Windsor Tomcats

Harry Palm Press

Poor Skippy, another mini tournament and another disappointing 0-4-0 finish, the last being sustained November 15th – -which set the first Tomcat record for a team going 0-4-0.  Now Skippy has the distinction of being the only goalie to be shut out twice in two seperate tourney’s – no wonder one may think he hates the tournaments.  On paper the teams lined up and were drafted as follows:

Shovey White Chevies Chevy, Sunny, Falcon, Soupy, Yuri, Jingles and Hollywood
Shamus Sharks Shamus, Rocky, Stevo, Razor, Sparky, LaBamba, Hurricane
Spinner Stampedes Junior, Lovie, May Day, Cribz, Snowpants and Skippy

When the final whistle blew it was Team Chevy taking home the prize.  Stats on the night were as follows:

Chevy:3-0-1, with 7 points and a plus 5.  Falcon was a steller 1.5G.A.A.
Shamus: 2-1-1 with 5 points and a plus 2.  Razor was also amazing at 2.00 G.A.A
Spinner: 0-4-0 with no points and a minus 7.  Skippy was a respectable 3.00 G.A.A

Harry BALLSONUE already captured a great quote from Lovie, who wound up on the 0-4-0 Stampedes:

“It was a quick pace out there tonight and I thought a little bit chippy”, stated Lovie, “our team played well, but did not seem to gel.  We ended up minus 7 and I don’t quite know where to point the finger, and I don’t want to, but we could not put the ball in the net” Lovie had said.

“Not put the ball in the net” – anything else couldn’t have been farther from the truth as the Stampeders were only able to score 5 times in 4 games.  Captain Spinner had little to offer in terms of what went amiss with his picks, “Hey all I know is we played hard, and we all know when the ball is dead – cause I can show the ref what a live ball is that’s supposed to be dead”.   Umm, ok Spinner – at least it was good to see Spinner still had that fiery grit and determination post game as well.  Team mate Cribz was later overheard telling Skippy after the game, “You were a little off tonight, but still made some huge saves.”

Skippy was unusually at a loss for words when spoken to by media, “What can I say with these mini tournaments I have not fared very well going 2-16-3 with a 5 G.A.A.  My G.A.A looks high, yet I’ve had many a tournament night with 2.75G.A.A.  Teams have been battling real hard and Razor plus Falcon have been rock solid as usual in each tournament.  Just look at the goalies stats overall with the tournaments, which is why I still don’t get how as a group we aren’t getting the star selection.  Falcon goes 1.5 G.A.A tonight with another shut out, but gets shut out of the 3 star choice – crazy.”

3 stars wound up being:

Hollywood, Sparky and Hann

Tomcats figured Hann had to get a star, not just for his great play, but also because it was his birthday.  Stevo commented that “A star was better than the boys paddling his ass with their sticks counting off the years he’s been around.”

When I looked over I saw Hann quietly enjoying his MGD (Official beer sponsor of the Tomcats) in one hand, while the other HANDZONMECAC.

Yuri

By Harry Ballsonue

Shovey White Chevies Chevy, Sunny, Falcon, Soupy, Yuri, Jingles and Hollywood
Shamus Sharks Shamus, Rocky, Stevo, Razor, Sparky, LaBamba, Hurricane
Spinner Stampedes Junior, Lovie, May Day, Cribz, Snowpants and Skippy

Chevy:3-0-1, with 7 points and a plus 5
Shamus: 2-1-1 with 5 points and a plus 2
Spinner: 0-4-0 with no points and a minus 7

Fierce hockey at the Kapusta Kow Palace December 13…fitting as it was Hurricane’s birthday and the day before, no one other than Chevy’s birthday. “It was a quick pace out there tonight and I thought a little bit chippy”, stated Lovie, “our team played well, but did not seem to gel.  We ended up minus 7 and I don’t quite know where to point the finger, and I don’t want to, but we could not put the ball in the net” Lovie had said.

Winning Captain Chevy was quite happy, “Man, when we were down, 3-1  to the Sharks and came back with 4 unanswered goals to win, wow, I had a smile ear to ear, what a great birthday present”. Chevy had said.

