Toronto Devils Ice Hockey Club

Devils 5 No Stars 0

Wednesday March 16th 2011

boys,

to those who missed it….   we ended the season back at an even .500 record (10-10-3).

Mark had a flawless game in net as did our D tandem of Gaffney/Crosland & Fleischhauer/Kedzierski.  

the story of the night was the 8 points that the Mesmerizer (Barticus) and the Bear (Jake) tallied.  both scored 2 and assisted on 2.  Barticus opened the scoring as he planted himself on the doorstep and redirected a perfect Gaffney pass from the left face-off dot into the net.  the Mesmerizer also set up the two goals that Jake scored, one of which was a classic Reardon Wrister that the goalie had no chance on.  Barticus scored another 2nd effort rugby scrum goal and would have made it a hat-trick if he was given the coffee break he requested midway through his 3rd period breakaway attempt.  

Barticus & Jake would not have been rewarded with the points they scored were it not for the strong work along the boards and space that their Centre Eric “needs a nickname” Nielsen provided.   a bit late in the season but I think we found the chemistry we needed to make that line produce up to its potential.

the “checking line” of Gonsalves/Dowdle/Parsons came close on their fair share as well but came up short except for a goal scored by Matt following an end to end rush and sweet pass by sub Evan Kedzierski.   so many opportunities came just shy of going in due to bad bounces or a last minute stick lift.  

midway through the 3rd it looked like we may fall from grace as Gaffney took a tripping call behind our net and yours truly had an interference call on my old mate #21.  we held steady, however, and helped Mark protect his shutout with the help of a Gaffney sliding turtle shot block late in the game.   

post-game at the Pourhouse seven Devils breathed a collective disappointed sigh when our waitress was changed from the young bubbly tall attractive brunette to the bitter disgruntled older sandy blonde waitress named June.    the beer still tasted good though, as it always does. 

devils scoring:
bartzis 2 (3)
reardon 2 (5)
dowdle 1 (10)

that leaves us in 6th place so we will face the 3rd place Red Wigglers in a two game showdown to advance.   we have never beaten them (losing 4-2, 3-1, 5-1) but not due to a lack of talent but due to a lack of discipline.   if we stay out of the box and play our game we can beat them.   and we need ALL of our key peeps there.  

playoff schedule:
March 23rd 9:15pm
March 30th 8:00pm (I am confirming whether this was a typo in the schedule)

Devils 0 Chiefs 6

Wednesday March 9th 2011

boys,

to those that missed it… (and there were lots of you)

we fielded only 6 (bartzis, maeba, munday, kaminski, reardon, parsons) skaters versus their full bench of young whippersnappers straight out of uni.   we stayed fully in the game until the beginning of the 3rd, down only 2-0.   then I changed the tone on D by trying to clear the puck from our zone right into one of their players.. who skated in and scored.   following that they dominated til the final buzzer.   Mark played amazing but there’s only so much one goalie can do.  

we’ll chalk it up to character building.    one more game before the playoffs.    next Wedn 8:15pm vs No Stars.  

in case you were wondering about the punishment for that No Stars goon that pummeled me….    the league was going to give him one game (as per the rules) but I convinced them to up it to 2.    2 games doesn’t really do much to discourage a repeat performance but it is what it is. 

parsons 

Devils 1 Stall 2 4

Wednesday March 2nd 2011

boys,   

to those who missed it… not a bad effort in all honesty.

we started off a bit shaky when Dan “Bouche” Boucher let in the first shot on net…. I was asked “are you sure about this guy?”  and I vouched for him.  from then on he stood on his head and kept us in the game the whole way.   he faced a lot of rubber too.   thanks to him for filling Evil Eye Mark’s big shoes.  

the game would have been very different if one of Dobrowolski’s multiple blistering slapshots made it through, Gaffney converted on one of his rushes, Barticus’ post shot was 1” to the left or Todd managed to deke that one last guy on his end to end Chabby-esque rush midway through the 3rd.   we stayed in the game until the end of the 2nd with Ryan Sutherland’s shot from the slot keeping us within a goal at 2-1.  

they scored early on in the 3rd but we still had our share of chances.    then things took a turn for the worse.  the game was cleanly played except for when their ringer defenseman took it personally that Jake knocked him flying in an unpenalized incidental contact.   he stood up and took a run at Ryan Sutherland, sticking his knee out and taking him out of the game.   Ryan wrote his own injury report - “That dirty pr1ck…totally stuck his knee out. I’ve got a bad charlie horse..right thigh is 3x the size of the left.. I was winded too..so was struggling out there to get some  wind in the lungs :) at least he missed the knee”.    the good news was that their ringer was ejected.   the bad news was that ours was out too as Ryan hobbled to the dressing room. 

the final score was 4-1 which was a decent result considering we had no Chabby, Dowdle, or Maeba and only 8 skaters (reduced to 7 after Ryan’s injury).   cans of 50 were given out after the game and only Toddy and Gonsalves made it to the Pourhouse. 

