Windsor Tomcats

Want to play a different format? Think a rule or two should be changed? Have an opinion on the firmness of the ball (Soupy and Matador (aka The Ball Princesses) – your thoughts are well known, no need to bring up)’ etc.? Only way to voice your thoughts is to attend next week’s Board meeting. No complaining on any changes if you don’t participate.

Details below:

– Board of Directors meeting will be held on TUESDAY APRIL 29 at 630 PM.

– Location is The Soup-r-Dome (Soupy’s garage) in Tecumseh, 1878 St Anne St. 

– ALL Tomcats are encouraged to attend, as well as some of the newcomers to maybe provide a fresh insight into the future of the Windsor Tomcats.

– Drinks and food will be served

Let Soupy know ASAP if you plan to attend so we can estimate food and drink needs.

See you there!

Tomcats Forever

The annual Board of Directors meeting will be held on TUESDAY APRIL 29 at 630 PM. it will be held at soupy’s garage in Tecumseh, 1878 St Anne St. ALL Tomcats are encouraged to attend, as well as some of the newcomers to maybe provide a fresh insight into the future of the Windsor Tomcats. Even if you’re not on the BOD, come for some drinks and laughs, maybe even a “Snowpants Storytime”. Drinks and food will be served, and if there is a Leafs playoff game, you can be assured it will be on! 

Please let me know if you plan on attending so we can figure numbers for food. It’s a great time to finish off the year, discuss what went well this season, what we can improve on, and some ideas for next season! 

The MVP Life:

Want to know how MVPs role after the big tournament? See below for how Chico spends his days basking in the glory.

‘No’ Ghost writer names, ‘otherwise known as’ stuff, synonyms/homonyms, identifiers or any other ‘shenanigan’s’.   This is just ‘me’, and from ‘me’. 

Another year has ‘sadly’ come to an end and I don’t know about you, but I’m ‘already’ counting the days till the next season begins.

There has been no other place a guy that simply wants to play some ball hockey can be more accepted or welcomed; and ‘welcoming’ comes even easier if you bring a 24 – cause well Tomcats are an easy group to bribe with a good ‘bottle’, or two….

Tomcat nation features some ‘truly’ exceptional players, balanced out well with the rest of us ‘week end warriors’.  The typical Tuesday  season ‘algorithm’, despite its detractors, has been pretty dead on.  Hell even this tourney; despite some ‘first time’ Captains resulted in pretty tight games.  Now if we can only get the ‘Sparky’ time clock back…..

I also think moving the tourney to the ‘last’ day of the regular seasons was a ‘big hit’; but lets consider ‘moving’ back the start time….some of us just ‘aren’t’ used to getting up soooo early & ‘getting right to work’

In ‘other’ tournament ‘first’, a VERY RARE trade was finalized with little time to spare.  ‘Rumours’ have it the trade ‘might’ have included some ‘beer’.  Would you expect ‘anything’ else from a Tomcat?   

Speaking of the tournament, think of how it  ‘started’ : Captains Skippy and Rocky taking a brief moment to exchange team shirts.  Luck of the draw may have had the two ‘start’ the tradition; but each new game featured ALL Captains making a shirt exchange – ‘CLASSY’. 

Tourney results?   Probably ‘fated’ when Killer went down and wasn’t able to play. If you believe in ‘fate’ or karma; then it comes as NO surprise the Killers took it all – never once looking like they lost a step 
and Killer, (Seen sporting some fresh bandages to his wound), was able to come out and happily embraced his team upon their ‘most’ important Championship game ‘win’.  

Despite teams getting ‘bumped’ out of the ‘big game’, everyone was quick to congratulate the ‘new champs’.  

Way to go ‘Killers’ – and hats off to MVP ‘Chico’ and ‘Most gentleman player’ The Professor.  

Tomcat humility, cheering on each other and quickly forgetting about the game when things are all said and done; that’s the Tomcats spirit.  

A great season and a great day of hockey spent with a ‘great’ group of guys.   Is there anything better? 

Skippy

Tournament Details:

Arrival: 8am

Tournament Start: 8:30am sharp

Costs:

$20 to your Coach/Captain (coaches to provide full amount for their team to Rocky)

$10 to Soupy for pizza

Game Schedule:

Home     Visitor 

Skippy vs.       Rocky

Professor vs.  Kamikaze

Team Photo

Professor vs.  Skippy

Kamikaze vs.  Rocky

Skippy vs.       Kamikaze 

Rocky vs.        Professor

Kamikaze vs.  Skippy

Professor vs.  Rocky

Rocky vs.        Kamikaze 

Skippy vs.       Professor 

Rocky vs.        Skippy

Kamikaze vs.  Professor 

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

To determine which teams make the championship, it is based on:

⁃ Most Points 

– Best +/-

⁃ Most goals for

⁃ Least goals

⁃ Record against the opposing team

⁃ Shoot out

Win is 2 points, tie is 1 and 0 for a loss. Yes, regular games can end in a tie.