Shamus: “we had a great Mini tournament and were right in there, we needed the Spinner Stampedes to beat Chevy’s team, but you can’t have other teams determine your fate, we should have played better in that game to Chevy’s team,  when we lost  but we still had fun ….and really, that is the most important thing”.

Even rubbing the belly of the buddha could not bring enough luck to allow Shamus' team to defeat Chevy's

Three star selection as selected by LaBamba; 3) Hurricane 2) Sparky 1) Hollywood

“I thought Hollywood had an outstanding night out there” indicated birthday boy Hurricane.

 “Sparky had a fantastic night out there on defence” stated Stevo.

Sparky who got 2nd star, did a super fantastic job filling the cooler with ice. “every beer had Ice on it”, stated Hollywood, “you can tell he is a pro at it and knows what he is doing when it comes to loading a case of beer with ice, it’s great to see”. Hollywood concluded.

Shamus ran the draft and was named as the Director of Drafts. “It is my responsibility to make sure the Mini drafts go well, I’m honoured to hold this title, I will not let anyone down, to be given this job, just means the world to me, I can’t tell you how proud my family is of me today”. Shamus had said, weeping openly.

Tomcats are also discussing if they should play the Sandwich Towne Skip Jacks on January 22. 2012. “I think it is going to happen, I just think final details need to be worked out” stated Sunny. 

“I will sit down with the advisory board and talk to them, Skippy has given us some lee way, I don’t want to control the whole thing, as it is his Sunday night, but he is a great guy and I think wants to see this game be played” stated Stevo.  Some of the provisions are thought to be, Tomcats would wear black, the ‘water ball’ would not be used, and that the money collected to play would not be a ‘winner dictate the charity’ , Skippy would use the money to the charity he wanted to give the money to. It was thought that if the teams played for money, then it could get ugly on the drill hall.

There will be more information on the travel game over the Christmas holidays.

Christmas Party next week, Beer, Rye and Pizza…cost you $10 for Pizza. And much, much more!

During the Christmas Party sometime, when you go to the washroom down stairs, I’ll put my Harry Ballsonue.

by Harry Ballsonue

Lovieville Flyers: Lovie, Stevo, Shamus, Yuri, Razor, Youngblood and the Raker
Soupy’s White Virgins: Soupy, Snowpants, Hollywood, Sparky, Hurricane, Mez and the Danish
Husky Eye Yellow Hawks: Spinner, Rocky, Junior, May Day, Falcon and Doc.

Lovieville Flyers finished with a 3-0 -1 record, securing 7 points and going a plus 7. The Yellow Hawks, finished  1-2-1 with 3 points and were a plus 1.  The White Virgins, named after Soupy, who selected a team for the very first time, went 1-3-0, ended up with 2 points and were a minus 8.

“I really liked our team and I thought we showed grit and determination in a lot of the games, I am very proud of the team I selected tonight”, indicated Lovie.

“It was a first time for me and I got to say, I was nervous, anxious and totally aware of what I needed to do, but we fell short tonight, I just hope I get to be a Captain again this year” stated Soupy.

“I am very proud of my cousin, he accepted the task and went about it as best as he could…it was his team and he had a great deal of pride in it. My team on the other hand, we stormed through well and my guys did the best they could, the wins, the losses, the ties…it really means nothing in the end cuz really all you want to do is have a laugh or two after on stage”, stated Sunny.

In watching the hockey, I thought the play was fierce. It may have been one of the quickest games of the season.  In watching the Lovieville Flyers tie with the Husky Eye Yellow Hawks, you could see that no one team wanted to make a mistake out there. Doc, scored the only goal for the Hawks and Shamus for the Lovieville Flyers.

Hurricane was scoreless tonight. “No Chevy there for me to show off to, did not seem the same”, indicated Hurricane.

The Star Selection as selected by LaBamba: 3) Sparky, 2) Yuri 1) Razor. Interesting selections, of D-man and a goalie, when you had some good goal scoring out there. 