Barticus wanted me to send around this video of a distant relative of his with a nifty trick involving a frog and a keen desire for satisfaction.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVE60zwXx1k&feature=related

devils scoring:
sutherland 1 (4)

one thing I just tallied up is that Mark has consistently kept his place of 1st or 2nd in GA (71 including Bouche’s 4 GA last night).   we have only scored 66 all season so we better put the puck in the net if we want to better our .500 record.

Devils 3 No Stars 1

boys,

to those who missed it….

a hard fought (literally) W boys.  I didn’t think the No Stars were dirty in our last two tilts but possibly due to their bottom feeder status, they turned up the nasteee for this game.  we had 10 skaters laced up but when the puck dropped Matty was nowhere to be found, held up by nature calling (caught on youtube -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7l6jg4Hlog )

they had a full 15 skaters but we still dominated most of the match.   defensively the duos of Crosland/Chabassol & Gaffney/Fleischhauer were more or less flawless.    we got on the scoreboard early after yours truly dug the puck out from behind their net and fed Matty who roofed it above a sprawling goalie.   they had a few penalties in the 1st but it didn’t really heat up til the 2nd.   the whole match they slashed, hooked, clutched and grabbed but in the beginning we managed to refrain from retaliatory penalties.  before the 1st period finished, Matty potted his 2nd goal on a deflection from a Gaffney high slapshot from the point that he batted down and bounced it in.  

Matt came close to making it a natural hatrick on a breakaway chance before he was taken down from behind, sending him onto his back and hard into the net.    if ever I have seen a dangerous penalty worthy of a penalty shot, that was one… but they did not award one.   brutal ref’ing.  then it got a bit nasteee.   on the forecheck I highsticked their #21 after missing an attempt to lift his stick.   my immediate apology fell on deaf ears as he rapidly pulled my helmet off, sending me to the ice before proceeding to pound on the top and back of my head like a bongo drum.  ouch.   a scramble ensued and finally it was broken up after I had taken 8-10 punches on my head.    none landed on my pretty face but I had a hard time explaining the scratches and bruises on my melon to my wife (“don’t you wear a helmet?”  “it must have tipped forwards”… luckily I had to pick up her Mom at the airport before we really got into it).

the end result was that I had a 4min penalty for high-sticking, they had a 6min penalty for fighting.   their guy got ejected for the game as did Matty for complaining to the ref about how brutal they had let things get.  so the only difference was simply they had 2 more mins in the box.   brutal.   

with Matt gone, we only had 9 skaters.   things just stayed dirty for both sides as Jake started venting his pent up frustrations at being called “fatty” and chalked up 3 penalties (but wasn’t ejected).  we played one man down and even two men down for the majority of the 3rd but held steady.   Gaffney did a great job killing time on the PK and managed some late rushes as well.  they managed to sneak a shot past Mark from the top of the circle but it was soon answered by a goal on one of Chabby’s trademark end to end rushes.  

when the final whistle blew it was 3-1.   there was the typical complaining about the opposition in the dressing room but when it comes down to it, who cares, we got the W.   rink mgmt clearly doesn’t appreciate our locker room beer drinking habits so we were stuck in room #2 with only one working shower again.   Pourhouse attendance was a stellar 8 out of 11 and we all chuckled to Kevin G’s claims that Chabby was crowding him in the shower - “you can’t go faster than the car in front”.   or was Kevin fantasizing about it?

devils scoring:
dowdle 2 (9)
chabassol 1 (6)

Game played Wednesday Feb. 23, 2011 at 8:15pm EST.

Devils 1 Red Wigglers 5

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boys, 

to those who missed it…

we started off strong with Peter, myself and Matty buzzing the net and controlling the puck well in their zone.    Peter scored lying on his back 3mins into the 1st after yours truly dug it out from behind the net.   but as the final score shows, they had 5 unanswered goals after that.  

so far this season the puck has bounced our way in a number of games.    this was not one of them.   Matty hit two posts, Barticus came an inch shy of lifting a backhand over the goalie, sub Jeff “Eddie” Edwards was stopped on numerous rushes and their goalie’s glove hand robbed chances from a number of Devils.   

the game was chippy, but not as bad as our past matches against them.    the ref was simply not calling any penalties - including a high stick on a follow through backhand clearing of the puck by the goalie into my face and another high stick that drew blood from Gaffney’s lip right in front of the ref’s eyes.   they spent more time in the box than us but still got away with a ton.   Jake got some payback with a centre ice “I was just standing there” full throttle hit that left a Red Wiggler seeing stars.  

