Blue Fin's Bistro Hockey

The Blue Fins’ latest challenge to their winning streak came from 5-Hole Sports. 5-Hole has been on the wrong end of some lopsided games, but they hoped to continue last season’s success against the Blue Fins.

The Blue Fins, however, wasted no time after Rusin squeaked down the right side and ricocheted the biscuit into the net.

Scoring his first career goal for the Blue Fins was Jeff ‘Iron Fist’ Macfaland who’s unassisted marker gave the Blue Fins a 2-0 lead in the waning moments of the first period.

In the 2nd period, the heart and soul of the Blue Fins lit the lamp: Kenny ‘Scooby Doo’ Glanville scored the only goal of the 2nd period, assisted by Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey. The Blue Fins surged to a 3 goal lead.

The Blue Fins had to claw their way through most of the game. The offense was a bit chaotic and unorganized. Added to that were 6 minor penalties – some were actually legitimate calls.

A settling influence to the chaos was the Blue Fins’ defense. Fahey, Captain Mike McGee, ‘Steady’ Gene Cookmeyer, John Allman, and Wes Gyure all played well. As usual, they kept the number of shots low – while blocking many more. With no breakaways or odd-man rushes, they offset the chaos and made things easy for Darisse.

There are two reason’s for the Blue Fins’ winning streak – Defense and Goaltending. E.J. ‘The Sandman’ Darisse has the lowest GAA in the league, and proved it again Monday night. 5-Hole’s only goal was a result of a 5-on-3 penalty kill that the Fins nearly killed off.

The final goal was scored by Vlad ‘Yo-Yo’ Potapoff. Potapoff pulls the puck around like it’s on a string, and if he has a few seconds, the goalie doesn’t stand a chance.

The Blue Fins extend their winning streak to four games and remain all alone in first place. Their next game is Monday – 9:30pm against MotherPuckers.

For the Blue Fin Bistro Hockey team, the Tuesday mornings don’t sting nearly as bad after a win. So far this season, Tuesdays have been good – the Blue Fins were 2-0 following the late games on Monday night.

Their ‘lifetime’ record against the Weevils is about even, with as many wins as losses.

The Blue Fins started the game strong. Vlad ‘Peter Pan’ Potapoff carried the puck across the blue line, through two defenders, and blasted a shot on goal. The Weevils goalie made the initial stop, but the rebound was gobbled up by Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi who nearly ripped it through the back of the twines.

The next offensive line followed suit when ‘Super’ Dave Berent muscled out a defender and passed the puck over to Rusin, freezing the goalie on the post. Rusin’s orangutan reach made short work of the open net. The Blue Fins now jumped to a 2 goal lead and sensed the Weevils goalie was starting to unravel.

A few minutes later, Denisi returned the favor back to Potapoff who scored the Blue Fin’s 3rd goal of the period. Defenseman Wes Gyure also assisted.

On the far side of the blue line, the Blue Fins defense took care of business. Gyure and ‘Steady’ Gene Cookmeyer were very offensive minded, jumping in on several rushes. Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey and ‘Cagey’ John Allman played just the opposite with a stalwart defense of the neutral zone and back. The two Malcolm’s – Captain Mike McGee and Kevin ‘Flavor Flav’ Lavin were the happy medium of pinching and out skating Weevils attackers.

Mike ‘The Body’ Hofmeister delivered the knock out blow when Berent mailed a puck from behind the net directly to Hofmeister’s stick. Hofmeister’s blast was too much for the goalie to handle. At the end of the second period, the Blue Fins had a cushy 4-0 lead.

Both defensive lines made an easy night for the subbing Mike ‘Stone Cold’ Papst. Some may recognize the name as champion goalie of the Vipers, Crimson Tide, Beer Goggles, and Shockers. Others may have seen his name on a registered offenders web site. Papst pitched a shut out for the first two periods and let only two goals in total – thanks to amazing glove saves on three very good shots.

The Blue Fins won their 3rd game in a row – 4-2. [Webster's: Winning Streak - 3 or more consecutive wins.] After three games, the Blue Fin Bistro Hockey team is alone in first place. Their next game is Monday at 11:00 pm against 5-Hole Sports.

The Blue Fin Bistro hockey team took on last season’s champions – Chick-Fil-A. Their previous meeting was a meaningless game for Chick-Fil-A and they purposely forfeited it, in order to let their ringer play one last time. But the Blue Fins won the game anyway, and hoped to make it two in a row.

Captain Mike McGee had his team ready for round 2 of Blue Collar Hockey. There are no pretty boys or superstars on this version of the Blue Fins. Just a Baker’s dozen of hard working guys ready to out-work and out-hustle their opponents.

