There was only one squad that had to resort to a set of old uniforms and the crowd couldn’t figure out what stunk more, the Blue Collar Boys or their 10-year old Jersey’s as they were mauled 9-3 by Bear Communications.
It was very evident that having Lee “Yogi” Naeth, Brody “Boo-Boo” Neighbour and Troy “Fozzie” McMillan on the ice for most of the game was a good thing as the furry friends combined for eight goals and six assists in the feast.
Playing like a raging wildfire was Jaime “Smokey” Giesbrecht who dished out three assists and a shovelful of high-fives as Gord “Teddy” Salmons regained the step he lost last season with a goal, an assist and several near misses.
The Blue Collar squad actually played more like White collared bankers as they were often found swarming after the puck as if it was a rock solid investment opportunity.
With their top two draft picks missing it was up to Bob “Highballer” Keen who scored once and assisted on “Handy” Dan Lowndes tally with Jarret “J Root” Dumas planting an unassisted biscuit in the basket.
The other contest saw both teams deploy full squads as the Serenity Builders used a second-half comeback to overtake the Fraser River GM team who had ran out of fuel in the 3-2 thriller.
Leading the serene comeback for the Hartford Whaler-coloured crew was Bob “The Builder” Merta who hammered in the tying goal thanks to a perfect pass from Dale “Beam” Bubela who also assisted on Ian “Heartbreaker” Hannah’s first-period laser.
Scoring the winner on a gorgeous three-way passing play was Randy “Cantilever” Crofts who tickled the twine after being levelled in front earlier in the contest.
Fresh off a tie me Kangaroo goalie tryout was Mike “Good” Moody who made several sensational saves on a trio of GM speed merchants to preserve the victory.
Enjoying their first skate together after a season apart was a couple of Fraser River Turkeys, Eric “Buick” Bodman and Jim “Cadillac” Kurta, who used their high octane engines to accelerate into the clear as they both scored and assisted on the others mesh ripplers.
Steve Dodge is a defensive winger for Serenity Builders and an Observer contributor.