and impress. Marcin Gluchowski had 2 goals and a helper, while Peter Zaczek matched that performance in a good showing by the two.

The series will resume in two weeks on January 28th. Please remember there is NO ice time on January 21st, 2012 due to a tournament being held at the Ice Park.

Also, the roster is now full. Hockey-Life would like to welcome Mark Corbiel, Zayad Osman and Brian Micks to the family.

January Series

Great opening to the "Tender" series as both teams were fully stacked and ready to go. Team Jordie took a commanding lead as they peppered Goulart going up more than 5 goals before the game began. Despite the bizarre, 17 PTS, Alpaugh - Devies - A. Klimowicz line trying to set the game pace, the steam engine has ran out of coal just before the first half of the game.

A little shuffle in the lineup by Garnett going on the offence and Spence dropping back created a spark for the flood gates coming open.

Rookie to the league, Corbiel, potted a hatty, with Herman setting up all 3 and one for Garnett. <br><br>
But it didn't stop there. The second line brought on more arsenal, as Jordie was finding himself helpless at the other end as Tigert (2G 2A), Carducci (2G 3A) and yes, even Cervoni, broke through on the board (1G 2A) to put up a total of 12 points.

Spence was also happy to show off his skills on the ice in front of his girlfriend, as he riffled his 8th goal of the season past Jordie.

With the next and pivotal game in the series coming up, teams will re-group and replay the second game before the only break in our season.

"...couldn't have done it without the help of my teammates who battled hard all game especially in the beginning.." said Goulart about his mates adding "I'd like to have some of those back...".

With a strong finish, Goulart said that "Jordie played a hell of a game ... solid all the way thru and cheers to that!" prepping the ice for an interesting next game.

The Race

As the winter season progresses with the 17 full skaters and 35 spares on board, Hockey-Life.ca crew would like to thank everyone who is helping this hockey to continue.

With 10 games remaining in the season, Micks will be jumping into one of the contract spots leaving people wondering how the points will add up against everyone else in the league.

Players accepting full contract spots will be moved to the regular point race. This leaves two more contract spot still left if any of the spares or anyone else is interested; 10 games left $120.

Saying that, 10 games remaining, the scoring title race is pretty tight as Alpaugh has 19G with Courtemanche, Cervoni and A.Klimowicz at 18G! Promising a great finish as everyone looks at their stats when they come off on to the bench making sure all the Ginos are accounted for.

With a win January 7, 2012, Cervoni is running with the winning title at 10 with a lead of 3!

Top PTS race will come down to Courtemanche 45, Alpaugh 41, Cervoni 40, not to be forgotten Thomsen at 37 who will definitely make his own push for this title.

We are all hoping for a great and safe finish to the season and hope to expand this in the summer. Thank you for all the support and hope to see you back in the summer!

The Crew @ Hockey-Life.ca