Games will be TWO, 7 minute periods Stop time last 1 minute of each period. Time between periods is 2 minutes, 5 minutes between games. 

Championship Game will be TWO, 10 MINUTE PERIODS. 

If OT is needed for the Championship, refer to Tomcat Rules on the website.

One 30 second timeout allowed per game.

1 minute penalties will be called for rough play.

Referee:

We will have a ref on the floor. Reffing is a tough job. Whatever is called is accepted. We will not tolerate any arguing with the ref.

AND LASTLY REMEMBER, as we have a few newcomers this year, we are all friends out here, this is a fun day to finish off the Tomcats season and have a few beers after to celebrate! Overly aggressive play will NOT be tolerated! For example, If soupy has the ball, don’t go too hard on him, he works very hard to set this tournament up, show some appreciation And let him have a scoring chance! Just saying…Let’s have a great day! 

“All good things come to an end” 

– Soupy Salaris

And just like that another Tomcats’s regular season has come to an end. On the final Tuesday night hockey of the season, the boys put on a spectacular show. Everyone looked in playoff form, gearing up for this Saturdays year-end tournament. 

In order to get a little practice in before Saturday, Tomcats went with a three goalie rotation. Terror, Bender, and Falcon, donned the pads, all making save after save, keeping the games tight! 

Sunny Cork Soakers – Soupy, Shack, Sunny, Hobbs, Big Ned, Smiley, Hurricane, Professor

Tonto Knob Gobblers – Matador, Tonto, Bullwinkle, Chevy, Snowpants, Animal, Chico

The Cork Soakers took both games, 6-4 and 7-6 respectively. Plenty of shots, great saves, and fancy passes on both sides of the ball. No one seemed to be “taking it easy” in preparation for Saturday, but it was all good, clean play! 

Afterwards on stage, announcements were made, story time with Snowpants, and a few cold ones cracked. By the end, more than a half a dozen tomcats stayed late to chat, share some laughs, and have a beer. That is what it is all about! 

It should be noted that newcomer Smiley (killers buddy) was one of those that stayed, he has been a welcome addition to the tomcats, and seems to fit right on with the guys. Way to go Smiley! 

Lastly, in a complete honest mistake by the Hurricane, after scoring yet another hat trick on the night, forgot to pay his $5 fee. When asked about it later on he said “oh, I didn’t forget to pay, I’ve been asking for a Seniors Discount for years now, and the board of directors keep saying no, so I figured it’s the last night, I’m taking my own discount!” 

You know, when you’ve played as long, and scored as many goals as the Hurricane, in my opinion, you could do whatever the F$CK you want! In a nice move of generosity, his arch- nemesis, and mentor, Chevy, threw in five bucks for him, stating, “I couldn’t beat him on the score sheet tonight, so I’ll have to kill him with kindness.” 

Also, a reminder that the Board of Directors meeting will be held a few weeks after the Tomcats season concludes, on a Tuesday night probably in early May. As usual, it will be held at soupy’s garage and a email will be sent out with date and time. All Tomcats are encouraged to attend, as well as some of the newcomers to maybe provide a fresh insight into the future of the Windsor Tomcats.

Watch out for an email from Soupy with details for Saturday’s tournament . 

Enjoy Guys

Guest Column by Haida d’Salami

 “On April Fools Day, believe nothing, trust no one, just like any other day.” – Unknown

It may have been April Fool’s Day, and the eve of “Liberation Day” in an America, but the Tomcats certainly were not fooling around! It was good, clean, hard hockey all over the floor! There wasn’t a single argument, trade dispute, or “Play the Ball” to be heard, just a bunch of dudes being dudes. 

Big Ned’s Bulldogs – Soupy, Big Ned, Bender, Hurricane, Shack, Professor, Labamba, Falcon in Net

Tonto Terroriers – Bullwinkle, Snowpants, Chico, Escalade (Dillon), Hobbs, Chevy, Tonto, Terror in Net

2 GREAT games of hockey! Game 1 even saw a pulled goalie with a minute left, with the Terroriers taking it 8-7. Game 2 was just as exciting, back and forth goals, and ended in a 5-5 tie. A couple Notes from the play Last night, we saw the return of Labamba, stating “my Tuesday night ice hockey league is done, so I’m only playing hockey 4 nights a week now, I had to get out and get used to the Tomcat game again.” In no surprise to anyone, he jumped right back in, making crisp passes, and great defensive plays. 

