Well, we are now at the end of the third round of the regular season. It's already looking pretty clear which four teams will be in the playoffs, but it hasn't stopped the games from being very close. All three games this past Friday were all low-scoring games that all were within a goal going in to the last minute of each game. Nothing wrong with that!

In the early game, the Flyers clinched themselves a playoff spot by beating the Hawks 2-1. The game was one of those "Goaltender-Duos" between Mike Ward of the Hawks and Risser Wierenga playing in a substitute goaltender role for the Flyers. Both goalies were perfect until the Flyers scored early in the third period.

The Omegas extended their winning streak to seven games by beating the Cougars in the middle game by the score of 4-2. Like the first game, both goalies deserve mention. Seth Hellinga of the Omegas played another steller game in his first full season in our league. The Cougars' Shane Korvemaker held the powerful Omegas to under five goals for only the second time since the start of December.

The late game saw more of the same great goaltending as the two earlier games. Steve DeBoer scored his second goal of the game with a little more than five minutes to go in the third. This was the game winner in a 2-1 victory over the Stars. Josh Tamminga got the win for the Crusaders, while Risser Wierenga kept the Stars in the game. This win also clinches a playoff spot for the Crusaders.

I was not feeling well this past Friday and I did not see most of the games first hand. For this reason I could only go by the scoresheets to make the decision on Player of the Week. As you've probably already noticed, I made all of the goaltenders the co-winners.

This week's early game saw the Omegas clinch a playoff spot by beating the Stars 11-5. After the Omegas had an early lead, the Stars came back and led the game twice at 4-3 and 5-4. The Omegas came back and led 6-5 going in to the third period. The Omegas then turned on the after-burners by scoring five unanswered goals in the third. Between the two teams, there had to be at least five "highlight reel" type of goals. Jonny Wagenaar scored twice for the Stars and added an assist. Mark Zylstra did the same for the Omegas. I'm trying to spread out the Player of the Week honours, but it's hard to go against a hat-trick and an assist, so once again Lance Ross is this week's recipient.

In the middle game the Crusaders came out on top of the Flyers with a 5-4 overtime win. Sid Karelsen scored twice for the Flyers and added an assist. Jordan DeBoer did the same for the Crusaders. Matt Tamminga scored the overtime goal. He also got two assists. Matt DeBoer scored one goal and got three assists, while uncle Steve got one goal and two assists.
The stats for this game have not been posted yet because of pending suspensions. I will post them once this is figured out.

In the late game, the Hawks beat the Cougars 5-0. This is the second shut-out this season for Mike Ward. The Cougars were unable to cash in on a few mad scrambles in front of the net. This game also saw a rare penalty shot, but Doug Boelens' "hot stick" let him down on this one.

The early game from January 8 got a little rough near the end. Here's what came about in that:

Jamie Feenstra of the Hawks received three minors. He is okay to play the next game.

Doug Boelens of the Hawks and Matt DeBoer of the Crusaders each received "10 minute" misconducts. They are both okay to play the next game as this is the first "10 minute" misconduct this season for each of these players.

Sorry about being so late with this update. I trust that everyone knew that we had no games last night due to the SilverStick Tournament. The following is the update for the games that were played last week (January 8).

The early game saw the Crusaders beat the Hawks 6-3. The Crusaders were up 5-0 before Ryan Nutma of the Hawks scored his first of two goals in the third period. Ryan Benjamins scored twice for the Crusaders including the game winner.

In the middle game, the Stars were able to end their nine game losing streak by beating the Cougars 5-1. This win puts the Stars one point ahead of the Cougars in the standings.

The late game had the Omegas beat the Flyers by the score of 7-2. This game saw four of our league's rookies stand out as the co-winners of this week's Player of the Week honours. First of all Joel VanVeller scored both goals for the Flyers. Kalen Hellinga scored twice for the Omegas and added an assist. Zack VanReenen and Ian VanReenen each scored a goal for the Omegas. Ian got one assist, while Zack got two.

Guys, please hand your completed roster sheets to the score-keeper before each game.

I've mentioned the importance of the accuracy of these before, but I'm finding out that they are still being filled out with players that are not actually playing in the game, or that they are not being handed in at all.