Bear’s charmed 2018 portion of the 24th Forestry Hockey League (FHL) season just keeps getting better as its 5-4 win over Serenity gives them an astounding 9-0-1 record since the last singing of Old Lang Syne!
Needless to say, the other three FHL squads are hoping the candy stripers peaked too early especially Serenity, which will have to face the No. 1 seed twice when the Lumber Cup begins April 3.
Until then, the only thing to be determined in the final two contests is who will win the scoring race, as Justin “Time” Rasmussen chiselled his way into a first-place tie with two goals and an assist.
Keeping up with his teammate was Cam “Shaft” Graham who scored a spectacular unassisted beauty to go with his league-leading 27th apple.
Gord “Smoked” Salmons also had a fine game with a goal and two assists as Jeff “Needles” Needham notched a singleton.
Leading the Serenity offense, which has now lost nine of its 17 by one goal, was Eric “Bonsai” Bodman who has been playing the style of hockey that earned him his nickname of late. In fact, his two goal and one assist output has earned him a tryout with the struggling Blue shirts in New York City this week.
Also scoring for the Builders were Wade Price “Is Right” and Randy “Killer” Crofts whose shot dribbled in despite being weaker than a Las Vegas highball.
Other contest
The Fraser River 4-2 win over Blue Collar reaffirms the recent trend for the second- and third-place squads, as Fraser River is undefeated in five while BCS has only one victory over the same time frame.
Thanks to stellar mornings by both net-minders, the score was tight for most of the contest, as BCS scored a shorty to knot it at 2’s before their 18 legs wore out and the Chevy Crew pulled into the fast lane with the final pair of goals.
Opening up the scoring for Fraser River was Eric “Frantic” Stanick who used his patented head hunter from the point to notch his third of the year. Leading his team to victory thanks to his biggest game of the season was Todd “Grizzled” Gryschuk who sniped the clincher and dazzled for a pair of gorgeous helpers, which Ian Hannah “Montana” rifled home.
Meanwhile on the spacious BCS bench, Wade “The Blade” Fenton continued his hot play recently as he scored both of his squad’s goals to give him a respectable five since Groundhog Day.
Steve Dodge is a regular Observer contributor.