Being so close to X-Mass, the Sternes almost pulled off a miracle. The game was close to the end but the Ravens used their superior shape and capitalized on the less-then-neutral riffing to secure this mandatory victory. Dejan Suletic and Milan Stevanovic were out with injuries for this one, which further fueled the Sternes' hopes for their first victory. Maybe next time. Great game Sternes!

Not much happened in this lop-sided game; the score explains it all. Andrew Jones was on fire as he scored 4 goals. Alex Moggridge brought out what we have come to expect from him and scored 6 times. The top four teams have pulled away from the bottom two, beyond repair and with this win the Sharks have taken over the lead in the OWPL. The most interesting game next week will be the Sharks vs. Hull game where Hull will get the chance to take over the lead.

It’s hard to believe that the Ravens could blow a 7:1 lead, going into the 2nd quarter but it happened. After an amazing start and 5 goals by Dejan Suletic the Ravens looked like they had the 3 points but the huge lead seemed to take a crippling effect on the on them. The Meyers, quickly capitalizing on the malfunction of the Ravens’ system scored 4 goals and the game was wide open again at 7:5. Although the Ravens managed to pull away one more time (14:10) the combination of Bill Meyer, Zoltan and Blake Christie always proved to be too much of a challenge for the younger team. While the
Ravens did deserve to win the game, the Meyers’ comeback and last minute effort to tie the game speaks for itself. Two points for both teams and Dejan’s 9 (!!) goals helped him to the #3 spot on the scorer’s list.   

The difference in conditioning and the basic skill levels was the dominant issue once again as Hull steadily grinded the GG’s down to the ground. As usual, Dakic lead the pack with 6 goals but his supporting cast was right with him all along. Vidicevic, Rajic and Montes I, all scored 3 times each. The score reflects the true difference between the teams.

In the battle that relegated the loser to last place it was the GG's that came out victoriously but it was not a smooth sailing by any means. The Sternes, reinforced by Bernie Forestell and Sharks coach Jerry Tesanovic, held their own until 5:8 but in the end the slightly better conditioned and skilled GG's were able to pull away to 12:5. Brian Mosley debuted on the scorer's list with 3 excellent and important goals while Hanson and Caswell brought their usual by scoring 3 and 4, respectively. Evan Peters, with support from his mom, sister and lovely girlfriend in the stance, scored 2 massive goals (1 penalty) but also made friends with the crossbar and the posts a number of times. Jerry Tesanovic took on the role of player coach in the water, successfully delegating the workload to his players for the most part. Both teams have now reached the half mark of the OWPL and their new goal is to do better then the last rounds. Both teams have room for improvement, especially the Sternes but then again no one has more fun in the league then Jeff Brown and co.

Although Hull lost the league’s leading scorer early in the 2^nd period, due to a clumsy foul by one of the Sternes players, the young team never let the old boys recover from the 7:1 lead. Hull played well and disciplined for the most part but at times they were thrown off by difference in the physical strength of the two teams. The Hull team, in turn tried to remain quick and mobile to draw exclusions and get counter attack goals. The fact that the win was a team effort was evident as every Hull player, including the 14 year old Yovan, scored at least 1 goal. Evan Peters from the Sternes finally discovered that he’s got one of the best shots in the OWPL and put it to good use by scoring 3 unstoppable rockets, while team captain Joel Primeau and Jeff Brown added 2 goals apiece.

The Sharks were only leading twice: Once at 1:0 and then at 11:10. It could be argued that both teams played below their coaches’ expectations and that the team that made fewer mistakes won. The Raven’s coach would probably agree with that statement and add that today his team made 3-4 times as many mistakes as the Sharks. The Ravens were simply unable to focus and committed so many “unforced errors” that they basically threw the game away. There were 12-15 (!) direct passes to the opposite team, the ball rarely ever found the open players and the defensive tactics looked chaotic. The Ravens, however, are still struggling with multiple injuries, University midterms and the fact that injured goal-tender extraordinaire, Marc Tanguay, is still unable to perform his duties often results in a disorganized and frustrating game. There is no panic however and during some recent constructive team discussions it became clear that the team needs to pull itself together and focus on the upcoming events rejuvenated and physically healthy. The Sharks, although clumsy at times showed great comeback qualities as they worked of 2-3 goal deficits more then ones. Led by the sneaky-wizard, Alex Moggridge, and sharpshooter Charles the Sharks dazzled the crowd with clever passes and laser precision shooting. Even action sequences that did not result in goals are note-worthy to mention, such as Moggridge’s look away free-throw, for example, which hit the post completely catching the defense and the goalie off guard. Given the age difference between the two teams Alex was almost “disrespectful” to make the defense look that bad. Despite the Raven’s engine revving only at about 45% they almost walked away with a victory but a few particularly unfortunate events allowed the Sharks to score 2 quick unanswered goals in the last minute. Up next are 2 very difficult games for both teams. Stay tuned!!

Like midgets at the urinals, the GG’s kept the Meyers on their toes for almost the entire game. Granted, Zoltan and Blake could not make it to tonight’s game but, nevertheless, the GG’s, as previously predicted, are improving fast and with the leadership of Scott Caswell and goaltender Martin Murray the GG’s forced the Meyers to give it all they had. Caswell was a one man army as he scored 5 goals into Ruben Anand’s net. Although Ruben was a brick wall for almost the entire game, he still seems to be in denial of the new 5 meter free throw rule, which suited Caswell just fine. And since Blake and Zoltan were not present “Big” Sasa Palamarevic took it upon himself to work over-time for both missing stars and almost single handedly held the front line for the Meyers. By the time the GG’s realized that Sasa refused to be shut down one on one (even 3 on 1) tonight, he scored 7 goals. Bill Meyer re-living his Olympic years in ’84 was the fastest moving guy in the pool and if the OWPL kept track of assists, he would be at the very top of the list. Professor McNaught was also having a great game and on top of his usual 10 meter back-hand shots, that left bruises on Martin Murray’s chest, he scored 2 beautiful goals. Srecko Pavicevic added 2 more and Sasa Stevanovic, while he was re-assigned to guard Caswell, also scored 1 rocket from outside. Newcomer Davor” Zoolander” also netted one of his own. In short, the better 1 on 1 skills of the Meyers was enough to defeat the GG’s who lack the depth and experience to beat such a great caliber team.