I attended the tournament early, as news had already been received the Kapusta was going to be busy with a sell out crowd. When I pulled into the parking lot the first thing I noticed was the increased signage and security, namley the two bright orange pylons prominently marking the entrance. As I drove past I kept looking for the valet parking.
Earlier I had made predictions regarding which teams would battle it out for the championship game, but on game day as I walked in and I provided Stevo with a new updated list. The primary reason, teams had individually lost players – Dizzy was a recent loss to the St.Clair Beach Stigrays, one of the teams I had predicted, and stayed with as being in the ‘show’. Other reporters had already laid out Crispy would be forced to miss out, and everyone was holding their breath regarding Crow. I really had to re-examine the teams, factor in the lost players, and studied other nuances to slightly tweak my picks. Surprisingly, when all the chips fell, I was right on every account other than who would win the cup, and what the scores would be for the winners. For the record I had the following (Which was verified prior to the drop of the first puck with several witnesses):
Mauraders VS Mets – Predicted Mauraders win 2-1, ACTUAL SCORE: Mauraders win 6-0
Stingrays VS Wings – Predicted Stingrays 4-2, ACTUAL SCORE: Stingrays 5-3
Mauraders VS Stingrays – Predicted Stingrays 3-0, ACTUAL SCORE: Stingrays 4-3
Mets VS Wings – Predicted Wings 4-2, ACTUAL SCORE: Wings 4-2
Stingrays VS Mets – Predicted Stiungrays 4-0, ACTUAL SCORE: Stingrays 7-4
Wings VS Mauraders – Predicted Mauraders 3-1. ACTUAL SCORE: Mauraders 4-0
Before all the action began, I was early enough to see fan favourites like Snowpants, Chevy and maybe the biggest surpirse Crow. Fans, Tomcat Management and particularly The May Day Mauraders were celebrating their markee player Crow, who was able to shake off his recent injury and play. Almost immediately Crow was a factor and was a huge differnce with the Mauraders as they marched their way into the finals and the team had a collective sip from ‘Stanley’s cup’. My prediction was Stingrays VS Mauraders for the cup, and I had the Stingrays winning 4-2, the actual score was Mauraders 2, Stingrays 1. The Rays may have come up just short, and many odds makers were surprised as the team featured the very dangerous Jaworiwsky brothers – and both had a fantastic tournament. The problem was Mauraders goalie Razor had a better one. Razor dominted with two shut outs, earning him not only another Stanley Cup, but tournament MVP. Year of the goalies? Two consecutive tournamenmts have now featured goalies as MVP’s, and two consecutive tournaments featured goalies posting two shut outs.
My scores were off with teams, as this year players like Crow and Hollywood were really able to ‘Light it Up’, scores were much higher this year compared to the last tournament. Collectively the goalies went 6-6 with a 7G.A.A, and more specifically they were broken down as follws:
Razor 1.25G.A.A
Falcon 2G.A.A
Skippy 3.6G.A.A and
Bearcat 5.6G.A.A.
Razor took it all, with Hollywood a second star and Crow taking third. Hats off to both teams, and while the Stingrays didn’t take it this time around, did you see their sweet tourny shirts? Rock summed it up nicely when he commented, “These shirts were something else, I actually got my hands on one cause I liked it so much. ‘
This year’s tournament may also provide the new Mnister of Fines, Suspensions and Grievous Acts some head scratching, bellyaching and out right ‘Tomcat’ calls. There was one point where Crow took out a player, pleaded his innocence and the whole thing was caught on camera. Evidence clearly shows Crow had the stick between the other players leg just prior to the fall. The tourny also featured several rare penalties, one of which was in the championship game – HOLY! Tough call for the ref, and tougher still to keep players playing hard, but within the confines of Stevo’s famous ‘Play The ball’ chant. I caught up quickly with Stevo after his teams loss, ‘I don’t know maybe Dizzy would have popped in a needed goal, but regardless I’m real proud of my guys’.
Nothing better than seeing the boys back at Purples eating pizza and sharing a drink.
After all the festivities, and gorging of the NON VEGGIE PIZZA, Tomcat players filtered out of Purples lounge and all are looking to return to ‘normal’ play in a week. Just before I left I had a chat with Junior, a Wings returning player who had hopes of being a repeat champ. Junior summed it up as only Junior could, stating, ‘If you say something about me and my, or any other of my players HANDONMECAC, I’ll put my fist down your throat and decapitate your head’. Yup Junior, this years ‘gentleman player’?
What a strange tournament indeed, next year with the goalies picking may be just as strange – ‘Great I already went 0-4 on picking a team this year , in a mini tournament , I better start studying the players now’ stated Skippy.
Remember this is no hockey this Tuesday, it all starts back up on Tuesday March 6. 6:30 is the start time, for those confused about the start up time.
Yuri