A big solid, by May Day, brining 12 Canadian tall boy, ‘just because’. Tomcats love having him back, “I love the fact that he is back playing with us, I think he is enjoying it too, he’s a great guy and the Tomcats are lucky to have him back in the fold” stated Hollywood. 

Cribz was announced as the new Director of Officiating and accepted two new whistles. “It is truly a great honour to be part of this fantastic organization and to be bestowed this dubious honour of Director of Officiating, well, words cannot explain the jubilation that I am feeling tonight” Cribz had said.

The new Tomcat Director of Officiating proudly shows off his new wistle.

Tomcats are also looking at adding a Director job to Shamus, as he will be the head draft person for the drafts each week. He has been milling around the white board for two weeks and has done a good job.

Doc on the other hand, dropped the ball, not filling the case of beer with ice properly. Youngblood had to be sent out to get more ice to load ice on top of the beer. “It’s sad, really”, indicated Sparky, “I trained him, nurtured him watched him grow as an ice man and then he drops the ball like that.  It is probably the most important job of all jobs on a Tuesday night and for him to load it like that, a shame.  I hope he has learned his lesson and will do better next week” concluded Sparky.

In real tournament news, the draft order has been completed and the May Day Marauders have first over all pick, then Yuri Met’s with the third and the Stevo Sting Rays have fourth. Rocky holds his second over all pick from a year ago.

Colours will be Marauders, red, Met’s Dark Blue, Rocky Yellow and Stingrays White. May Day is A, Yuri is Team B, Stingrays are Team C and Rocky is Team D. Draft goes January 31, 2012.

When the draft is going on and all the Captains are sitting at their table in the middle of the Kapusta Kow Floor, I plan to put my Harry Ballsonue.

by The Falcon

As much as I don’t like the coach of the Leafs, he makes some valid points.  Tomcats should feel the same way 😉

Since the National Hockey League ruled there will be no suspension to Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic for his hit that left Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller with a concussion during the game between the two teams November 12, 2011, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson of Windsor wonders what action the league will take going forward in order to safeguard its goaltenders.

“That was a pretty hard hit Millsy took there,” Wilson said, “and it will be interesting to see what direction the league is going to go in, because there’s no white paper out there to describe the kind of injury or hit with regards to goaltenders, because if it was a defenceman, you’d say it was a clean hit.

“However, a goaltender’s more or less defenceless in those situations. They’re not wearing the same equipment, they’re not built to absorb a 250-pound freight train running you over. That’s the debate I think is going to go on over the next couple of days.  Should we be protecting goaltenders?”

The Leafs have recently been without No. 1 goalie James Reimer since he suffered a head injury after a couple of goalmouth collisions with Montreal Canadiens forwards during an Oct. 22 game.

“Obviously, we’ve had a goalie – I wouldn’t ever say what Brian Gionta did with Reims was deliberate – but he got hit really hard, and I’ve seen a lot of goalies get hit real hard this year. Remember, Reims got hit on that play, and two minutes later got run over by Travis Moen on a goal when he hit his head on the crossbar, so we’ve got to find a way to protect the most valuable asset on any team, the goalie. It’s not unlike the NFL and the rules they have protecting quarterbacks.”

by Harry Ballsonue

Jaguars : Doc, Soupy, Razor, Sparky, Shamus, Sunny and Junior
Rockets: Rake, Jingles, Falcon, May Day, Stevo, Spinner and Rocky
War Pigs: Mez, Danish, Hollywood, Hurricane, Chevy, Lovie and Cribz

Junior wins his 5th mini tournament, tying him with Stevo.  Doc wins his third, scoring a big goal at the end of the game vs. the Rockets. “I am a super fantasy team sports guy and I know how to pick them, let me tell you, I am the best. Really, there is no better.” Spouted Junior.

“I know I have said this before, but, on paper, my team, was the team to beat, we had it all, not sure what happened”, indicated Cribz.

3 star selection, as selected by LaBamba, 3) Rocky, 2) Razor and the first star, 1) Sunny.

