JRHL Update 12/21

The Gartner Division has a new leader! The Harrisonburg Dukes overtook Don't Toews Me Sombrero by three categories and the Polar Bear Rebellion sits a scant 4.5 back of DTMB, still within easy striking distance.

Gould's Grinders and Two Bit Crew continue to pull away from the competition in the Langway and closer to each other - 2BC has a .5 category lead on the G.O.D. Squad and both rosters are very, very solid. 2BC recently acquired Todd Bertuzzi, an interesting play with the Wings having as many injuries as they do - Bert is going to play a lot more PP minutes, especially if Holmstrom continues to look old.

Natty's Ice continues to lead the Hunter, but Deb's Goon Emporium and Cab Ride With Citizen Kane are less than 5 games out of that division's playoff spot. This division continues to show strong parity, even the 5th place team is less than 15 cats back.

The 800lb Gorilla roster, Two Prongered Assault, continues to lead the Langway division, but My Jokes Getzlafs just won't go away, even through injuries to its stars and a couple of underperformers. 2PA is still up by 8.5 categories, but an injury to a star could be all it takes to make this division interesting again.

Cab Ride With Citizen Kane vs Natty's Ice 7-3-0

The only two categories that were close for the skaters were PPG, where David Backes gave the Ice a last-night category victory, and SOG, where Richards and Hartnell combining for 10 shots in their Saturday game gave CRWCK the victory in that cat. Nicklas Backstrom's early week was enough to win all 3 goalie categories after Steve Mason got lit up two consecutive nights and torpedoed the Ice's chances to put distance between their division rivals.

Two Bit Crew vs. Dale City Magi 6-4-0

Tuuka Rask's game against the Leafs was good enough to steal 2 of 3 in the goalie scoring for 2BC and that ended up being the difference between a draw and a win. Rick Nash's gaudy shot total of 18 for the week and yet another outstanding week for Duncan Keith propelled the 2BC skaters over stellar efforts from Robidas (2 PPG) and Mason Raymond.

Gould's Grinders vs.  Let's Go Whalers! 8-2-0

Gould's Grinders really brought the lumber this week in a balanced effort - no one stood out as a superstar, but there was no deadweight, either. That was too much for Martin Erat's jumbo week (2g, 4a, +5, 11SOG). That and Ryan Miller. The Grinders look very well constructed to this novice's eye, I'm glad they're not in my division.

Winnipeg Jets vs. Ice Warriors X 8-2-0

The Jets got two consecutive shutouts from Huet to dominate a struggling Craig Anderson in the goalie categories and produced enough to overcome a poor week from Zdeno Chara (0g, 0a, -1, 7 SOG). The real story (to me, anyway) was uncharacteristically quiet weeks from Zach Parise (0g, 2a, -1, under 19 ATOI) and Corey Perry (0g, 1a, -1, 0PIM, ouch) for the Ice Warriors. You need your guns to produce something, or your going to get buried and that's exactly what happened to the Warriors.

Williamsburg Face Wash vs. Prestige Worldwide 6-3-1

Carle, Marty St. Louis, and Eric Staal did their level best for PWW, but ultimately couldn't help Dwayne Roloson getting lit up like the National Tree on the Mall. Just some ugly stats for Rolly (4.1gaa and .845 sv%). WFW got production up and down its lineup and John Quick continues to quietly produce as a fantasy asset out on the west coast. Kid is just good and having Doughty playing in front of him doesn't hurt.

The Royal Tenenbaums vs. Champaign Ice Beagles 5-4-1

Nathan Horton. Wow. He wasn't very good to start the season, but you can't argue with last week - 3g, 4a, +2, 1ppg, ~21:00 ATOI and 18 SOG is monster production. Monster. It was enough to get TRT over the hump, in spite of Vinny beginning to awaken (2g, 3a, +2, 4 PIM, 1ppg, 12SOG in 3 games).

Two Prongered Assault vs. Polar Bear Rebellion 8-1-1

It was the Rebellion's turn to face the juggernaut and they fared nearly as poorly as CRWCK in the 5th week of the season. It was a poor week for the goalies Mason, Chris was shelled even worse than Steve - a 4+ GAA with an .826sv%. Ouch. PBR was close to pulling a couple of categories; 2g short, 2a short and 2 +/- short of ties in each of those. Sometimes the dice just bounces against you.

Harrisonburg Dukes vs Deb's Goon Emporium 6-3-1

I'm very much regretting waiving Stephen Weiss - he's found some major chemistry with Nathan Horton as the Panthers heat up in anticipation of their annual fade to 9th place. 3g, 3a, 4PIM, +2 and a PPG is a very good week. The Dukes rode that and substandard efforts from Pekka Rinne and Marty Turco, combined with a great week from the Kipper, to a victory and 1st place in the Gartner.

My Jokes Getzlafs vs. Don't Toews Me Sombrero 8-2-0

Marc-Andre Fleury continues to nauseate Caps fans and carry Captain Murphy's crew. 3 wins, a 1.264 GAA and .9565 SV% for the week. Christ. Loui Ericksson gave MJG just enough in other categories to squeak out a few of them on the way to a 8-2-0 beatdown that saw DTMS lose 1st place in its division to the Harrisonburg Dukes.

Disgruntled Goats vs. Pervertedly Slow 6-2-2

You'd think a team with Joe Thornton and Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa wouldn't have any trouble in PPGs or A's, but both of those categories were ties this week. Radim Vrbata killed it for the Goats, but was offset by Ryan Kesler for PS, but King Lundqvist jumped on a rare down week for Cool Bryz to take all 3 goalie cats for the Goats.