Famous, Run That Ish

Yeah, had to clean up that sentence. For those who listen to the Tim and Sid: Uncut podcast available through thescore.com, you'll know how it really runs.

The Wilkie Minor Hockey Association are holding their annual end of year Banquet on March 16th at 6pm. There will be games as well as presentations made by each Minor hockey team.

I am honoured to be invited to this event, and will definitely be there.

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Play-offs are finally beginning in the Bantam division of the Hiway 14 Hockey League. Game 1 begins tomorrow night at 6:30pm at the SaskCan Community Centre vs Kyle.

Midget Provincials vs St. Brieux are still up in the air, so I'm unsure when anything is getting done.

See you tomorrow night at the rink.

Don't Get Caught By The Rambler.

Tonight's the night. Provincial C play-offs invade the SaskCan Community Centre as the Eston Ramblers bring their 6-3 lead in to face the Wilkie Outlaws.

Keys for Wilkie:

• D-Fence: You have to tighten up on your zone defence and not allow scoring chances.
• Cool your Jets: Speeding by the the Rambler D simply won't do, making the smart pass and getting the feet moving will allow for a better success rate of gaining the blue line properly.

Keys for Eston:

• One Goal: You're up by 3 goals, potting one or two will drive the dagger in
• Volcanoe!: You have a few rough and tumble guys, use them to your advantage.

Puck drop is 8pm.

Onions... Baby Onions!

Ok, so its three days past when I should have posted about the Outlaws losing in Eston 6-3, but that gives me 3 extra days to Tee up Game 2 Saturday night.

Playoffs?!?

Bantams: Everyone's asking the question; when the heck is Hi-way 14 Bantam league play-offs going to start? My answer: They play Kyle. I don't know anything else.

Midgets: Out of league play-offs but they will kick off their Northern Finals series against St. Brieux. Unsure of dates yet, but they will be posted when I learn them

Seniors: Eston on Saturday. You win by 4 goals or you pack up your gear. Sounds like a tough task, but to put the 6-3 loss into perspective, the Outlaws only had 8 forewards dressed due to vaction and injuries. Eston had a full line-up plus 3 healthy scratches.

Provincial tee-up to follow soon

Respect in Hockey

The headline says it all.

No matter who you are in an organization; Star player, bench warmer, stick boy, fan/volunteer, music guy, It really truly doesn't matter. Respect is the most important thing in a hockey locker room. You dis-respect someone in the organization, you instantly have thrown stones at the organization.

It sounds rather cliche, but it rings true everytime; No one person is bigger then the organization. It doesn't work in any professional league, why should it work here? Give me a break! Whether you are a player, coach, manager or what have you inside a sports organization, you try and be bigger then it, you do not belong there. You represent the organization, and more importantly, Yourself. You make a ass out of you, you make an ass out of the organization you represent.

Simple logic.

Outlaws try to shoot down Stars.

Hey, you right my headlines then!

Anyways, the Outlaws start the Flyers comeback tonight against the Edam 3 Stars in NSRHL quarter final play-off action. Edam is up 2-0 in the best of 5 series. So shall we kick the tires on tonight's game?

Wilkie:

• More energy: The Outlaws have come out in the last 2 games with less eneergy then a sack of potatoes. A fast, hard-hitting start is required to beat the older Edam team.
• Gun is loaded: Finally, a full line-up tonight. They say a team is only as good as their star(s), and I think the best will show tonight.

Edam:

• Defense is key: Their defense is critcial is stopping the speed of the Outlaws.
• Roberto Luongo: Quinton Gauthier has been looking like the Canucks all-star netminder this series. he needs to keep his ridiculous streak going if the Stars want to have a chance.

In other news:

The Midgets are officially out of Hiway 14 league quarter final play-offs, Losing in Kerrobert the other night. This leaves them only in Midget B Provincials. They draw St. Brieux in the Northern Final, stay tuned for dates.

Still no word from the Bantams on when their league play-offs start. A few teams have gone over the somewhat soft deadline and the last couple of games only finished up this past monday.

Senior Outlaws play Eston in Senior C Northen Semi-Finals, with Eston insisting they allow Wilkie to have home-ice advantage in the 2 game, total goal series. Game 1 goes in Eston tomorrow night, 8pm start. There is a player/fan bus going, with a tentative leave time of 4pm.

Playoffs?!?

'Tis play-off season. All three major/minor hockey teams are officially in play-offs and provincials, so let's take a look.

Bantam Outlaws:

Unfortunately, they were eliminated from the Provincial C play-offs earlier in January, however, they are sitting 5th in the standings, and will play the North Battleford team, who sit in 4th, in the 1st round of their Hi-way 14 league play-offs.

Midget Outlaws:

They deked a massive bullet in Meadow Lake last night, losing 5-2. However, they won the first game of their Provincial B Northern Semi-Final 5-1, thus ensuring a 7-6 series win. They move onto the Northern Final, playing the winner of Tisdale and St. Brieux. As for Hi-way 14 league play-offs, A quirk in the rules state that the top 4 teams can choose any of the bottom 4 teams to play. Kerrobert chose Wilkie in the unofficial fantasy draft, therefore, these two teams play their 1st round against each other. According to the website, game one in Wilkie goes tonight, however, after talking to Head coach John S. Fenrich, he said the operator of the website can get trigger-happy with posting said games. So we sit and wait.

Senior Outlaws:

Celebrating their first Provincial series win since 1993 (I highly doubt I'm wrong), The road to the final four now runs through Eston. According to Head Coach Bruce Yockey, Game 1 is to be played Saturday night in Eston. The Ramblers originally had the home-ice advantage in the 2-game, total goal series, but were willing to give it up for reasons unknown. Play-offs: They drew Edam in the 2 vs 7 match-up, Game 1 was last night. The combination of playing like a sack of potatoes and officiating that the CNIB would be proud of, led to a 5-3 win in favour of the 3 Stars.

*Disclaimer: What is about to be typed in simply my opinion, and in way is the opinion of anyone else*

The referee, who shall remain nameless, called, by far, the worst game I've seen in 8 years of watching hockey. Yes, a referee does miss things. It's part of the game. Having said that, missing in upwards of 5 calls which developed right in front of him, and only calling the blatant penalties on the home team, is just acinine. Call me biased, but I'd be making the same rant had it been in the other direction. I expect the game to be called fairly in both directions.

Outlaws/3 Stars game 2 of the best of 5 series goes Wednesday Night in the Igloo in Edam.

Colts/Outlaws ramblings

Tomorrow night is Provincial night at the Saskcan Community Centre, as first, the Midget Outlaws take on the Meadow Lake Colts in Game 1 of the Northern Semi-Finals, followed by the Senior Outlaws taking on the Kerrobert Tigers in Game 2 of their 1st round. The Outlaws lead that series 3-0.

First, we'll kind of, sort of, Tee up the Midget action.

According to sources, the Colts are a hybrid team containing players from the S.T.E.P. (St. Walburg, Turtleford, Edam, Paradise Hill) league team and the Centre Four AA league. The Centre Four league team is sitting near the bottom of the league with a 5-13-1 record through 19 games. However, the STEP league team is sitting on top of the table through 20 games, with a 11-5-4 record. Again, according to sources, (because the SHA site is not updated!) Meadow Lake beat Warman 10-1 in game 1. Having said that, Warman is a sub-.500 team with hardly any goaltending, so we sit and wait.

Outlaw rambling to follow tomorrow sometime soon.