Amazing chemistry between Soupy and Big Ned, they just seemed to find each other all over the floor. Each with a few goals, Soupy claimed after, “I must have taken 75 shots tonight, and 72 of them I buried into Terrors chest!” Speaking of Big Ned, he ALMOST had the Tomcat goal of the year, in a little bit of trickery. He flicked the ball from behind the net to himself and batted it in out of mid air into the net! However it was determined that his stick was above the crossbar, BUT not by much! The goal was disallowed, but the effort and skills was greatly appreciated! 

Hurricane wanted it to be known that after his hat trick last night, he claims he has the tomcat record for most hat tricks. When asked for comment on this, he said “I basically own ALL the Tomcat Records, people should be calling OVI, “The Dave Hann of Goal Scoring”. Keep it going, Hurricane! 

Lastly, a nickname was chosen for Falcons son, Dillon, he will now be called Escalade, due to his choice of “And 1” basketball shorts from 2002. He showed some great promise last night on forward, potting 2 goals on the same shift. He’s really starting to get the feel of tomcats hockey and will be a great addition to the tournament. When asked about what he thinks about playing, he said “you know, when you’re the smartest, most athletic, and best looking of the Falcon Triplets, it’s a lot of pressure, but I’m the best Menzel there ever was, so I just go hard in the paint, and take it to the rim, err umm, net every time!” 

Not sure why he had to trash talk his brothers there, but happy to see him excelling. 

Only 1 more week of hockey before the year end tourney, make sure you come out next week for a final tune up!  

Enjoy Guys. 

Guest Column by Haida d’Salami

Great turnout last night and likely the draw of the annual tournament draft helped to have so many Tomcats in attendance.

Before we get into the hockey and the draft, we need give a shoutout to a couple of retired Tomcats. If you are still trying to figure out what it means to be a Tomcat, here are glaring examples of what makes someone a true Tomcat. First, The Rake always raises his hand to help with hall cleanup, reffing the tournament, etc. Last night, The Rake showed up with hot and fresh king-size pizza for the boys just because. Tomcat MVP move!

Secondly, while Soupy feverishly plans the annual tournament, Hollywood, also retired, spends countless hours helping the Tomcats and the tournament captains getting new shirts designed and made. These guys contribute even though their playing days are done. We should all aspire to live up to these gentlemen!

Now to hockey…

Teams last night were:

Terror’s Tantalizing Titans: Terror in net, Chico (not in net for obvious reasons), Big Ned, Kamikaze, Bullwinkle, The Professor, Chevy, Snowpants and Jamie (Kamikaze’s buddy with a nickname still to be decided)

Bender’s Beautiful Barbarians: Bender in net, Animal, Shack, Skippy, Hobbs, Hurricane, Soupy, Tonto and Smiley (killer’s buddy but not everyone is convinced on the nickname yet).

Very fast paced games with some slight chippiness starting (a watch item for the Tomcat board members). Tournament time brings out some heated play that we all need to check ourselves for. Rocky will be asking referees for the tournament to call this early and often so penalties will be handed out.

The Barbarians took the first game 5-3 while the second ended in a 6-6 tie.

Both of the new guys will be playing in the annual tournament.

Speaking of the tournament, the draft was held after hockey at center ice as tradition dictates. However, big news regarding the captains…For those not aware, Killer has had to have emergency surgery (twice) over the last week. Tomcats are hopeful he makes a fast recovery and encourages all Tomcats to reach out to our good friend. Since Killer was to be a captain and draft last night, but clearly has bigger priorities at the moment, Rocky will take over as captain for that tournament team.

“This year’s draft is one of the deepest talent-wise I can recall,” said soon-to-be Tomcat President Soupy who oversaw the draft proceedings. “First-liners on any other ball hockey team were still be selected I. The 4th round,” added Soupy. With only two spares per team, and with the depth and athleticism, guys better come in great condition!

While names for each teams are being sorted, here are the 4 tournament teams for the April 12th annual event:

Professor’s Team: Terror in net, The Professor, Animal, Eagle, Tweety Bird, Toretto and Smiley

Kamikaze’s Team: Falcon in net, Kamikaze, Tonto, Snowpants, Hobbs, Splitter and Shack

Rocky’s Team: Chico in net, Rocky, Swayze, Big Ned, Sunny, Bullwinkle and LaBamba

Skippy’s Team: Bender in net, Skippy, Dillon (Falcon’s son), Matador, Jamie, Soupy and Chevy.

