Blue Fin’s Bistro Hockey

Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t singing when Chris Bily came home against his former team.  Excluding their ex-teammate, there weren’t many ‘plus-es’ about Team Factory.  This team is being coached and managed by hockey director E.J. Stern – who is ‘The Man’ that has done nothing but make life difficult for the Blue Fins.  Team Factory’s skaters look liked victims of an explosion at the Good Will – barely two players wore the same jerseys and half of the team wore ‘pennies’.

Captain Mike McGee laid out the game plan – play hard, play smart, and if Team Factory are as bad as they looked – show some respect.  So much for planning……..

Team Factory came out playing the body more than they did the puck.  This reporter’s favorite skater got in a minor shoving match with Team Factory’s feeble enforcer.  This game turned out to be a very physical contest and made the Jackals look like nice guys.

Adam Hoover and Steve “Not-so” Tsotsoros got things going for the Fins when Tsotsoros made a perfect pass that Hoover easily put past the goalie. 

Maybe it was Team Factory’s short temper, or possibly E.J. Stern’s coaching - but after Jon Probasco scored on a blistering slap shot – they tried to muscle him down with ‘incidental hits’.  Probasco’s answer was a second goal that put the Blue Fins up 3-0.  

Could this report ignore the Blue Fins sloppy play and turn into an unfounded ego-boost?  We’ll let you decide….

The first offensive line was anchored by Captain Mike McGee, who moved up from offense.  McGee forechecked well and the newly-engaged Dave ‘Godfather’ Berent peppered the goalie with shots.  

Defensively, Matt ‘Wheels’ Pusateri scored a power-play goal when he broke through Team Factory’s defense and fooled the goalie out of his pads.  Instead of sliding in the easy shot, he took his over-priced stick, flipped it over, and ‘stick-balled’ the puck into the net.  (Alas, it was no backhander though.)

The second offensive line was buzzing and bookended the Blue Fins scoring.  Keith ‘Blue Collar’ Locker assisted Steve Tsotsoros who scored the final goal of the night.  

Oh yeah, there was another E.J. at the rink Monday night.  E.J. “Easy E” Darisse made history for the Blue Fins.  His 0.00 goals-against and 100% save percentage gave E.J. the very first shut out in Blue Fins Hockey history.  

The Blue Fins maintain first place and are sitting at 2-0.  The rubber hits the road when they next play Carolina Ale House.

It’s only been a few weeks, but a long road for the Blue Fin’s that landed them in the C2 league.  Finally, the Blue Fins returned to the ice - a little slower, a little heavier - but never more ready.

Several new skaters joined the Blue Fin’s, and if I knew all of their last names, I could keep writing like some 2nd-rate sports reporter.  Steve ‘Not McGee’ - a pile of speed and skill who is also Mike McGee’s brother in-law; Joe “More is More” Moreschi - a gritty defender formerly of Comstock Homes, and Keith “Blue Collar” ‘Something’ - a hard working forward brought in by Mike Hofmeister.

Before the game even started, the Fins were counting chickens and expecting an easy win.  (Please note, no chickens were harmed in the filming of this game.  Choked a little, sure - but nothing serious.)  After the game started, the Nailers showed that it was going to be a competitive game, and the Blue Fins may have spoken too early. 

On his very first shift - “Blue Collar” Keith chipped in his first goal as a Blue Fin.  Just like his name, this guy is all about hard work.  Not to be out done (and actually not in this order) but the other new Fins contributed as well - Steve ‘Not McGee’ scored thanks to some serious puck handling and skating; and Joe ‘More is More’ Moreschi careened a shot off a hapless defender’s skate that he is probably still ‘kicking’ himself about.

The game did get close as the Nailers inched to within two goals early in the first period.  But any line led by Captain Mike McGee is going to be tough.  McGee is more about his play on the ice, than his words of wisdom.  He played hard on defense - keeping the puck out of his zone with good back checking and smart passing.  Also on defense, Matt ‘Wheels’ Pusateri displayed at least one extra gear.  His speed got him a nice goal in the 2nd period when he backhanded a low slider through the five hole.

The Blue Fins best defender all game - was their net minder ‘Easy E’ E.J. Darisse.  E.J. outplayed the Nailers goalie, and was impossible for the Nailers shooters to ‘pin down’. 

With or without their unbeatable defense, the Blue Fin’s had plenty of scoring this game.  Adam Hoover got a well deserved goal from the left side after several hard shots.  This reporter’s favorite center also scored two goals on assists from Mike Hofmeister and Dave “Push the Grouper” Berent. 

His first goal was nice, but the play of the game was when Jon ‘State’ Probasco kept the puck onsides and made a pass from his knees to Berent.  Berent snagged the puck and fired it to Mike ‘The Body’ Hofmeister.  Hof caught it, did a quick spin, and fired it past the Nailer’s goalie for his second goal of the night.

The Blue Fins piled it on and won by a score of 10-4.  Their next game is against ‘Team Factory’ - Monday night at 8:30pm.  This is predicted to be an ‘interesting’ game as they meet one of their former players for the first time………