February 5, 2023 8:45pm – Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink
Muscle Hamsters vs. Voodoo Puckers 3 – 6
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=24610&mode=display
Video Link: https://youtu.be/eMCiw2yhZH4 / https://youtu.be/xEuSTIrHAnA
Goals at 18:50, 35:51, 38:20

February 11, 2023 7:30pm – Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink
Muscle Hamsters vs. Horned Broncos 3 – 3
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=24496&mode=display
Video Link: https://youtu.be/zGgs_BJu0xA
Goals at 44:54, 52:16, 57:49

February 18, 2023 10:30pm – Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink
Muscle Hamsters vs. Bandits 5 – 4
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=24502&mode=display
Video Link: https://youtu.be/_oZGhzgUmqI
Goals at 3:43, 25:48, 29:08, 30:49, 58:08

A loss, a tie, then a win. Does anything else show improvement more than that? We followed up our win against the Polar Bears to start the month of February with a pretty tough loss to the Voodoo Puckers, the best team in our division. The Puckers scored early and often, holding the offensive zone almost at will and pretty consistently finding someone open in front of the net, making it so hard to defend. Still, even so, we did hold them to less than 30 SOG, which is actually a bit of an improvement for us.

Okay, so time to shake that off because our next test was against the dreaded Horned Broncos. These matchups are getting more and more “chippy” as the season moves on. They have had our number for the most part this season, responsible for one of our worst defeats (9-1 in January). But this game was different. Our passes were crisp and on-target. We held the offensive zone so much better than we have in the past, giving us 36 SOG to their 26. Our first line (Quaid, Nico & Mason) were pretty dominant, moving the puck around very nicely and generating lots of quality shots. It looked like we might come up just a bit short, when Kevin knocked one through with only 4 minutes left in the game, and we were able to hold off the Bronco’s attack to wind up with a tie. We had one scary moment when Kurt Stroude went down hard on a shoulder that was already banged up. But impressively, he skated to the bench instead of the locker room and returned to the ice in the 3rd.

Now then, admittedly a tie is like kissing your sibling, but against a team that has stuck in the knife and twisted it a few times, it almost felt like a win. We carried that momentum into our next game against the Bandits. We were without that entire first line that produced so well in our previous game, but that’s okay because Shae was awesome as usual, and Kevin put the team on his back with 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists), including the game winner with less than 2 minutes left in the game. The game had it’s lighter moments, too, including a 4-player pileup and something I’ve never seen at any level of play: a goalie taking a face-off completely solo (https://youtu.be/_oZGhzgUmqI?t=486)! Everyone (and I mean everyone, except for Savage) was lined up on the right wing circle. The whistle blows and there goes Shae, whacking the puck out of the zone! Overall, it was a great win with a few players having a multi-point night. The captain of the Horned Broncos was in goal for the Bandits, so it was a lot of fun to throw pucks at him all night, and especially fun to put a few past him.