“Sunny had a great game out there, he dangled, he mangled, he shot, he passed, he did it all”, stated Lovie.

“Razor allowed only 4 Goals in 4 games, that is a 1.00 goals against average, what do you think about that Zippy” stated Hollywood, who is still not talking to his brother Stevo.

Youngblood came out, but took the pre game skate and did not play, but he reffed, and did a fantastic job.

Youngblood returned after many months off with a groin injury to join in the pre-game skate with the boys. "It's weird, my groin surprisingly always feels great when I am surrounded by Tomcats," Youngblood was heard saying.

And speaking of ‘returns’, Rock em Sock em Mez made his season debut and did not disappoint the fans, notching a goal and a couple of helpers. Welcome back Mez.

Doc did a great job on the cooler, loading up the ice, and from what we could see, all the beers were icy cold.

St. Felix comes out today and should be already blogged into the web site for all to enjoy. Razor and May Day get thanks for contributing, with page 2 and page 3. Enjoy! Let Stevo know if you are in for the tournament.  He needs to start compiling a list. Tomcats need to know, if any outsiders need to be brought in and need to be show cased.

Last year, the Tuesday night Tomcats had 6 mini tournament all year, they just finished their eight on November 29……wow!

Stevo brought his 24 fine case, due to poor sportsmanship. “I hope my brother had one of the Brava Lights and will talk to me soon”. Stated Stevo weeping openly.

Next week Captains will be, Sunny, Lovie and Soupy.

Goalies for next week, Razor, Falcon and the Danish.

Make sure you check out the St. Felix after reading this blog.

And on the weekend, check out, “What the Tomcats Know” for all the latest and greatest insights for the Tuesday to come.

And speaking of come, let me put my Harry Ballsonue and let’s see what happens

Click here to read the latest Saint Felix.

By Heywood Jewblowmee

Skippy is organizing a game. It would be played at a drill hall located at 4007 Sandwich Street, in the old Sandwich Towne. It would be the Sandwich Towne Skylarks vs. the Windsor Tomcats. Normally, Tomcat management does not participate in such events, ever since the Bellwood School fiasco, but, they are doing it, as the proceeds of some of the money collected will go to charity.

The cost to play is $2.00 on any given Sunday at the Armories located on Sandwich Street and Skippy has graciously invited any and all Tomcats to come out on Sunday to play.

Taking it one step further, the Tomcats will venture out there on Sunday January 22, 2012 and play a ‘Friendly’ against the Sandwich Towne Skylarks, who are manned by Skippy.

“I think it will be a great deal of fun and I am looking forward to it. I think knowing the other team (Tomcats), as well as I do, should keep the fisticuffs to a minimum…at least I hope so.” indicated Skippy.

“We will go with anyone who wants to play on that night. We will need a goalie but will take both the Falcon and Razor if they both want to play. The Skylarks play 5 on 5 with a goalie, so if we get 12 guys to go,. we can run two lines and have two net minders….if more want to come, not a problem we will go with three lines, four lines, it is for fun and having a beer after.” indicated Stevo.

Beer is not allowed onto the premise, but the mess would become open after and beers are $3.00.

As for sticks, regular ice hockey sticks are allowed and Stevo encourages everyone to bring a real ice hockey stick to the game, along with hockey gloves and a jock. The ball used is the soft orange one that the Tomcats use.

As for a jersey/uniform, the Tomcats are still working on what colour they will be on that night and a further ‘informational’ update will be provided. For now, the thought is, a black Tomcat t-shirt would be acceptable. (If they really wanted to, they could go with the t-shirt provided last year and really look smart on the drill hall vs.the Skylarks….)

All Tomcats are allowed to go out and play on any Sunday and it might be a good idea for some to get out and see the lay of the land, prior to the January 22 tilt. The Tomcats will not be having a reciprocal game back at the Kapusta Kow Palace. “We have too many guys as it is, if we get another ball hockey club to come out and play on Tuesday, what does that do to the regular guys who have come out all the time and want to play.”Indicated the Rake and added, “If down the road the Skylarks wanted to play a game at the Kapusta Kow Palace on a Sunday night, enquires could be made to see if the Kapusta Kow could be made available on a Sunday night, but for now, there will be no game at the Kapusta Kow vs. the Sandwich Towne Skylarks.” concluded the Rake.

