The FHL Gazette

Davis unzipped his hockey bag, stared into the black canvas void, and blinked.

"Dude."

The locker room paused. Laces stopped mid-pull.

"Dude, where are my skates?"

"What do you mean, where are your skates?" came the reply from across the bench. "You had your bag in your trunk."

"Yeah, but where are my skates?"

"Check under your breezers, dude."

Davis threw his elbow pads across the floor. He dug past three rolls of half-used clear tape, a dried-up puck, and a singular, crusty skate guard. Nothing with blades.

"Dude, they're not here."

"Well, where’s your car?"

"It’s parked outside, dude!"

"Then go check your car, dude!"

Ten minutes before puck drop, Davis sprinted through the freezing arena parking lot in his hockey socks, hit the key fob, and tore open the tailgate. He searched the back seat. He searched the passenger seat. He opened the glove compartment, stared at a handful of expired registration slips, and whispered, "Dude..."

He charged back into the locker room, chest heaving, tape flapping off his shins.

"Dude, no skates. Are you sure I didn't leave them by the bench?"

"Davis, you walked in here carrying an eighty-pound bag. How do you remember your stick, your helmet, a cracked visor, and two left gloves, but forget the literal things you need to touch the ice?"

Davis just stared at his left sock with the hole in the toe, defeated, slowly realizing his ice time tonight would be spent running the door and operating the penalty box latch.

"Dude."

"Sweet."

STARDATE: 19OCT2026

The Orionid meteor shower is in full effect.  The Orionids are bits of debris left behind by Halley's Comet.  When the Comet passes through the inner portion of our solar system, every 76 years, the Sun heats up its surface.  The melting ice releases trapped particulants that find their way to and accumulate in Earth's orbit.  Twice per year, Earth passes through these variably-sized ribbons of rubble.  The rocks hit the atmosphere at around 150,000 mph and vaporize almost instantly, creating the shooting star effect that we see from the ground.  The number of viewable meteors, from a couple dozen to nearly a hundred per hour, depends on the size and magnitude of the rock field Earth passes through.

Similarly, the FHL's Galaxies have been lighting it up as of late.  Following our 0-3 start, we suddenly found ourselves looking for our third straight win. Chef was out again, so Contreraz was between the pipes.  We came into the game with 9 skaters and then Giuseppe went down with an injury early in the first.  We were forced to play with 8 men until Rob Hall could get his gear on and jump in to help us out. 

This wound up being a true back-and-forth game against the mighty Tornios.  For the first time this season, we did not score first.  The Torinos took the 1-0 lead.  Jack tied it up in the first, though, and then Bazzy put us up 2-1.  After the Torninos knotted it at 2, I snuck one past Sale that he never saw, thanks in large part to Hall screening him and jumping to get out of the way of the shot.  That lead did not last long, however, and we headed to the third tied 3-3.  With less than 3 mins to go, I took a penalty that could only be described as stupid and unnecessary. Stupidly unnecessary, if you will.  Or was it?  I've said it a thousand times... I've seen more SHGs in the FHL than PPGs over the years, and this was no exception.  Put my fat ass in the box and let the boys go to work.  Gates hit Jack with the long breakout pass, Jack fed Gates entering the offensive zone, Gates buried the GWG.  Torinos had plenty of pressure late trying to tie it back up, but time ran out on them.  Great team effort by the Galaxies, and a great performance by Contreraz, but the flashiest meteor on the Galaxies was Blake with his 3 assists.         

SuperChiefs jump out to a 4-0 lead and the Windstars get on the board in the 2nd with a phantom goal called by the ref. See my crash out at the 24:00 minute mark on Livebarn 🤡. Besides me, the rest of the team stayed the course and continued to build the lead and had our first multi-goal victory of the season. Rocco "the Rocket" Matera led the way with 4 goals, and Riley Try-hard stays hot with a 5-point performance. Thanks to Ruben, who scored 30 seconds in, and Bordeau for both subbing in and playing great defense for us.

Killer continues to turn back the clock. He’s been nothing short of amazing to start the year, and his record and goals-against numbers don’t tell the full story of just how well he’s played for us.

We fell behind 4–1 early, then battled back in the third. We came up short, but we learned one thing tonight: if you need a ride to the rink, call Brad Hajec!

We’ll clean up a few things in our defensive zone, keep tweaking the lineup, and then we’re going on a run. Just a matter of time

Notes for next week:

Albert owes Killer a new water bottle—maybe as a birthday gift.

Can we get the City of Lincoln Park to install a charging station for Jordan? Let’s see if we can fit it into the FHL budget.

Big win over the model T's who currently hold last place but i do not see that team staying there for long. Tough game with a lot of good oppurtunities for the model T's turned away by grashik in net. The man at the other end, still in his 50's had a good night as well but the W was not meant to be for him tonight. Mustangs 6th game in decide to take their first penalty of the season too. We also wanted to take our 2nd right after that. Fought both off well. Thanks to sub Coliton gettin on the board with an assist and a penalty.

Precisely what we needed to snap a two-game losing streak -- veteran leadership dragged this team to a grind-it-out win.

Strong defensive play all three periods from the whole team, and the subs fit right in. 

Great game for Adams in net, Lubig pots the game winner and McCaig was relentless all game (even with the sniffles).  

Old time hockey team playing for one stat: W. 

On to the next.