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#15 Skyfighters at #3 Poutine Machine

By Rich “the Forever Champion” Glanzer

Location: Tompkins East, 12:00 PM

Game Keys:

This game is going to be the craziest game of the weekend. I envision both teams defense to give the ball away multiple times, and even the great Tim Brown to give up soft goals. Why? Because both teams sometimes where blue and I don’t think Sven is smart enough to tell his team to wear white. Or maybe he realizes he cant beat Sky Fighters without tricks and wants to wear the same color shirt.

Actually, Poutine can beat the Fighters, and everybody knows it, including BTSH’s resident gambler, Jesse Kalb, who has Poutine giving a goal to the former champions. Poutine has proved they are no fluke and I know the reason why. Yes Brodie can score, Tim is the leagues best goalie, but its what they did at the exhibition game last week that impressed me. As it was pouring rain and the few Elves that showed ran for cover, Poutine stayed on the rink with their army and played. Their girls blocked shots with little padding, Jo-Ann played net and it was a team that really enjoyed playing hockey.

Trending the opposite direction is the Sky Fighters. After winning the championship in 2009, and almost making it back to the Championship Game in 2010, the team didn’t play with the same urgency as most of the other teams in the league the past two seasons. I mean there is no reason the Sky Fighters should be ranked 15th. I rarely pick against the Fighters because I know how deadly they can be, and keep remembering games where Martin would score a hat trick while never allowing the Elves to get a shot on net. And if we did get a shot on net their jerky goalie, Lurk would make the save.

Earlier this season the two teams played and the Sky Fighters were up 4-0. I was walking past their bench and I heard Dan Hopper tell his team to keep playing hard, and I thought, this game’s over. By the time I got back it was 4-2 and Poutine eventually tied the game as it ended 4-4.

Pride over talent in this one, Poutine 4- Sky Fighters 1. But if the Fighters somehow win this game, the Hookers maybe in for a tough Quarterfinals matchup.  (Yeah, that means the Hookers are gonna beat the Rehabs. And sorry Cobra Kai, cant insult you this week, you earned my praise by beating WTP. Don’t blow it, you talentless losers!)

 

#20 Rehabs at #1 Corlears Hookers

Location: Tompkins West, 12:00 PM

Game Notes: #20 vs. #1, should be no contest right? Well, ask the Vancouver Canucks what they think about that. The Hookers are Captained by a goalie as well. And while Dustin has never experienced a Luongo like meltdown, the Hookers have experienced their fair share of upsets in the BTSH post-season. They seem to have gotten over their old, bad habit of never passing to their female players (hard to keep doing that when the best players on your team are women) but they definitely have some demons to vanquish (and we’re not talking about Jeff Kamen). All that being said, the kinder, gentler Hookers ruled the regular season and it’s going to take a lot for the Betty Fords to pull off an upset.

But the ingredients are there. The Rehabs won their last game of the season thanks to a surprise return from Professor Stacey Kehoe (Trust us. We were there and it was like something out of a MIGHTY DUCKS movie. And not just because Rich Glanzer was crying). They also stormed through the first round of the playoffs, playing a high energy, up tempo game against a strong Riots squad. Feldman and Welch looked like younger versions of themselves while one of the league’s best kept secrets, the Femme Fatale known as Sena, peppered the hapless Riots goalie with shot after shot. But the real reason to the turnaround in the Rehabs’ fortunes is the player between the pipes. The Rehabs goalie has a first name and it’s H-I-L-A-R-Y. Her second name might as well be B-R-I-C-K-W-A-L-L because that’s the way she’s played the last few weeks.

It may surprise many to hear this but this will be the game to watch if you’re a fan of women’s hockey. It’s going to come down to the one of the league’s best forwards, Sarah aka the Dartmouth Destroyer vs, the league’s only female goalie. Who will crack under the pressure?

Forget the regular season. This is going to be a heckuva match.

We can’t predict a winner but we can predict this … at the end of the day the Rehabs will still suck.

#14 Denim Demons at #4 Gouging Anklebiters

Location: Tompkins East, 1:00 PM

Game Notes: Veteran teams with different philosophies going head to head. Which will prevail? We’d love to paint this as a battle between Adam Rubens’ “Take no prisoners” style of hockey and Phil “Eh, it’s a beer league” Donohue’s more laid back approach but the fact is these two teams can be remarkably similar. Craig and Coach are brothers from another mother, while team spiritual leaders Zack and Schuie are both mercurial talents who literally wrote the book on BTSH. Both teams represent at the ACE (yes, Anklebiters you’ve turned the ORG around on that one) and both teams have their share of crazies (I’m looking at you Nicole Lanctot!).

For the Anklebiters it’s been a year of unprecedented success. For the Demons a year of turmoil, capped by a late season hot streak. So who will win this crucial contest?

As much as we’d love to make a prediction, we can’t. The ORG will be reffing this match and any speculation on our part would be unprofessional.

Besides, we’ve heard that Donohue has already been talking about a blockbuster trade for next year. One that will bring the two teams even closer. We don’t think that giving up Joe P. for Tinkelman is the best deal the Biters’ Captain has ever made. But if it lets him realize his dream of fielding an all-Zack forward line aka “the Zack Attack”, then we have to support it

Of course if the Bluejean Beelzebubs triumph over the Crunching Canines expect Zack Norris’ agent to be getting a call real soon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012 at 8:52 pm and is filed under Weekly Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.