Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink – December 7, 2023
Muscle Hamsters vs. Rebel Squad 1 – 1
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=53553&mode=display
Video Link: https://youtu.be/856jNOZoul8
Goals at: 54:49

Tacoma Twin Rinks – North Rink – December 10, 2023
Muscle Hamsters vs. Polar Bears 7 – 1
Game Stats: https://stats.ttr.timetoscore.com//oss-scoresheet?game_id=52143&mode=display
Video link: https://youtu.be/856jNOZoul8
Goals at: 00:11, 23:36, 27:45, 31:55, 45:02, 46:09 and 56:54

After some tough losses, the Hamsters are getting their groove back with a very close hard-fought tie, followed by a blow-out win. We’re still in the bottom half of our little division, but if we can keep the momentum going, maybe we can leap-frog Rebel Squad and Well-80 to re-take 3rd place.

First up was another late-night meetup with Rebel Squad. They are a new team to the league, but are playing very well. The one major issue they have is control, which led to a crash into Shae and an attempt to remove Todd’s left arm (unsucccessful). Otherwise, a great and friendly group of skaters and tough competition.

The first and second periods were a lot of back-and-forth, with each team getting great chances, but either shots went just a little wide, or the awesome pair of tendys snagged them out of mid-air. Still, the ice was tilted a bit to our end, with the Rebel defense having pretty good responses for our breakouts. Even a pair of power plays weren’t enough for us to get a puck in the net, as we had some trouble holding the zone. By the end of the second, the SOG were pretty decisively in their favor, even though the game was still scoreless.

The scoring finally started just a couple of minutes into the third with the Rebel Squad squeaking one past Shae. About 10 minutes after a brief pause to scrape Todd off the ice, Kurt came off the bench, skated right into the Rebel zone and netted a nice little forehand-backhand combo to tie us up. We had a few more chances to score, but just couldn’t get the game winner in there. Ties suck.

What a difference just a few nights later. We showed up for our third Sunday 10:15pm game this season with 10 skaters. It was doubtful right up to a few minutes before the game if the Polar Bears were going to be able to field a full team, but they wound up with 7 skaters.

Kurt got the scoring started very quickly, just 11 seconds into the game, but the score remained only 1-0 until Todd finally got his first point of the season 5 minutes into the second. As it would turn out, that’s all we really needed, but we were not done by a long shot.

We pretty much dominated play, with our defense owning both blue lines, and our forwards putting together some nice breakouts. Kevin was up next, just a couple minutes later as part of his 3-point night including a pair of apples. Kurt went unassisted 5 minutes later to finish off the scoring for the 2nd with the score at 4 – 1.

By the third, the Polar Bears were visibly tired, taking the opportunity to sit down on the ice while waiting for an icing call to bring the puck back. But did we show mercy? Nope! Kurt finished off his hat trick just a couple minutes into the third, forcing him to play back and help give our defense some more rest. JR and Jim combined for a beautiful goal just a minute later to bring it to 6 – 1.

Then word passed on the bench: “Feed Riley.” Although she had already gathered almost a half-dozen apples over the season, taken quite a few face-offs and showed some really heads-up play, she still hadn’t gotten that first goal. Well with a little over 6 minutes left to play, we all roared as she put back her own rebound to get that elusive first goal. The Bears’ tendy was not so happy about the goal and the celebration until we explained the situation.

In the end, Sanguinet went home with Riley again, as we basked in the glory of a much-needed win by feasting on the cookies Riley had brought. Go Hamsters!