BREAKING NEWS: As we went to press this morning, rumours were confirmed that SCOHA alumnus Paul Cleary will be making his season debut for the Grand Masters Sharks this Sunday at 7pm vs the Blackhawks. Great news, Paul! So happy you are back! Can’t wait to see you and say hi!

Well folks, better late than never. Get ready for another cold snap this weekend, good thing the heat is on at the aren… oh nevermind. Guy Shaver held a bake sale last weekend at the end of his driveway to try and help the rink fund a new heater but I guess his version of mincemeat pies didn’t sit well, especially with the British players in the neighbourhood.

United Division:

FLYERS 2 BRUINS 2: Jeff “pecan” Pye scored with a shade under 6 mins to go as the Flyers tied the Bruins 2-2. Bruins were missing 2 snipers in Jordan Campbell and newcomer Steve Ditta but battled hard for the single point. For the Bruins it was Joe Shulist and Zach Peachey scoring highlight-reel goals. Dave Mercer stepped out of his prescribed role on the Bruin blueline, sitting in the box for 2 penalties. He blamed a heavy pre-game meal for the laziness that led to the penalties. Maybe a meatball submarine sandwich with extra cheese isn’t a good idea before a big game, Dave! Flyers captain, GM and all-around nice guy Mike Haslam scored the other Flyer goal as he continued his strong play this season. Mike is a free agent this summer but hopes to sit down with the family and discuss his future with the club.

LEAFS 6 BLACKHAWKS 3: Rob “don’t call me Rod” Stewart showed some razzle-dazzle, scoring a pair as the Leafs doubled up the Hawks 6-3. Hawks were missing 3 key players so even Ray Charles could’ve seen this result unfolding before it even started. John “gas is getting a bit too expensive, I might sell my” Carvalho scored a goal and added a hamburger helper for the Leafs. Hawks Kevin Scime led the way with a goal and an assist in a losing cause. Jonathan O’Grady continued his impressive season with a highlight-reel goal we will most likely be seeing on the Cable14 plays of the year.

MASTERS DIVISION:

SENATORS 5 SHARKS 3: Marc “is recess over yet? No, I didn’t hear the” Bellhumeur notched 2 goals and an assist as the Sens harpooned the Sharks 5-3. Well not really harpooned, it was a damn close game the whole way, this could’ve went the other way, Sens caught a few breaks and made it count. Both teams wore out their skate blades with the ferocious skating all night so hope Santa has CCM on his radar next week. Stick tap to Sharks veteran blueliner Andy Rossit who took a puck to the face during this game. We hope he is mending well and gets back in the lineup soon, his team and our guys certainly hope so. Senators Brock Hotrum kept the points coming with a pair of goals and an assist for the winning side. Sharks Dave “Le Legende” Langille set up all 3 goals, loaded up the team bus afterwards and dropped everyone off at their doorstep (and even said goodnight). He couldn’t have done anymore on this night except maybe perform a stoic rendition of our national anthem.

BRUINS 3 LEAFS 3: Well so much for unbridled joy this holiday season as the Bruins took 6 penalties but seemed to walk away with a 3-3 tie against a Steve Horner-less Leaf team. Leafs scored twice in the final 6 minutes to secure the tie thanks to Marc Ayotte’s snipe with 8 ticks left on the clock. Bob “happy” Balantyne notched a pair and added an assist for good measure for a Leaf squad that never gives up. They are seriously becoming contenders for the cup and plan to work even harder at practice in the new year to meet that coveted goal. Bruins got goals from Bill “aluminum” Foley, Terry Lee and Dave Graham, who passed Rod Langway on the all-time points list for defencemen. League spare Ryan Nery played well between the Bruin pipes. Thanks for helping out, Ryan! Good news on the Bruins injury front as Richard Forster had a follow-up with Chicago Med this week and will resume light skating 1st week of February. We hope he gets back into game action soon after that, miss the big fella out there.

Grand Masters Division:

FLYERS 5 STARS 0: Stars GM Chris Baratto broke out the mulled wine after this loss to try and take the edge off his team’s 5-0 loss to the Flyers. Joe DeFaria subbed in for Flyers goalie Brad Ballman who had to help out at the church Christmas bizarre selling whimsical windchimes and coloured popcorn necklaces, forcing his to miss the game. Turns out Joe got a skate up in his equipment, cutting his finger but tried the best he could and still got the shutout. He ended up skating off before the end and both teams called it. Before that, Dave Walker scored twice and Rob Nacha (cheese), Alastair Kermack and Ghislain Piche added singles for the winners. Flyers Jim Albanese got his first penalty since 1985, tripping was the call. Fans rejoiced and told Jim don’t worry about it, it’s all part of the game.

