The early game saw a battle of the two top teams so far this season. The Hawks continue to stay on top of the standings after a 6-2 win over the Flyers.
It was a pretty tight game for the most part. The score was 1-1 after two periods. The Hawks took control in the third - scoring five consecutive goals before the Flyers countered with one more goal late in the game.
Matt VanMarum scored both goals for the Flyers. The Hawks' goals came from six different players. We'll give Hawks' goaltender, Mike Ward, the nod for the Player of the Game in this one.

Don't look now, but the Stars are on a bit of a roll now. They won their second game in a row; this time beating the Omegas 7-3 in the middle game.
The game was fairly even in the first period, but the short bench caught up to the Omegas in the second. The Stars scored three goals in the second period & held a 5-1 lead going into the third. The Stars stretched their lead to 7-1 before the Omegas scored a couple of late goals.
Jeff Sit, of the Stars, scored his first goal in the league. Jason Hotke had three points for the Stars, but the hands down choice for the Player of the Game is Chris Helps. Chris had a six point game for the Stars. He scored a hat-trick and added three assists.

In the late game, the IceDogs came back to beat the Cattle Barons 7-4.
The Cattle Barons were looking good after two periods. All was going well with a 4-1 lead going into the third. However, the third period was all IceDogs.
The IceDogs got the ball rolling early in the third when Phil Nywening scored his first goal in our league. His team kept up the momentum by scoring five more unanswered goals before the game was over. Chad Barneveld scored his first goal in our league in probably almost ten years (see below for some fun facts relating to this). Chad followed that one up to score another goal late in the game, which he dedicated to his proud dad in attendance. Touching, eh?
We'll give the Player of the Game to Al Vanderveen , who scored the important third & fourth goals for the IceDogs to keep the momentum going. He also assisted on the game winning goal.

Fun facts, you say? - Well here you go:

As mentioned above, Chad Barneveld scored his first goal in almost ten years (just so we're clear - Chad has only recently come back to play in our league). Anyways, the last time he scored a goal in our league was on December 19, 2003 while he played for the Crusaders. The goal was assisted by Jason Hughes & was scored against Flyers goaltender, Nathan Wiarda. The Flyers won that game 7-6.
The Crusaders were going with a young rookie goaltender named Josh Tamminga, who was making some noise as the next "up-and-coming" goaltender of the league.
Another rookie, named Matt VanMarum, was playing for the Flyers in this same game. He scored his second & third goals of his career in our league in this game. His third goal in his career was this game's winning goal.

I'm not sure if anyone's still reading, but here's another fun fact from the IceDogs & Flyers game:
When Phil Nywening scored for the IceDogs, he became the first "Nywening" to score in our league since Mark Nywening, of the Stars, scored on March 26, 2004. It was a playoff game that the Omegas won 6-4. In fact, this was the game that the Omegas won the championship when the game was called with 2:08 to go in the third. The referees called the game because of a late game fight between Freddie VanReenen & Greg Wierenga.

Joe DeBoer, of the IceDogs, was ejected from the game against the Hawks for receiving three minor penalties. This was the second time that this has occurred for Joe this season, so he is okay to play in the next game.

This week's early game saw the Stars win their first game this season, which was only their second win in the past two seasons. They beat the Cattle Barons 4-1.
After a score-less first period, the Stars scored three straight goals in the second period. The Cattle Barons scored their lone goal of the game late in the period to make the score 3-1. The third period was quiet until the Stars sealed the victory with an empty netter.
We'll give the Player of the Game to Brandon (Chooch) Wilpstra, who was a force for the Stars.

The Hawks continue to hold on to first place in the league with a 3-2 win over the IceDogs in the middle game.
The Hawks had a 2-0 lead after the first period, and the score stayed there until the third period. The teams traded goals in the third, but the Hawks held on for another narrow victory.
We'll let the two goaltenders in this one share the Player of the Game. Mike Ward & Josh Tamminga both gave their teams the chance to win it.

The late game between the Flyers & Omegas saw the Omegas win 7-6 in overtime.
The Flyers led for much of the game. They were up 3-1 after the first period, and 3-2 after two. The third period is where it opened up.
The Omegas scored two quick goals early in the third period to go up 4-3. Then the Flyers countered with two quick goals of their own to re-take the lead at 5-4. The Omegas tied it up briefly at 5-5 before the Flyers once again took the lead with another goal. The game got a little intense and the Omegas put on some major pressure with their goalie pulled. It proved successful with Freddie VanReenen scoring his fourth goal of the game to tie it up again in the last minute of the third.
The Omegas took this momentum into overtime, and Ian VanReenen scored to win it.
Matt VanMarum led the scoring for the Flyers. He scored three goals and added an assist.
As mentioned above, Fred VanReenen Jr. scored four goals in the game (including the last minute tying goal), and is the choice for the Player of the Game.

I'm getting to this update rather late, so you will have to excuse the fact that it is a little bit condensed compared to normal.

All three games this week were again very close ones. I'm gonna go the easy route and name all six goaltenders as the co-winners of the Player of the Week. Way to go, Case Zylstra, Josh Tamminga, Risser Wierenga, Rick Jones, Mike Ward, & Steve Pastoor! All of you were stellar in net for your respective teams.

The IceDogs are on a bit of a roll now, winning their second game in a row, with a 4-3 win over the Omegas in the early game. Al Vanderveen of the IceDogs scored his first goal in our League in his first game in the league.

The Stars once again fell short in another close game. They lost 5-2 to the Flyers in the middle game.

The late game between the Cattle Barons & Hawks was an extremely tight game. The Hawks squeaked out a narrow 2-1 win.

It's hard to believe that we have already gone through one round of the regular season. Most of the games this season have been real close games. Of the 15 games played so far this season, 11 have been within three goals. Nine of these games have been within two goals, and most of those nine games would've been within a goal, if not for empty netters. We've already had three games go to overtime.
It seems that the trend is continuing this season, that each team has the chance to win any game. You never know.

This week's early game I dubbed as the "Fall Classic". The colours of the Flyers & Cattle Barons' team jerseys combined give off a real "fall" theme. (Hey, I like to entertain myself). Anyways - the "Fall Classic" did not disappoint. This may have been the best game so far this season. Both teams were going hard and getting lots of chances. If not for great goaltending on both sides, the score would've been much higher. The Flyers came away with a 4-2 win.
Paul Rutlage, of the Cattle Barons, scored his first goal in our League.
Both goaltenders, Rick Jones & Steve Pastoor will share the Player of the Game honours in this one.

The middle game saw the Hawks lose their first game of the season. The Omegas beat them 8-2.
Curtis Tamming, of the Omegas, scored his first goal in our League & added an assist. Jared Millberry scored twice for the Omegas, but we'll give the nod for the Player of the Game, once again, to Lance Ross, who scored three goals & two assists for the Omegas.

The IceDogs got their first win of the season by beating the Stars 6-3 in the late game.
The Stars got their chances in this one, but Josh Tamminga was big in net for the IceDogs. He made the big saves when his team needed him to. For this, he earns the Player of the Game.
Brandon Wilpstra scored twice for the Stars, while Curt Moesker assisted on all three of the Stars' goals. Duncan Vanderwal & Matt DeBoer both had a good game for the IceDogs. Each had two goals and an assist.