Skippy’s Skylarks are looking for guys to play, where the Tomcat have too many guys, so that is why no game at the Kapusta Kow.

In other news, for displaying very poor sportsmanship towards his brother Hollywood, Stevo has been fined a full 24 case of beer for his actions on Tuesday night November 22 and must bring that beer this coming Tuesday, November 29.

On January 22, at the armories, I’m sure there are nooks and crannies everywhere….if we find one, Haywood Jewblowmee.

You may have heard of Dr. Lovejoy, now comes Dr. Loviejoy

By Harry Ballsonue

Hollywood Hookers: Killer, Razor, Zschabba, Soupy, Lovie and Hollywood.
Cribz War Pigs: Shamus, Yuri, Sunny, Skippy, Snowpants and Cribz.
The Hurricanes: Junior, Rocky, Doc, Stevo, Spinner, the Danish and Hurricane.

Hurricanes: 2 wins, 1 loss, and 1 tie, 9 goals for 7 goals against and finished plus two with 5 points.
Hollywood Hookers: 2 wins, 2 losses, no ties, 7 goals for, 11 goals against finish with a minus 4 and 4 points.
The War Pigs: 1 win, 2 losses, 1 tie, 10 goals for 8 goals against, plus 2 and 3 points.

The Hurricanes were victorious playing some solid hockey on both ends, “I thought our defense played very well, we only allowed 7 goals and that bodes well for our goalie the Danish and for our defense, I though Junior was tremendous out there”, indicated Hurricane and then added, “He would have made a hell of a son in law, I’m sorry to see that my daughter never married him.” Concluded Hurricane.

“Disappointed, yes I would say I am, I thought we would fair better, but, still a good night at the Kapusta Kow and I know I’ll be back next week”, stated Captain Cribz, who as seen hobbling to the x-ray machine, as Hurricane had carved him up with his stick in an earlier game.

“Not sure why my brother was  so upset with me out here tonight, I just played my regular night of hockey, but he came over and told me that he loved me and shook my hand, I shook his hand, with a confused look. He was happy to win another tournament I think, so it all ended well” stated Hollywood.

Three star selection as selected by LaBamba: 3) Zschabba, 2) Junior and 1) Rocky.  All were presented with hats as a prize, thanks to some good negotiations by Razor. Zschabba, being the great guy that he is, gave his away to a fan. “Thanks Mr.. Zschabba said little Davey”.

The game was marred with a cut to the left eye of Snowpants and the crowd looked on as Snowy was bleeding, but in the end, a quick patch up job and a story about being jumped by 5 Mexicans in the alley, had everyone laughing, even though the word was that it may have been Rocky’s stick that cut Snowpants (thus the first star for Rocky….naw, just kidding Snowy)….originally thought to be the Danish, but he was so bummed about cutting someone, that the blame was put on Rocky.

Special highlights included the Hollywood Hookers doing a chant before their game with the Warpigs, “Shamus blows…..Snowpants” and then my favourite, before the start of the second period, “Shamus shat in Yuri’s change room”.

Over all a good night of hockey, but some chippyness is going on and head referre Stevo has asked the players to ‘chillaxx’.

One other point of interest, for those following the Tomcats on a weekly basis, Skippy, will be allowed to pick another team in the new year, as the net minders will be Captains again in the new year. “I am grateful for the opportunity and I know I can do better” Skippy said, with that boyish smile of his. Fans will recall that the Skippers went 0 and 4 last week a first time in Mini Tournament history.

I want to compliment my colleague, Heywood Jewblowmee on a fantastic article he wrote about Specialty games making a come back.  IF you have not read that story, then please take two minutes to do so.  Stevo, apparently has collected $350 from the Toronto players as they are ready to rock.

Next week, Dave Hann and Youngblood are to bring beer.