KRAKEN 2 BLACKHAWKS 1: I was one of the 3 fortunate fans watching this game and Kraken veteran Kelly Rintjema deserves more credit for his hard snapshot. He buried the game winner upstairs where Bill Clinton hides the Epstein files with 1:11 left to secure the win. Kraken players celebrated well into the night after this comeback win despite the arctic tundra feeling in the locker room. Hawks got their lone goal from John Pogorzelec who has had a bit of an up and down season thus far. (bad pogo stick pun…). Tony Vastano set up John’s goal, a nifty setup from the sideboards, pretty impressive. Kraken goalie Joe DeFaria cut a finger during an earlier game but stuck it out to the appreciation of his teammates and fans.

SHARKS 3 BRUINS 3: With Richard Paquet filling in and playing his 2nd game of the night in net, the Bruins tied the Sharks 3-3. Bob Wallace dropped a deuce for the Bruins while John “don’t poke the” Bearisto added another. Ernie Dunston scored twice while Guy “Remington Cordless” Shaver also scored for the Sharks. Bob Tirnanic continues to “tirn” heads with his playmaking abilities out there. He had a big assist on the Sharks 3rd goal and told reporters afterwards he credits his recent play to the quarter he keeps in his left skate for good luck. Good effort from the Bruins who were down 4 guys but didn’t fold up the tent at any point of the contest.

Well sorry for the delay on the writeup this week, been busier than a squirrel in a barrel of acorns lately. Thanks to the United Division for the good laughs the past couple Friday’s. Great group of guys and some real fast hockey!

PREMIUM PLUS TOOL WORKHORSES OF THE WEEK:

UNITED: ROB STEWART

MASTERS: BOB BALANTYNE 

GRAND MASTERS: JOE DEFARIA

 Well that’s it from this end of the ice. Stay warm and good luck with the Christmas shopping on the 24th, you got this.

Chris Marttila

SCOHA Blog Guy

Well folks, another few weeks until the big guy tries to get down your chimney. Better late than never, here’s this week’s abbreviated recap of last week’s action:

Well gang, the United Division games this past weekend were nuts, absolute nuts… I was lucky to catch the action live and meet some of the fellas up at the watering hole. Good bunch of guys, hope they can bring in a few buddies next year so we can have 6 teams. That Jordan Campbell rookie on the Bruins, skates around like that Wayne Jetski guy. Someone stop him, good grief.

I heard over the weekend that Grand Master’s veteran Ron Cooper will be inducted into the 80+ Oldtimers Hockey Hall of Fame on March 28TH, 2026 in Kitchener! This is a remarkable accomplishment and we all congratulate him on this honour. Did you know that Ron first laced up his twirlers at the ripe age 3. He then played minor hockey in Sunderland from 1945-47, in Whitby from 1948-59, various Stelco pickup leagues from 1961-2025 and has been a mainstay in SCOHA since 1997! Details of the gala evening will be posted soon. Well done, Ron! Most of us won’t even be able to bend down to tie up our skates by the time we are 60!

Well folks, Mother Nature is about to hit shuffle on her winter playlist. Good thing we have Guy Shaver on standby with his shovel ready to clear the arena parking lot in time for this weekend’s games. A few guys still haven’t noticed their new tattoos from the big Collingwood Tournament a few weeks ago but I’m sure they will figure it out eventually. This past weekend saw the intensity ramp up in all three divisions. Let’s put aside our differences and recap the action.

Well folks, looking forward to changing the clocks back in the spring, this dark at 4:30 stuff isn’t sitting well.

Well folks, winter is here. Enough said.

Well folks, here’s a fresh new SCOHA blog out of the oven. We will recap this past weekend’s action and give props to some of our SCOHA hockey heroes whether they deserve it or not.

Well folks, this fella stayed up to watch that 18 inning marathon the other night and I was in the office the next day feeling more tired than a pair of dentures after a cold buffet but you know what, it was worth it. There were some even better games this past weekend, albeit men’s beer league but it’s our world series each and every weekend and no one can take that away from seasoned veterans like Mike Vanderzee and Al Angelone who are both approaching important milestones in their careers for games played by players with cement hands...

A few games over the weekend started to get a bit salty. You almost needed a moose to lick the salt off. All in all, you can tell the action is ramping up as we approach the end of October. United teams are starting to gel and the games are getting faster. Flyers team rep Mike Haslam was spotted applying Rub A5/35 the other week but claimed it is his new hockey cologne, knees are fine. Hattrick by Faberge, available at Shoppers, 8 bucks. Speaking of hat trick, this new Jordan Campbell kid in United is lighting the lamp multiple times every Friday, reminds me of Sean Riley when he played for the Lethbridge Bonnets back in 81. Campbell is an early favourite for Rookie of the Year. We will try and get him on the Pucks in Deep Podcast soon…

Last week’s games were a complete 180 degree turn-around from the previous week, lemme tell ya. United’s Walt Blagdon was skating around like he had motors on his skates. I don’t know what this guy has for a pre-game meal but I bet it’s rich in essential minerals. At any rate, let’s dip into the weekend that was…