The early game saw the Flyers beat the Omegas 5-3.
It was a fairly even game all the way through. After one period, the Flyers held a 1-0 lead, and by the end of the second period, it was 3-2 for the Flyers. The Omegas tied it up early in the third period, but the Flyers re-took the lead again about five minutes later. The Omegas put on the pressure to tie it again for the rest of the game, but a last minute goal by the Flyers ended the hopes for the Omegas.
Matt VanMarum is the Player of the Game. He scored a hat-trick for the Flyers & added an assist.

The Stars continued on the roll that they have going by beating the Cattle Barons 4-2 in the middle game.
They got on the scoreboard first early in the first period, but that was the only goal in the first. The Cattle Barons tied it up at 1-1 early in the second, but the Stars made it 4-1 by the end of the second period. The Cattle Barons scored the only goal in the third, but the Stars held on for the win.
Stars goaltender, Dave Noorloos has been improving every game this year, and for the second week in a row, is the Player of the Game.

The IceDogs beat the Hawks 5-2 in the late game. The game was actually a pretty close one, despite the way that the score reflected.
The Hawks looked good off the start by scoring the first goal of the game in the first minute of the game. This ended up being the only goal in the first. The IceDogs scored three goals in the second to take a 3-1 lead going into the third. The Hawks scored one more in the third to bring the game to within a goal, but the IceDogs scored two more goals to take it. The Hawks were really pouring it on, but Josh Tamminga was outstanding in net for the IceDogs. He even made one unreal save off his melon when he dove across his crease to stop a sure goal. For his efforts, he is gonna have to share the Player of the Game honours with Duncan Vanderwal. Any other night, Josh would've been the clear cut winner, but Duncan had a huge night of his own for the IceDogs. He had a four point game, including a hat-trick.

As everyone is aware, next week is Christmas. It is the time for us to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We all like to spend time with our families to celebrate this time of year - myself included. Therefore I'm asking everyone to please behave yourselves in this week's games. I do not want to spend the whole week sorting out penalties (and/or suspensions).
This season has been going great for the most part. We are sitting about 300 penalty minutes (as a league) less than we were last season at this point. That's awesome!
The reason I'm bringing it up is because history has shown that for some reason I have had to deal out a pile of suspensions this time of the year.
Let's remember that this is a Christian hockey league. The purpose of this league is to have some fun playing hockey with our fellow Christian brothers. Let's also remember that it is to God's honour & glory that we play. We need to set a Christian example to those around us (referees, arena staff, etc.).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Oh yeah. Speaking of arena staff - last week one of the arena staff was almost hit with a puck when he was shoveling the ice. He was not happy, to say the least.
He strongly suggested to me that I remind everyone that there should be absolutely no pucks on the ice until the zamboni doors are closed. They do not mind if we come on the ice to stretch while they are shoveling off the ice, but no pucks.

The second half of the season started with more of what we were seeing in the first half of the season. All three games in Week 11 were all within one goal.

The early game saw the Cattle Barons giving the Hawks a scare, but the top seeded Hawks hung on to win it 4-3.
It was an even game all the way through. Most of the goals in the game came in the first period. The Hawks had a 3-2 lead at the end of the first and a 4-2 lead after two periods. The Cattle Barons scored a goal half-way through the third, but that was as close as they were able to come.
We'll give the Player of the Game to Ryan Nutma, of the Hawks. He played a good game on both ends of the rink. He assisted on the game winning goal, but probably his best play of the game was a big shot-block that Don Cherry would be proud of.

The middle game between the Omegas & IceDogs was another close game. The IceDogs came away with a 5-4 "come from behind" win.
The Omegas looked to be in control in the beginning of the game. They had a 2-0 lead after the first period. The teams traded goals in the second period. Early in the third, the IceDogs scored two quick goals and found themselves up 4-3. The Omegas tied it up again half-way through the period and it looked like we were going to overtime. This was until Joe DeBoer scored in the final minute of the third period to spoil it for the Omegas. Joe is the Player of the Game in this one. Along with the game winner, he also scored one more goal & an assist.

The late game between the Stars & Flyers was another (you guessed it) close one. You can't get much closer than a 5-5 tie.
The Stars held a 3-2 lead after the first period, and a 5-4 lead after two periods. The Flyers scored the only goal in the third period and nobody was able to score in overtime.
We'll let the goaltenders in this one share the Player of the Game honours. Rick Jones, of the Flyers battled an injury throughout most of the game & Dave Noorloos, of the Stars, did a good job of giving his team the chance to win it; even when the Flyers were pouring it on late in the game.

I say it every time, but I cannot believe that we are already done half of the regular season.

Parody in this league is getting stronger all the time. The standings are not quite as close between the top teams as they were last season at this point, but the games are continually close ones. It seems to be anybody's game in each contest.
23 of the first 30 games this season have ended within three goals. 17 of those 23 games have been within two goals, & ten of those 17 games were within one goal. We've had six games go to overtime, with three of those ending in a tie.

The Hawks continue to show everyone why they are the reigning champions of our league. They are on top of the league's standings with 16 points & only two losses.
The Flyers are only two points behind them with 14.
The Omegas sit in third place, with 13 points.
The IceDogs are holding onto the final playoff position with ten points.
The Stars & Cattle Barons have both been playing better as of late. This is good, because they both have a little work to do to get back into the playoff picture. They are tied with five points each.

It should be a very interesting second half of the season. As we saw last season, if you can get yourself into the playoffs, then its anybody's game!

The early game between the Stars & IceDogs ended in a 4-4 tie.
The IceDogs got off to a good start by scoring two quick goals in the first shift of the game. After this, things settled down for a while. The Stars scored one goal in the second period to make the score 2-1 going into the third.
The Stars scored another goal early in the third to tie it up, but the IceDogs got two more quick goals half-way through the third to re-gain a two goal cushion.
The Stars kept the pressure on and scored with 2:33 remaining in the third to bring it back to within one goal. After pulling the goalie for the extra attacker, the Stars tied it up when Chris Helps scored with just nine seconds to go in the third.
Overtime solved nothing, so the teams settled for a 4-4 tie.
Brandon Wilpstra is the Player of the Game. He scored a goal and had three assists for the Stars.

The middle game saw the Flyers beat the Cattle Barons 5-4 in overtime.
This was an even game all the way through. Both teams scored a goal in the first period, and then did the same in the second to enter third period 2-2.
In the third it was more of the same story with both teams scoring two goals each.
Sid Karelsen got the game winner in overtime for the Flyers.
Darryl Poort is the Player of the Game in this one. He scored two goals for the Flyers and added an assist.

Even though the Hawks are the top team in the standings, the Omegas seem to have their number. The Hawks have only lost twice this season, but both times have been to the Omegas. This time the Omegas beat them 5-2 in the late game.
It was a fairly quiet game through the first two periods. The Omegas scored one in the first period, and another one in the second.
The Hawks got on the scoreboard for the first time early in the third period. A few minutes later, the Omegas re-gained their two goal lead with another goal.
The Hawks countered with one more goal a few minutes after that, but the Omegas scored two more before the period was over.
We'll give the nod for the Player of the Game to Zach VanReenen, of the Omegas. He scored a goal and added two assists.