Demons come from behind to avenge former loss to Bears, 4-2

It was a slow start for the Ice Demons, as they fell down 2-0 as the game drew on, but the comeback started with a great slapshot from Joe O'Neill from the right point, and Jeff Blankenhorn tipped it in nicely to break the goose egg.

Also scoring were Zimmy, Greg Carder, and finally Fred Sanford on an empty netter at the end. The lead changed for the Demons win late in the 3rd period. An exciting game for all those in attendance.

Also noteworthy, the Ice Demons had NO penalties on the day.

It's amazing to me that with the depth of skaters, particularly the new acquisitions on the Bears, that they only have one win. That's gotta be frustrating for them, because they *do* have some talented skaters on that club.

Scratches were Jack and the new Detroit guy that Jack or Zimmy was supposed to contact. ;-)

Ice Demons blank Phantoms; finally get 1st win of 2007

The Ice Demons were missing a few players again, but so were the Phantoms, including Chris Barry and Matt Fangman, and it showed.

The Demons were in complete control for 99% of the game, and it felt great. If every week were as easy as this one!

Scoring was widespread across the roster, with Andy Conrad having a breakout game of 1 goal, 2 assists (I think?) and 1 penalty. He, Greg Carder, and Jesse Snyder looked like a good line combination.

Bip didn't have any penalties and his usual great saves in key situations helped to preserve his shutout.

Babs only had 2 penalties, with the last one being in the final 2 minutes of the game when the Phantom's Stoltzfus (sp?) gave a big elbow cheapshot to Blankey and Babs tried to even the offense. Only other penalties were Blankey (from that incident) and Conrad for a hook.

Stars continue unbeaten streak; Demons still winless in last 3

The Ice Demons mustered a tie against the Stars this past Saturday, battling back in the 3rd period to overcome the odds.

In a game full of penalty minutes for the Ice Demons (thanks to Bip and Babs lack of self-discipline mostly, both getting 14 minutes, iirc), the Ice Demons top line knocked in 3 and the other lines did their jobs holding the Stars to just 3 as well. And of course we can't forget the super saves that Bip made to hold us in there. He's usually always good for that, reminding everyone in the MDL that he's definitely one of the top goaltenders in the league.

Bip did something in the 1st to get his 2+2+10, and Babs had had enough of the one ref's awful calls in the 3rd period, getting his final 2+10 letting the ref know how terrible his calls had been all game, adding to his first penalty in the opening play of the game.

I think we have many regrets from that game, and for me, I do wish that I had been more subtle on my displeasure with the officiating as well as wishing that I had gotten my monies worth on Stephenson before being booted. ;-) Next time, my friend...next time. Not to mention that I didn't get the chance to see if Aaron Johnson's warning of gaining 5 extra pounds since our last meeting would have made a difference when we collided (which we usually do). ;-) I do like playing against Johnson and Stars. Very good competitive play. Makes for an exciting 3 periods of intense hockey. Mitton and the new guy--Mullier--are guys that make defensemen want to raise their game and shut them down. I look forward to the re-match!

This coming week we play the Phantoms, and I'll bet that will be a feisty game as well. Hopefully the officiating will be better, as we've had the same poor-excuse-of-a-ref for the last 3 weeks. I'll take Harry and Steve any day compared to these other guys. Where's the young lad who was arguably one of the best we ever had to ref these past years? He called a good game. But these recent guys....they just plain suck. I thought we were supposed to get a minimum of Level 4 referees? For most of the dudes we've had these past few weeks, I wouldn't even want them reffing the older kids games. Pathetic.

As for the Ice Demons dismal record, there's an easy reason why: we're short one quality player. We had Mikael Krotil for 2 games but that was it. We need another Krotil or Pincus to help make us a real threat. Without that player, the rest of us have to work that much harder. But, as Freddy likes to say, "if you're not puking, you're not skating...and if you're puking...get off the ice."

Send the fines for my comments to the team captain: Steve Zimmerman. ;-)

Pythons avenge former loss to Ice Demons, 5-3

Well, the press is starting to wonder about Hitch (Zimmy) and what it's gonna take to get back in the Wins column again. The Ice Demons drop yet ANOTHER game, this time to their equally-matched rivals from the MDL Western conference (or do we say "Divisions" ??).

No score after the 1st period, as both the Demons and Pythons were playing each other tightly. Simmons knocked a puck out of the air early in the 2nd to score a beauty of a rebound goal, and then Ice Demons responded with a goal of their own. Unfortunately, the Pythons racked up 3 really quick goals soon thereafter, and that was all they needed, as the Demons could only muster 2 more for the rest of the game. (The 5th Pythons goal was an empty-netter.)

We had tons of rebound chances, but no one on the doorstep to slam them home. The Pythons goalie came up big on many saves, and we didn't. Sometimes you'll have those games.

Although the refs didn't cause us to lose, I will note that again, they sucked. What happened to the quality refs we used to get in the MDL? Are we really getting the best we can for the raise we've given them? C'mon....our league HAS TO BE THE BEST AROUND, and I mean that from an officiating stance. I'm sure other leagues have more "boo-birds" than we do. You'd think refs would prefer reffing our league as opposed to others like Twin Ponds or Allentown. We're a (extraordinary) league of gentleman, aren't we? ;-)

In closing, let me say that I didn't mean to rail Shay into the boards in the 2nd...that wasn't a cheap shot---he just threw on the brakes and turned to reverse direction, and I was already right on top of him. You can't stop a truck on a dime you know. ;-)

All in all, a clean game. I look forward to playing the Pythons again and tipping the series score towards us since it's 1-1 now for this season. We need more teams like the Pythons in this league (clean, fair players). Then again, several times are like them. I'm having a hard time thinking of any teams I truly dislike playing. The last time I can recall, that was the Pugs when they had the real assholes on their squad. (But thankfully, they've purged those shitheads from the league and the MDL is all the better for it. See what I meant guys??!? Zebras don't change their stripes. It's unfortunate that I was right about those few dooschbags. Now we don't have to worry about cheap shotters--at least as much.)

Crunch trounce Ice Demons, 9-2

Well, I wasn't there, but acting captain Fred Sanford reported that Nate Friewald and Justin "Zeke" Strouphauer scored our only 2 goals (they assisted on each others as well), and that he (Fred) sucks on defense. And, like so many times for losses this season, we only had 6 or 7 players on the bench. You can't win like that. That just plain sucks when you lose because you just don't have the numbers on the bench.

I'm proud of Zeke, "NateDog" and the others who showed up and represented us. I had a good time in Indiana, but certainly missed playing with my "Band of Brothers" on the ice.

You know you're in the right league when you lose and still can't wait to play next week. ;-)