Sunday morning came and it was wetter than Bateman in a…nevermind. This was a slick one and we saw the speed of our A Division games drastically reduced which kept things tight throughout this slate. It was an exciting weekend as we saw the return of A Division stars Jon Hotchner & Pinto return for the Wieners, Andrew Sernus for the Mullets, and the Bombers missing a couple of key pieces along their blue line. Let’s dive in.
This one was as boring as it was wet as we floated through the first period without any high danger chances. The Mullets jumped on the Rapids in the second with goals by Jeremy & Sernus who returned from a two-week vacation. Sernus’ goal came on an incredible feed from Helinski which shows off his elite vision, the most underrated part of his game
With an empty net Prusia buried one from the low slot & the Rapids were back in this searching for their second point of the season… which they came .1 seconds away from as this ball trickled in just after the whistle.
After further review the time elapsed between the 10 10-second countdown start and whistle was EXACTLY 10.0 seconds, redeeming our officiating crew & commissioner Tom Ward. The Rapids outplayed the Mullets in this one but left empty-handed as first-line duo Olivas & Arkus still can’t find the net.
We heard earlier in the week that Jon Hotch would give it a go with his knee at 80% and his & Pinto’s return made a huge difference for the Wieners. Lafond started this one off with an instant goal, Pinto extended the lead late first & finished with a hat trick as Jon Hotchner assisted on all three of his goals.
*Editor’s Note: Damn this was such an ugly, yet beautiful hatty
The return of this combo is huge as with Hans they give the Wieners a lightning-fast trio to combine with Bateman & JY’s skill. Forbes found the net in the second to get his first of the season, but the Hoolies struggled as they were short-handed again without AZ or Ashley.
The Bombers trio of offensive stars all contributed here as Wood also added two assists as he takes the A Division lead in points with 10.
Frustration for the Rapids boiled over in this one as Jayden took a crosscheck on Bombers’ Captain Mike Campbell in the second then added a goal in the third that was too little too late. Campbell showed his commitment to the Bombers by showing up to both games after arriving from Vegas on only one hour of sleep. Per sources we can confirm this was for WORK, not pleasure. The Rapids REALLY need goals from the top of their lineup as Steckler now leads the team with 3. The Bombers played this one without stud defenseman Caleb Brownlow who was suspended for this weekend’s games, along with Pete Becht.
The Mullets missed a ton of close chances early in this game as the typically deadly Jeremy-Helinski combo couldn’t connect. This was kind of a snooze-fest until the third when Q and Forbes ripped out back-to-back goals to start the period, and just like that the Mullets were in trouble until 1:39 left in the third. Zack McKenna shot one out from the defensive zone that skimmed the far backboard on its way out of play; however, once the ball contacted the backboard it negated any potential delay of game penalty. The Mullets won the following faceoff as Sernus blasted home his second of the day then Helinski finished a dirty goal 35 seconds later to tie this game and keep the Mullets undefeated on the day.
The Hooligans had a couple of chances late yet Hickey was able to stone Q and keep this one even.
The Hoolies really missed Andy Zachowicz in this one as they didn’t have anyone on the team to consistently set up their snipers & have been disappointing this season playing far from their potential.
We saw a much less explosive second game for the Wieners as they struggled offensively throughout this one in the wet conditions. Keenan won a 50/50 ball and Wood buried one top corner to take the lead, and the Bombers played great team defense for 99% of this game but slipped up in the final seconds.
With a 1-0 lead Greco took a dumb holding penalty on Pinto outside of the crease and the Wieners took advantage of the extra man & pulled goalie to free Hans up at the short point with the Bombers scrambling…
…and he absolutely stroked this one home to put both teams undefeated on the weekend. This result saw the Wieners jump to third place in our standings and out of a potential single-elimination playoff matchup. With a hat trick in his first game and drawing a difference-making penalty in the second, Ethan Pinto is CSHL Insider’s A Division Player of the Week.
