Before I get into what suspensions are taking place, I'd like to take the time here to make a couple of things clear.
First of all I DO NOT PICK THE REFEREES. I get this all the time. All I do is tell the referee assigner what dates we play, game times, and that we need two referees for each game. The rest of it is in the assigner's hands and all I can do is hope that two referees show up. Most of us have seen this first hand where they don't show up, so I'm happy when I see that they show up, regardless of who it is.
I know that there are a couple of referees that we get regularly that seem to be whistle happy. This can be very frustrating, but every team should understand that all the teams go through this. The difference is how some teams adjust to it differently than others. To some teams, or players, it seems that they are getting everything called against them. What everyone should realize is that these referees that we are talking about never change their minds about any calls that they make, so why do we keep arguing with them? This is why the calls build up against certain players or teams. Our players need to realize this is happening and need to just shut-up! Every team in our league has these type of players that are easy targets for the refs. This is where the team leaders should be stepping in. The leaders should be the only ones questioning (in a civil manner) the referees calls. The refs respect this and they will (should) listen. Show the referees respect and they'll return it.
I don't mean to sound like I'm on a power trip, but I don't care. I was very upset with what went on last Friday and what I've been seeing the last little while. As one of the leaders of this league I'm embarassed of what I've been seeing.
A friend of mine who played some games in our league also plays in the Police League here in Sarnia. He told me that when they let new players in their league, they make it clear to them that "they run a very competetive league, but they absolutely will not put up with any crap -that's for the church leagues". When he told me this, I thought "Well I guess they don't know our league very well". Since I heard this, I realize that they probably know our league better than I thought.
We need to go into each game knowing that we should be witnesses to the world of how Christians are supposed to act. We are the ones who need to show the referees that we can play competetively, but show respect to one another and to them. Otherwise we are just showing everyone witnessing our games that being Christians sure doesn't mean a whole lot.
Let's turn our league's reputation around!

Okay -with that said, here's a list of the suspensions that came from last Friday's games:
Matt Tamminga got 3 minor penalties and will be allowed to play in this Friday's games.
Andrew Melville got 3 minors and a "10 minute" misconduct. He is also okay to play this Friday.
Brett DeBoer got 3 minors and a "game misconduct". For the "game misconduct", he is suspended for 1 game.
Jordan DeBoer received a "10 minute" misconduct and a "game misconduct". For his "game misconduct", he is suspended for 1 game.
Joel VanVeller got a "game misconduct". For this, he is suspended for 1 game.
Mark Sipkens received 3 minors and will be allowed to play this Friday.
Brian Sipkens received a "major penalty" for body contact. He will be allowed to play in Friday's game.

This week's early game saw the Omegas showing the Stars why they are the defending champs by beating them 7-2. Matt Zylstra and Lance Ross led the way for the Omegas with each of them scoring 2 goals. Congrats go to Case Zylstra for winning the game in his first start in about 2 years.

Oh brother, what can I say about the middle game? In a penalty filled affair, the Flyers beat the Crusaders 2-0. This week's Player of the Week honours go to Rick Jones of the Flyers for getting the shutout. Nothing against his performance, but I'm sure that Rick will tell you that most of the game was played in the Crusader's end as they were playing short-handed for most of the game. Watch for another posting where I'll clarify what suspensions are taking place.

The late game was quite a relief to my writing hand. In a "back and forth" game the Hawks got a late goal scored by Rob Nutma and managed to beat the Cougars 3-2.

For the second time this season, Matt DeBoer of the Crusaders was ejected for "3 minors" in the game. He is still able to play next week.

Well, we made it through the fog. Hopefully that was only because it got a lot warmer outside from what it was earlier in the day. I'm no scientist, but that's my optimistic theory. I spoke to the arena worker about possibly turning the fans on, but he said that when they tried that earlier in the week, the fans were melting the ice directly underneath them. Hopefully they come up with a solution.
The arena worker also informed me that the arena will be closed on January 1, which we had planned on playing through. I will see if we are able to get ice somewhere else for January 1, or maybe Saturday, January 2. I'll keep everyone informed as soon as I have a solution.

The Omegas beat the Flyers 3-1 in the early game. Matt Zylstra led the way for Omegas by scoring 2 goals.

In the middle game, the Hawks beat the Crusaders 6-3. The Hawks' new player, Jordan Nydam scored his first goal in the league and added an assist. In his first game against his former team, Jordan DeBoer scored 2 goals and added an assist for the Crusaders. He gets this week's nod as Player of the Week.

In the late game, the Stars got a 6-2 win over the Cougars. Brandon Wilpstra and Devon Poort each scored 2 goals for the Stars.

A couple teams got into some penalty trouble on Friday night.

The Stars' Corey Moesker was given a "game misconduct" and is suspended for the next (Oct.23) game. Brandon Wilpstra was ejected for "3 minors" in the game. He will be able to play in the next game.

The Crusaders' Matt DeBoer and Jordan DeBoer both were ejected for "3 minors" each in the game. Both these players are also okay to play this Friday (Oct.23).