It looks like we're on the right track. All three games were played last night without any incidents. I didn't have anybody complaining to me about the referees and from what I saw they did a fine job.

The one thing that I did hear a lot of complaining about was the condition of the ice surface. I spoke with the arena worker about this. He said that it has to do with the fact that it is still not cold enough outside and that this makes it humid inside the arena. He also said that the arena has been using a borrowed Zamboni while their own is getting upgraded. He assured me that this will make huge improvements to the quality of the ice surface.

In the early game, the Crusaders ended the Omegas' winning streak by beating them 5-1. They spread out their scoring by having five different goal scorers. Steve DeBoer led the way by scoring one of the goals and adding two assists. Zack VanReenen scored the lone goal for the Omegas. This was Zack's first goal in our league.

In the middle game, the Hawks found their scoring touch by beating the Stars 5-2. Kyle Huizinga earnes this week's Player of the Week honours by having a part in all five of the Hawks' goals in the game. He scored a hat-trick and added two assists. Dave VanOostveen and Pat Dam each scored a goal and got two assists.

The Flyers continued their winning streak by beating the Cougars in the late game by the score of 5-2. Dan VanReenen scored two of the Flyers' goals. This win for the Flyers puts them in a tie for the lead in the standings with the Omegas.

As I mentioned in a previous posting, we will not be able to play on Friday, January 1 at the Point Edward Arena as the arena is closed for the holiday. I've looked into what we can do alternatively, and here's what I was able to come up with:
-Friday, January 1 at the RBC Centre (formerly SSEC) on rink 1 from 6:00pm until 10:00pm.
-Saturday, January 2 at the RBC Centre on rink 2 from 5:00pm until 9:00pm.
The advantage of playing on Friday is that there will be a Sting game being played on the Saturday on rink 1. This would make it somewhat difficult for parking. The advantage of playing on Saturday would be that we would avoid playing on the holiday, which would make things easier on those of us with family fuctions.

I would like to get each team's general view of which night we should go with. I'll try to catch up with each team rep this coming Friday. I want to get the ice booked A.S.A.P.

Ryan Nutma received a "game misconduct" in the late game. He is suspended from playing this week's game (Nov.20).

The early game saw the Flyers continue their hot streak by beating the Stars by the score of 5-1. The Flyers balanced out their goal scoring by having 5 different goal scorers.

In the middle game, the Cougars once again rebounded from a bad game the previos week by winning the game over the Crusaders by the score of 5-4. O.J. Deelstra led the way for the Cougars by scoring a hat-trick, including the game winner. He earns this week's Player of the Week honours.

The Omegas came out on top in the late game by beating the Hawks 3-1. It was a very close game between probably the two strongest teams so far this season. It was also a game that came close to getting out of hand. Remember guys, let's not let our emotions get the best of us.

It still seems like we're just getting going in this season, but we're already done one round.

I really appreciate all the supportive comments that I've been getting about the message that I wrote last week. It seems to have made a difference, because this week's games were played with a great deal of improved behavior by our players. The referees were still making a lot of calls that may have been questionable, but for the most part, I was very impressed with the way our players from all the teams did not argue the calls. This resulted in the kind of a night that I'm sure we all like to see. Nobody was ejected for "3 minors" and there also were no misconducts in any of the games. Let's keep this up!

The early game saw the hot Flyers beating the Hawks by a score of 5-2. Nick DeBoer and Kyle Huizinga each got a goal and an assist for the Hawks. Derek Bouma scored twice for the Flyers with Tyler Veenendaal getting a goal and 2 assists. Substitute goalie Risser Wierenga earned the win for the Flyers.

The Omegas flexed their muscle in the middle game by beating the Cougars by the score of 12-2. Chad VanReenen scored twice and added an assist in his first game since the beginning of last season's final series. Kalen Hellinga scored his first goal in our league and also added an assist. This week's Player of the Week honours have to be shared by Joe VanReenen and Perrin Berg. Joe scored 4 goals and Perrin scored 2 goals and got 3 assists.

In the late game, the Crusaders beat the Stars by the score of 3-2. A lot of minor penalties were called in this game against both teams, but all players kept their cool with the referees and played a very good game. The fans that I spoke with said that this was a very good and competitive game to watch. Ryan Benjamins led the way for the Crusaders by scoring twice, including a powerplay goal in the second period which stood up as the game winner.