Games start at 8:30am sharp April 12th. Do not be late. Game schedule to be posted soon. $20 to your captain for the tournament and another $10 for pizza and drinks afterwards. The full $30 must be given to the captains before games kickoff.

Get your shirt sizes over to your captain if they have not asked already.

While we wait and dream of the year-ending tournament (AKA Stevo’s Christmas) are you aware Chico has different shoes for playing forward vs. defense? Here is a picture of the shoe swap out between shifts last night when they moved him back to the blue line:

Great night of hockey last night with Bullwinkle in charge as Rocky and Soupy were not in attendance.

Teams (selected by Bullwinkle Algorithm)

Black – Tonto Matty Hobbs Killer Killers friend (never got his name) Poppy and Bender in net

White – Bullwinkle Professor Sunny Griff Skippy Snow pants and Chico in net

 

Game #1 Black won 4-2. The 1st period there was only 1 goal scored!

Game #2 White won 8-5

 

Great pace all night with stellar goaltending, both goalies making great saves all night.

 

Shoutout to the new guy that Killer brought out to showcase. For now, the nickname is Smiley, and he made all Tomcats smile by bringing a case of beer!

And speaking of beer, we are running low on beer. Seems guys are not bringing their cases when they should (or early). Take a look at the list and if you missed, bring out the beer next week. Beer night is an important Tomcat responsibility.

The Minister of Ball Appropriateness, Matador, thinks we need some new balls – lost a good one at the back of the stage again last night. The Tomcats have tried to resource some locally but they have either been too hard or not the right colour. Th me search continues to find balls that are just right.

Until next week, check the beer list and Tomcats Forever!

 Bullwinkle J. Moose

Poppy’s Pirates – Chevy, Soupy, Hurricane, Tonto, Professor, Bullwinkle, Poppy, Snowy, Terror in Net

Killer’s Deck Hands – Matador, Hobbs, Shack, Chico, killer, Kamikaze, Animal, Bender in Net

On a mild, rainy March night, we had a Battle on the Seas. The Pirate’s came out looting and shooting, rifling shots, making turnovers, and going hard in the corners. By the end of the night, the Deck Hands were left holding their Deck in their Hands yelling “HEY!”. Game 1 saw a hard fought tie 6-6, with both goalies making some fabulous saves. A slight adjustment on both teams for Game 2, saw the Pirates take it handily, 8-5. Another great turnout, with almost 2 full teams! 

Some notable things to mention on the night. We NEED to be aware of going for the ball when the goalie is covering it, or about to cover it. Both goalies had a couple good whacks on the hands, we want to avoid that as much as possible going forward. Also, the pace/level of play in recent weeks has really picked up. A lot more stick work, aggressive plays, and physical confrontations seems to be occurring. It has been great to see the skills and speed of our game improve, but let’s just remember, we are all friends here, we have to work tomorrow, and we’re really all just here for the beer! No incidents yet, but it seems to be trending that way. 

Soupy also mentioned that maybe Hobbs should slow down his shots, as he feels they are too hard, in comparison to his muffin of a shot. I’m sure he will take it into consideration. 

Tournament Update. 

We are currently sitting at 27 guys including goalies, there are apparently 2 players showcasing before the draft, and will then be included in the numbers. Officially, the Draft will be held on March 25. Draft order was selected by drawing cards last night. 

Draft Order:

1. Professor
2. Kamikaze
3. Killer
4. Skippy

Team Order for Scheduling Games

1. Skippy
2. Killer
3. Professor
4. Kamikaze 

Team Colours

1. killer – Black
2. Professor – grey
3. Kamikaze – blue
4. Skippy – White

A lot of options for a number 1 overall pick this year, who will it be? All Tomcats, new and retired are encouraged to come out on draft night and have a beer! 

Next week is March Break, judging by the responses last night, there should be enough guys to play, but that will be determined this weekend by Rocky. Look out for an email, and let him know if you can play. 

Enjoy Guys! 

Guest Column by H’aida d’Salami

David – Chevy, Soupy, Snowpants, Big Ned, Shack, Killer, Bender in Net

Terrorliath – Bullwinkle, Professor, Tonto, Hobbs, Matador, Animal, Terror in net 

For first time in a while, the “Tomcat Algorithm” was doubted last night. It seemed like David vs Goliath. I use this reference because, on paper, David would be a fitting name for these Tomcats, the hard working, good guys we all strive to be like, vs. Terrorliath, the big bullies, looking to crush the little guys. However, not to get religious on you, but this story did not turn out like it did in the bible. Some lopsided games proved very frustrating for Team David. Tempers boiled over a few times, mostly among teammates; nothing to be concerned about, just remember we are all here for a good time. 

