Tacoma Twin Rinks – South Rink – October 26, 2023
Muscle Hamsters vs. Well 80 1 – 5
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=53582&mode=display
Video link: None, sorry

Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink – October 29, 2023
Muscle Hamsters vs. Rebel Squad 5 – 3
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=52137&mode=display
Video link: https://youtu.be/EZErg1YQq4U
Goals at 4:21, 5:11, 19:16, 22:41, 58:39

We played a pair of late-night games relatively close together against the two newest teams in our division: Well 80 and Rebel Squad.

First up was Well 80 who, despite having a very short bench, being one of the lower-half teams in our division and one that we shut out in our second game this season, really took it to us. Without our brick wall named Shae, we had to produce way more goals, and that combined with their tendy making some pretty incredible saves led to a pretty lopsided victory for them.

The first two periods were a defensive affair, with their first two goals coming late in the first and second periods, respectively. We held the line pretty well, but a lucky bounce and a breakaway gave Well 80 a 2-0 lead heading into the third.

But then, just over a minute into the third, Kevin gave us some hope with a really pretty goal off a feed from Parker’s second apple of the young season. The bench was abuzz with comments about how they should get tired in the third, so we should be able to skate around them. But then three unanswered goals with their hot-shot getting an assist and a goal, really put the nail in our coffin.

Just three short days later, we squared off with Rebel Squad, who are doing really well, despite being a first-year team. They could be seen at the rink over the summer getting team lessons, and they even had their own photographer. We opened the season with a tie against them, and this time it was our turn to have a somewhat shortened bench, so we were a little apprehensive.

Appropriate for a game so close to Halloween, the puck seemed possessed by a demon, with weird bounces all night. They opened the scoring just 25 seconds into the game when a dribbler of a shot found its way through Shae’s pads. There were own-goals on each side, and a couple “knuckleball” shots, one lifted in the air from the blue line that wound up arcing down and going bar-down behind Shae for a real head-scratching goal. Weird stuff, folks.

Anyway, we opened up the scoring with Kevin pretty much taking the puck from the face-off in our end all the way down the ice to go forehand-backhand into the net at the other end. The LiveBarn camera could barely keep up with him! Less than a minute later, Kayla got credit for her first goal of the season when she was the last to touch the puck before a Rebel thoughfully placed it into their own net.

Late in the 1st, Chelsie put a sweet centering pass right on Kurt’s stick, which lifted it into the wide-open net to make it 3 – 1 heading into the second period. In the first minute of the second, Kurt took a nasty slash to the hand that wasn’t called (at 21:43 in the video), but Kevin hopped in and wound up feeding the puck to Adam behind the net who punched it out perfectly to Smitty who did the right thing and sent the puck into the back of the net, taking us to 4 – 1.

But Kevin wasn’t happy with just an assist and a goal, and had no empathy for a team already beaten into submission, so late in the third he headed into their zone again, and once more went forehand-backhand for the final goal of the game.