And speaking of Youngblood, I am being told by the Tomcat medical staff, that Youngblood will make his seson debut next week, Crosby returned Monday, Youngblood to return Tuesday…coincidence? I think not.

Interesting fact and I point it out as I know Stevo gets a bit bummed about his beer selection being razzed by long time Tomcat The Turk,, but I was told, that last week, 6 Red Cap’s were left over.  That is a first in Tomcat history, that beer is actually left over, now I don’t want to speculate and I could not get a single Tomcat to go on record to say why the beer was left over, but one can only think that because the beer is not enjoyed by anyone and therefore no one wants to drink it and thus the left overs. It seems to me that Stevo’s Brava light is never left behind and that all are merrily consumed. Like I said, I don’t want to speculate but it goes to reason.

Next week, the six left behind will be placed in the cooler for consumption, I am told.

Doc did a good job this week on filling the cooler as there was plenty of ice on all the beer.

When you are avoiding the Red Caps, I will put my Harry Ballsonue.

by Heywood Jewblowmee

Last week, a piece of paper flew out of Stevo’s black binder, in the parking lot of the Kapusta Kow Palace and got caught up right up against my car tire, imagine that! Well, I was curious, cuz it was a 14 page document and interestingly enough contained a 4 prong plan in regards to ‘Specialty’ games in a mini tournament format, to be held on the the night of the Tomcat Christmas Party, (December 20) for those wondering on what day that would be.  You recall the famous words of Stevo, on the very last night that ‘Specialty’ games were ever played,  “This is suppose to be for fun, and I’m not Flipping having any”. Well, it seems he may be softening a bit on the topic and has come up with a 4 team, Tuesday night, mini tournament format.  Games would be two 3 minute periods and he has established the teams, using everyone’s favourite NHL team as their team for the tournament and he indicated in his conclusion that he would only push it forward if each player put in $50 as a prize for the night, I will explain that at the end of the article on how he sees that working.

He combined Penguins, Flyers, Canucks and Rangers on one team, to make sure they had enough to field a team.

Here is how the teams are set up:

Rangers/Flyers/Penguins/Canucks: Wearing Yellow
Hollywood (goalie) Lovie, Youngblood and Doc

Montreal Canadians: Wearing White
Bearcat (goalie) Razor (goalie) The Rake, Junior, Yuri, Spinner and Snowpants

Detroit Redwings: Wearing Red
Falcon (goalie) Skippy (goalie), Sparky, Rocky, Bulldog, Jingles, Killer

Toronto Maple Leafs: Wearing Black
Hurricane (goalie), Cribz, Zschabba, Chevy, Stevo, Sunny, Shamus, Soupy, Crow and May Day.

So, how it would work, is the two top teams would play a 4 minute game at the end of the tournament, each team would play each other twice as they do on normal Tuesday nights. The games would be shorter of course, due to four teams being in the mini tournament and the final game would be two, 2 minute periods  (you have to get the game in, (and the whole tournament in) so that the Christmas Party can begin) and the final game would be played, for all the marbles.  Let’s say, Toronto won, then the 10 of them would split $900 dollars.BUT WAIT….there is more, The Tomcat kitty, which is busting at the seams this year, would match the prize money so the Maple Leaf team would then split $1,800 dollars.

But let’s say Rangers/Flyers/Penguins/Canucks team won, they would split $1,200 (players money and $1,200 (tomcat money)  that equals $2,400. That is $600 bucks each…something to play for…right?

The money would have to be collected in advance of course, Stevo had written in his recommendation.

Any way, it is just an idea right now, but this reporter, wanted to be the first to report it.  Also interestingly enough, Stevo felt that Para Medic’s and the Police should be present at the games, on a ‘just in case basis’, he indicated in his concluding remarks, “In the end, with what I know about specialty games and how they were played in the past and with each player playing for their own team in a mini tournament format, were they could win up to $600 each, a blood bath could occur and it would be good to have ambulance standing by”.

After the tournament, once all the dust settles and the Ambulance takes the broken and injured to hospital….Heywood Jewblowmee?

By Harry Ballsonue

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