Windsor Tomcats

A typical Tomcat season would not be complete without the required Bulldog Outdoor Tournament.  Still in its infancy, management and players alike have stepped to the plate to make the outdoor tourny the crowning achievement and celebration fans have come to love.  Can anyone believe we used to play 5on5?  After top young players like Hollywood were seen in the early days gasping for air, a wise decision was made to move to 6 on 6, with a goalie (So really, 7 on 7).  Fears of looking like a typical grade school soccer game were quickly put to rest, and 6 on 6 has worked well.   

The outdoor facility this year was VERY slippery, claiming 1st star selection for defense by dumping superstar players like Spinner; who later went on to capture the MVP nod for the White Side.  No wonder he got the nod, I don’t remember seeing Spinner so happy considering full slap shots are allowed outdoors.  During the course of a regular season Spinner’s greatest weapon is silenced as his shot is not allowed at the smaller Kapusta Kow Palace.  Seeing that shot up close this year I can see why the goalies are happy it isn’t allowed.  Spinner simply blew 2 goals past poor Skippy, who after both goals was still trying to find the ball.  Newcomer Tiny Tot remarked, “When I first saw the shot and that first goal go in I thought – Pretty lucky; but then he goes and picks the opposite top corner on Skippy and I was like DAMN!”  The floor even claimed the ever dangerous Lovie, who was also dumped, and he took the MVP nod for Black!  Another victim was Snowpants who was seen slippin and sliddin, which typically isn’t too unusual, except for fact he spent more time than usual on his backside. 

Team white in the end took the whole thing winning the first game 7-6, then taking the shoot out.  With the first goal snapped in by Junior on the Black side, the rest of that first period was very closely contested.  Team White also took the second game 3-2 and neither team could dominate in the following shoot out.   Down 2 games and not able to catch up on the shoot out, it would have taken a huge scoring drive by team Black to have kept the cup in Rocky’s trophy case.  Poor Rocky was forced to give up the coveted trophy and would later reply, “Well my kids are certainly going to miss it, but I think my wife secretly was happy.  I mean everytime we had family or friends over, there was the trophy – Jock and all on glorious display, and the kids were very happy to talk all about dad’s cup”.  While Rocky may have had to give up the cup, it was nice to see his little Rockettes out enjoying watching the game. 

The 2012 Outdoor Classic Team Photo...the perfect end to another fantastic Tomcat season!

All four goalies played well and each commented while the players had to deal with a slippery floor, their respective net areas were more sticky.  Also funny was how all four indicated they would have preferred to slide, which would have assisted in some more spectacular saves.  Razor for team White stood out most, and took home MVP.  What a year!  A cup win, mvp at the indoor tourny, the outdoor tourny win and another MVP.  Absolutely Steller!!!  What wasn’t so steller was his quote, “I’m not sure I’m coming back, I think it may be time to let the youngsters battle it out for the top spot”.  I can almost understand, Razor wants to go out on a high and has been an integral part of the Tomcats organization for a long time.  It’s also hard to get mad at such a standup guy, but when news leaked out to fans of Razors remarks, they said it best – “Stay Razor Stay”.  I agree, he can’t leave – next season will be a rareity in that goalies are going to pick the indoor teams, and Razor is defending champ!  I say so what if he comes back and doesn’t lead his team to a repeat cup – by far Razor is arguably the top goalie.  Falcon chimmed in on the debate stating, -He (Razor) can’t leave, the loss would be too much for the organization to bear.  Enough said – Stay baby stay – 2 MORE YEARS!  Why 2 – I want to see Razor celebrate 25 great years of Tomcat hockey, then fans and players might let him retire in peace.

Season ends for the Tomcats, but Skippy reminds all players they are always welcome to come out with his group on Sunday night at 7PM – their season ends June 10th, so there’s alot of hockey left to play. 

Thanks goes to Bulldog – classy guy, who along with Yuri grabbed the delicious pizza grub.  Yuri showed his classy side when realizing he had left over cash from the pizza purchase, poured the rest figuratively into beer purchases for the players.  CLASSY!  Thanks as well to Jingles, who unfortunately missed all the action due to a work conflict.   A shout out to Zabba for acquiring the Dom Polski hall, where several players were introduced to the 500mm Polish beer.  Many were later heard yelling – “This should be our beer – its like 2 beers in one”!!  If you were issued a “Party Pass’, you were not disappointed as he Tomcats belted out “Tomcats Forever” – Yup, nothing better then hearing the boys sing that song.

So now the next blogs on Wednesday’s, that you will be seeing will be from Tomcats themselves, their lives, their summer, their warm weather quests (making love at the pier at Belle River) or the hole in one (maybe same thing! Naw…golf course hole in one).

I cant wait for next season, and fans are eagerly waiting to continually hound Razor into staying.  Until that time as Harry would say – Id love to put my harry ballsonue, and I chime in with Razor, Yuri Handzonmecac.

LUV U GUYS – Yuri