I feel a bit of deja vu writing this but…. it’s true.   we can beat this team.    and we better when it counts in the playoffs.

devils scoring:

dobrowolski 1 (6)

thanks to Kevin Kaminski who brought a global sample of tall boys for the dressing room.

next game is 7:15 vs Stall 2.     I will send out an email about attendance, please let me know as soon as you can so that I can arrange subs and we can put in a good game.  

parsons 

Devils 5 Irish 7

boys,

to those who missed it…. 

last night’s tilt vs the Irish showcased the Devils squad’s bipolar tendencies.      the 1st period we spent chasing the puck, with all aspects of our game struggling.   and the score showed it as 7mins into the game we were down 3-0.   not to point fingers but our defense sucked.   as did our offense.  and Mark had some unlucky pucks bounce by him.

we managed to gain some composure for the final minutes of the 1st and the start of the 2nd.   then Robbie Munday decided to unleash hell.    on a 2-on-1 he batted in a feed from yours truly to give us hope.    on the same shift, during a strong forecheck deep in their zone, the puck came out to Robbie who fed it to Eric “why isn’t there beer at Loblaws?” Nielsen who pounded home a slapshot high glove side.   wait, there’s more.   on the next shift, another awakened giant, Frank Maeba, catapulted his patented hard slapshot at full stride beating the keeper along the ice.   in ~2mins the game was now tied 3-3.   

it gets a bit murky for me here but through various blunders a few minutes into the 3rd we were back down 2 goals, at 5-3.     it wasn’t over yet though.   I was sitting next to Robbie on the bench when something snapped in his brain and there was no disguising that serial looker feel to his stare as he awaited his next shift.      a solid breakaway deke to his backhand goal and a second effort tally completed his hatrick, tying the game at 5 apiece.   if you want to get something done right, you gotta do it yourself.  

we were way too inconsistent….. our momentum waned and the Irish ended up winning it 7-5, with the last goal an empty netter.   Jay getting close with a wrister and me failing to monopolize or give a rebound on a 3-0 breakaway could have made the difference but alas our 4 game unbeaten streak is over.

devils scoring:
munday 3
nielsen 1
maeba 1

thanks to Eric for the German DAB beer king cans.   2 of them sure made the drive home interesting for me.

next game is at 9:15pm vs the Hounds.

Devils 2 Chiefs 0

alright boys,

to those who missed it…. nice win last night.   

we had a full roster with 8 forwards and 4 D and we needed it.   the Chiefs connected on many of their trademark stretch passes, creating odd man rushes which our D, complemented by sub Jeff “Eddie” Edwards, did a great job containing.    Mark stood on his head, not allowing rebounds and shutting the door on numerous scrambles in front of the net.  we are awarding him a well deserved shutout.  

the line of D’s (Dingwall, Dowdle, Dobrowolski) dominated and Peter managed to open the scoring early with a low hard slapshot that snuck through the Chiefs keeper’s 5-hole.   throughout the 1st we managed to keep the momentum going and Peter buried another outside shot to increase the lead to 2-0.    both goals were set up by sub Jay “Dinger” Dingwall.  

the Chiefs stepped up their play midway through the 2nd and were rewarded with numerous scoring chances which Mark spurned.   with traffic in front, one shot did manage to get by Mark, tinging solidly off the crossbar and bouncing out to the hash marks.    the ref, pockets bulging with 20 dollar bills craftily handed to him by the Chiefs Captain, awarded them a goal but it was clear to everyone on the ice that it was not.     throughout the 3rd, the Chiefs kept up the pressure, we fell into defense mode and the game was ours to lose.   our D and Mark held steady and we held on to win the game 2-0 (2-1 in the record books).   

special mention goes out to Kent who hustled back, stopping a Chiefs breakaway chance, turning it around and coming just shy of a goal at the other end and to Jake who was strong along the boards throughout the match and for killing time in their zone towards the end of the game (just wait til he’s done the P90X workout regime).       our only other offensive chances in the 3rd came via end to end rushes by Chabby that fell short when he barely failed to deke out his 4th Chief and go for goal.  Ryan Gaffney had a solid debut as a Devil on this side of the pond and promises to get into game shape soon as he’s barely been on the ice in four months.  

good win boys, that brings us up to a .500 record of 6-6-3 and into 4th or tied for 3rd place in the standings. 

devils scoring:
dobrowolski     2

we needed to move to the back of the pourhouse as our regular section didn’t have enough seating for the 13 thirsty Devils that showed up.    we all cursed Kevin Gonsalves when a veggie pizza appeared as the waiter was used to us having to cater to his wussy eating habits.  

our next game is at 9:15pm vs the Purple Helmets.  

boys, for those that missed it…

it was a Win, that much we can be proud of.   how we got there wasn’t that pretty, but we’ll take it.   