This season is not going the way the Cowbell had hoped as they sit last in the B Division in goals with 8 & go up against the early-season behemoth that is the Charlottans. The start was once again disappointing as Matt Bowser scored in the second minute beating Cummings at the low post.
Karson scored a bad-angle shot to tie this one amid four penalties in the period. The third saw three more penalties as this one settled in for a 1-1 tie as the Charlottans were unable to get B Division leading goalscorer Jeff Kennedy going.
We finally saw the Fridge Raiders team break out as a big second half of this game gave them their first win of the season. Trent Derrick scored the first CSHL goal of his career on a perfect pass from his captain…
…and Mike Warren joined the party shortly after to give them a 2-0 lead through the heart of the second. Jerry Janiga closed the gap with under a minute left in the period and this one stayed close until a Joe Berg breakout with 2 minutes left in the game as he put in a pair of goals to seal this one 4-1 for the boys in blue.
In the battle between B Division’s biggest rivalry didn’t get quite the close game CSHL is accustomed to between these squads. Shorthanded without Rios (illness), Weber (injury) and Jenny (idk) High Voltage jumped out ahead with three goals in the first period. We didn’t see any other action until the early third when Joe P blasted one past the High Voltage goalie to close the gap.
We saw eight penalties total in this one with seven coming in the third as multiple roughings, unsportsmanlike conducts and a too many men were called.
*Editors Note: Friendly reminder after the unsportsmanlike conducts if players are going to make fun of their opponents please do so about their hockey ability & not physical appearance.
High Voltage were able to score late while shorthanded as Lavella fed one over to Tom C to seal this game 4-1.
Earlier this year and in Fall ‘23 Nick rips that shot on net, which isn't a BAD play, however taking the time to slide this over to Tom C for the finish is a jump in vision & IQ that is scary for other B-League teams.
Erik May started off the scoring here for the Cowbell putting one in around the net then Jacob Janiga put Matt Henry in a blender and set up Brownlow for a snipe to make this 2-0 out of the gate.
Jacob scored a rebound with time running out in the first then Kaden Walston buried a one-timer from Cole Heslin to open the second as the far side of the rink stayed heavy with action. Hill took a slick pass from Janiga then fed him back around the diving Steck to extend the Flying V’s lead once again to two. Colin Barrier came in hot off the bench and immediately sniped one top bins on Bergie but it wasn’t enough as the Cowbell couldn’t finish late.
I want to highlight Jacob Janiga a bit as he’s currently the runaway favorite for CSHL Insider’s Rookie of the Year Award. The play he made around Henry shows how Jacob’s able to find pockets of space and slow the game down rather than just continue the constant battering ram that is CSHL’s B Division. Having players that can control tempo is huge as there aren’t many of them at that level.
A matchup of polar opposites as the High Voltage experience faced off against the Fridge Raiders’ speed…and we had to wait a period for the action to get started as Mahoski & Drake made some big stops to keep this tilt tied. Tom C buried one to take the lead and then Bouldry tied things up with a bad angle snipe to tie this up (16:04 in the video and I can't for the life of me tell if it went in or not), then Beachy absolutely ripped one to give the Raiders a lead going into the third, or so we thought…
So Steck made the correct call on this, originally calling the ball in the net then bouncing out off the back bar and you can hear the two posts ring. The mistake here wasn’t the original call, but changing it after consulting with the ten-year-olds behind the net, which is a bananaland move. For this our CSHL Insider Not Top Play of the Week goes to Uncle Steck for not only changing a call because of a spectator’s reaction, but especially because they were kids whose parents' team benefited from the changed call.
High Voltage went on to rip off four in a dominating third period as Nick Lavella had another incredible performance as he finished with 3G and 3A, earning himself CSHL Insider B Division Player of the Week.
We caught up with Captain Tom Carriero after the week to check if Rios’ alternate captaincy is in doubt after this week’s results:
“Absolutely not!!! We did it for him!!!” - Tom C
Click game title for WK3 videos
All week two photos can be found HERE.
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