It took less than a minute for the Blue Fins to put their plan into action. Mike ‘The Body’ Hofmeister sandwiched the puck against the boards and fought off the Chick-Fil-A defender. He dug the puck out and bounced it back and forth between himself, Rusin, and ‘Super Dave’ Berent. Berent stuck with it, and slid a great backhander underneath the goalie’s pads. The Blue Fin’s took the early lead at 1-0.

While half of Chick-Fil-A’s team was vulnerable to poke checks and steals, the other half played a physical game. Their ‘thug’ – #15 – visited the penalty box more than his mother frequents the cookie jar. Last season, he took former Blue Fin Tsotsoros out of the game, and the season, thanks to a cheap hit. This game, however, he took himself out of the game with 5 penalties and now a pending game misconduct for his next game.

The Blue Fins defense played solid. When they didn’t have the puck – they took it away from Chick-Fil-A. When they had the puck, they skated and passed it up the ice. Leading the defense, as usual, was Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey and also newcomer ‘Cagey’ John Allman. Allman knows the game and keeps his team going on and off the ice.

The Blue Fins defense played a near perfect game. Chick-Fil-A did manage a few odd-man rushes and a pair of breakaways, but were stopped cold by the Blue Fin’s jailer – E.J. ‘The Sandman’ Darisse. Darisse played a great game. He had a tempered balance of staying in his house and skating out to play the puck. He played every puck well. In a typical game, the goalie relies on his ‘best friend’ (the goal post) at least once or gets a lucky bounce or two along the way. But in this game, E.J. did it all himself.

The Blue Fins were clinging to their one goal lead, but maybe with a loose grip. In the third period, the Blue Fins tallied three penalties – one of which was a 2-man advantage for Chick-Fil-A. Fortunately, the loose grip was just enough. In rapid succession, the Blue Fins killed off a 5-on-3, followed by a 5-on-4, and finally an extra skater from the pulled goalie.

For over 59 minutes, the Blue Fins held onto their 1 goal lead and won their second game in a row. The Blue Collar Blue Fins are winning games with determination, not dazzle, but it’s working. They are cautiously off to a solid 2-0 start. Their next game is Monday at 10:25 against the Weevils.

It wasn’t anything close to a wedding but when the Blue Fins took the ice for their first game, they were fully engaged in the new season.

As Captain Mike McGee assembled his team in the locker room – there were several new guys as well as some Fins from the past.

Their first game was against Carolina Ale House.  This team had restocked as well, including several members from a past championship team.  

Rolling through three lines of skaters, most of who had not played together, was challenging for the Blue Fins.  Ale House, however, worked well together and scored just 30 seconds after the first puck drop. 

Three minutes later and the Blue Fins were going nowhere fast when Ale House scored their second goal to make it 2-0.

Rich ‘Hawkey’ Denisi and the Blue Fins got a lucky break.  The shot wasn’t lucky – that part was all skill.  The lucky part was that the ref saw the puck go in and hit just inside the post and come right back out.  It easily could have been ruled to have hit the post.

Just before the end of the first period, Ale House restored their 2 goal lead – the score was now 3-1.

In the 2^nd period, it was the Blue Fin’s turn to score early.  E.J. ‘Sandman’ Darisse made a nice pass to Dan ‘The Man’ Fahey who fired across the rink to a hard-charging Mike ‘The Body’ Hofmeister.  Hof, followed by his linemates, were on a 3-0 breakaway.  But when the goalie foolishly left an opening, Hof capitalized and scored.  

After giving up 3 uncharacteristic goals in the first period, the Sandman woke up.  The saves came like rice at a wedding, yet not even rice grains could get by Darisse.  Darisse essentially shut the taps on the Ale House for the rest of the game.

Wes Gyure, Gene ‘Steady-Eddy’ Cookmeyer, and Dave ‘The Godfather’ Berent combined forces and truly got a lucky bounce.  Gyure’s shot bounced off an Ale House skate and slid past the hapless Netminder to tie the game at 3.  

Briefly the Ale House regained the lead, but Gyure tied the game for the second time on a clean, sniping wrister that found nothing but net.

Denisi scored the eventual Game-Winning-Goal on a great pass from Hofmeister.  As the pass arrived, Denisi slammed it at the goalie and found just enough gap to bang it past him.  The Blue Fins now led 5-4, and kept their foot on the gas.

Hofmeister scored his second goal of the night after charging the blue line and getting a lucky bounce off his pads.  Hof broke in, alone, and patiently waited for the goalie to commit.  He did, and Hof neatly flipped it past him.

With the game nearly over, Ale House’s futile attempt to pull the goalie was answered brutally by an empty net goal by Dave ‘The Godfather’ Berent.

The Blue Fins played crazy, discombobulated hockey for the entire game.  They didn’t out-skate or out-perform the Ale House – they simply out-worked them.  Final score – Blue Fins 7 – Ale House 4.