we started off strong, building a 2-0 lead 5mins into the 1st on a top shelf wrist shot by yours truly and another by our very own recently engaged nearly demi-centurion, Chris Bartzis.    it must have been the flukiest goal ever scored.   Barticus shot from point blank range, sending it 3ft over the net.   it caught the knob of the goalie’s stick and bobbled up in the air above his head… and bounced in when he tried to whack it out of the air and out of harm’s way.        we unabashedly celebrated Barticus’ success to the chagrin of the Hounds.   it feels like we have witnessed the rebirth of Barticus and we anxiously anticipate his continued success.  

the Hounds moved the puck very well, particularly their defensemen whose stretch passes kept our D tandem of Chabby, Kent and Todd on their toes.   I can’t recall when it was scored but their most talented player dangled in from the top of the hash marks, undressing Chabby and Mark for a very pretty goal which had us worried about retaining our lead.   we managed to stay ahead throughout the game with Eric reaping the rewards of a great second effort, sending in a shot that bounced in off a tangle of players in front of the net, bringing us to 3-2.     our lead was widened to 4-2 after Barticus played decoy, leaving the puck for me to shoot through traffic off the crossbar and in.  

the Hounds would not let up and they brought it to within a goal again after one of their players pounced on a puck that Mark thought he had ample time to clear.    Chabby scored our final tally on an impressive end to end rush, culminating in a shot 18” off the ice that deflected in off of their D’s shinpads.      they scored late in the game and pulled their goalie with a minute to go to try and tie it up but some strong play along the boards by Chabby and Kent kept them at bay.     Kent had another superb game on D.   

Devils scoring:
parsons 2
bartzis 1
nielsen 1
chabassol 1

with 13pts and a 5-6-3 record we have moved up to 5th place.   before last night’s game there were two or three teams above us tied at 12pts so with another few wins we can move right up to 2nd place.   next week we’ll have Ryan Gaffney finally landed from London and Matt Dowdle & Peter Dobrowolski back in the line-up as we face the Chiefs @ 7:15pm.

parsons

Felt like a win…

boys,

for those that missed it….

pre-game locker room banter focused on the fact that the Canadian Junior team was dominating Russia 3-0 in the 2nd period and we were confident that we’d do the same to the No Stars.

they were a weak team and unfortunately we sunk below their level throughout the first period. someone noted that we have far too many forwards playing D (all of them) and that definitely showed. Kent played solid throughout the contest as the only defensive-minded D man but the other three struggled. I’m sure Mark would also like to take back two of the weak goals that snuck by him as he was still in a post-Christmas turkey feast lethargy mode. their goalie played extremely well, denying the many slapshots unleashed by Frank with a quick glove hand (and help from the post) and Jake’s wristers after barging through their defense. Barticus also came close with a backhand that just wasn’t lifted high enough above of a sprawling goalie.

we went into the 2nd period down 3-0 and a bit stunned. Mark then shook off the cobwebs and stood on his head to stop two break-aways which gave the team a boost. then the ref skated to our bench asking us whether we wanted to hear the Can v Rus score… we were shocked to hear the Ruskies had tied it up at 3 in the 3rd. Jake let out a cheesy Leave it to Beaver - “you see, we can do it guys” - and from there we found a way to beat their goalie.

none of our goals were pretty and they were all pretty much scored in the exact same fashion. Kevin “Killer” Kaminski kicked it off by bashing in a rebound with 3 Devils crowding the net 5mins into the third. Robbie Munday repeated the effort, bringing us to within a goal with 3mins to go. we kept the pressure on and Mark remained solid in goal. finally with 1:43 to go and a face-off in their zone, Mark came to the bench in place for Peter. Frank won three face-offs that led to shots on net and scrambles in front. Gonsalves and Parsons, manning the point, managed to keep the puck in the zone except for twice when the No Stars stupidly went for the empty-net goal and got called for icing. one came way too close for comfort.

with 14 seconds on the clock, Goalie-Coach Mark Elson called for a change, bringing on Rob Munday. Robbie won the draw, sending it to the boards. three Devils pounced on the puck, feeding it back to Kevin G who let go a wrist shot on net from the top of the circle. the rebound led to a scramble and after numerous hacks at it, Kaminski found paydirt with mere seconds to spare, tying the game 3-3.

we went into the dressing room jubilant and while it was only a tie, at least we’re sure it felt like a loss to the No Stars. noone was too pleased to hear of the fate of Canadian Juniors.. poor sods got too cocky.

Devils scoring kaminski 2 munday 1

in the dressing room we were treated to Staropramen Tallboys courtesy of Chris “Never Too Late” Barticus as he announced that the girl he has been dating agreed to married him. Congrats Barticus!

next week’s game is at 8:15pm vs the other team below us in the standings, the Hounds.

parsons