Terrorliath took both games 13-7 and 11-8. It was an unreal display of speed, precision passing, and teamwork. 

Soupy, Chevy, and Shack were under constant pressure on D in the first game by the relentless forecheck of Matador and Bullwinkle. “I can’t keep up with these guys” stated Soupy, to which Shack replied, “you’ve got 20 years on Bullwinkle, and 20 smokes a day on Matty, how can you not keep up?!!” Soupy claimed afterwards that he is simply tanking his draft order in preparation for the upcoming Tomcat Tourney, which might be true, because he has been invisible for weeks out there! 

Speaking of the Tomcat Tourney, numbers are looking very good, currently at 26 guys, with a lot of young talent committed so far! We would still like to get a couple more guys to round out the teams. This may be the most competitive tournament ever. Rumour has it a couple Eagles will be returning after a 2 year absence! 

A couple guys are going to be coming out to showcase in the next few weeks, so captains be on the lookout for that. 

Great to see some of tomcats staying a little later to have a few and share some laughs. Hoping for a solid turnout next week, and some more good times on stage afterwards, as that is what it’s all about! 

Until next time, Enjoy Guys! 

Guest Column by H’aida d’Salami

It was a cold February night outside the Kapusta, Inside was like a Miami summer, hot, fast, and sexy. The play was quick and clean, the goals abundant, and the shots a flying. 2 great games, with each team winning one. 

Love Shack – Chico, Hobbs, Sunny, Bullwinkle, Shack, Animal, Griff, Bender in net

Soupy’s Sex Symbols – Soupy, Professor, Hurricane, Chevy, Big Ned, Poppy, Snowpants, Terror in net

In the first game, the Sex symbols got out to an early 5-2 lead, but Love Shack fought back with an unreal second half, taking the game 9-6. Game 2 was a nail biter until the last 10 minutes the sex symbols taking it 11-7. Despite the goals being plentiful, there was a ton of highlight reel saves on both ends, and great defence on both teams. 

Soupy is still looking for responses for the end of year tourney, still a couple weeks to get in. Good turnout so far, but definitely need a few more guys to round out the rosters. Waiting on a few regulars to respond. If you know anyone that would like to play, let soupy or rocky know so we can have them out to showcase. 

Chevy also bought up that the church is starting to sell pierogis again on Wednesday’s, with today being the first day for it. Let’s be sure to come out and pick some up, any way we can support the church! 

Let’s keep it going with a good turnout of guys next week, it has been great to see full bench’s the past couple weeks! 

Enjoy Guys! 

Guest column by Haida d’Salami

The Tomcats saw another week with almost completely filled benches. “We haven’t quite hit mini numbers but we have been teetering the last two weeks,” said Rocky. The Tomcat Algortihm was employed and while at first it seemed to have hallucinated, after two complete games it showed it is balanced and can generate evenly matched teams.

Speaking of teams, here was TomcatGPT came up with:

Bullwinkle’s Blanche Bombers – Falcon in net, Bullwinkle, Animal, Soupy, The Professor, Tonto, Snowpants and Big Ned

Shack’s Noir Nobles – Some guy named Trevor in net, Shack, Rocky, Hobbs, Hurricane, Bender (not in net), Matador, Chevy and Chico

Who’s Trevor the goalie you ask? He looked a lot like Terror, and played very similar to Terror but this guy showed up and was referred to as Trevor or Tremor so the Tomcats are still wondering.

While Trevor and the Nobles really struggled in game one by getting pretty much rolled by the Bombers, game two was a completely different story, seeing the Nobles easily take game two. See, TomcatGPT does workout in the end!

Hurricane was back from his Tequila bender in Mexico but failed to set the all-time scoring record for the oldest Tomcat to ever score a goal…maybe next week???

Young Ned was back out there and had a career game during game 1 scoring 4 goals. Trevor seemed concerned Ned planted himself in the crease all night and never crossed into the defensive zone.

April Year -End Tournament – we have about 20 guys committed. Need to get to 28 ideally. Please respond to Soupy. Captains get prepared to draft in March and think of team names and designs. We need to pull in Hollywood for shorts and maybe coach??? We need 4 goalies and 4 honorary coaches for sure.

Keep checking the beer list. Big Ned brought out his make-up case last night. Please be like Big Ned if you aren’t around on your assigned beer night.

Tomcats Forever