It was another Whiteout on Friday night as APL and the Paper Tigers both returned to the winners’ circle. The Tigers had to deal with a tough Vikings squad who had Brad ‘Newly’ Newly back in the lineup and almost pulled off the stunner. But David Smith, with some sweet feeds from Ryan Harrison, scored enough to reward goalie Barry Roe and the rest of the team with a 3-2 win and the two points. Always Picked Last had to play without spiritual leaders EC and Jon Boot but still found a way beyond the Hairy Crabs 5-1. Casey ‘Westcoast’ Westergaard was solid in net with Helenius and Rekrutiak anchoring a stellar back line. Jeff ‘Lube’ Lubach had a huge 4 assists, most to John Brennan who extended his lead in the scoring race with the hat trick.
The Killer Pandas started a winning streak with a 2-1 shootout win over the Bulldogs. In his final game, Bert ‘Squirt’ Ouamer scored the breakaway winner on young gun Mans Rasmussen to go out on a winning note. Zhao Jian was sensational in the Pandas’ net, stopping relentless attacks from the also departing Matt Lickwar and his mates Perro and Wong. The Fu Dogs spoiled Taka Muraoka’s last game (on the ice anyway – he had fun at the bar afterwards) with the Puckhounds and won the B division’s K-9 battle 5-2. Ron ‘Ice’ Berg scored all 5 for the Dogs getting the most help from Jason Ferron’s 4 assists. Taka got an emotional lamp-lighter in the losing effort to salvage a few smiles.
The last matchup of the week saw Red come back with the IceCocks and Fog Devils getting by the Ducks and Dirty Blues respectively. Isaac McKitrick had his coming out party with a flaming 5 goals for the FDs with Wang Zhiqiang doing the table-setting with 5 apples. Takeo held the fort in net with Kita being a typical force on D in the 6-3 win. Jon Burke led the IceCocks with a 3 point night as they dealt with the absence of Captain Duke and got by the Ducks 4-1. Consistent point-getters Pinard and Lacina were the only parts of the Ducks’ lone scoring play in a disappointing Poultry Derby result.
Photo credits: Joseph Hu (Wechat: liebgott1986)
