2021 Fall Season Preview

HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!

After arguably the best season in JRHL History, 6 teams will take center court Sunday for the 4 th season in league history. Can the Silver Snakes 4 peat? Does anyone want Bird to win? Will Tomko wear smaller pads? Will Brian Kauffman’s hand me downs produce victories for Dean Carpenter? Will Hobor play defense? Will Todd show up for more than 2 games? All these questions will be answer over the next 12 weeks.

Before we get to that lets discuss how everyone voted for this years pre season Power Rankings.

#6 Green Monkeys

This very well may be the reason goalie Dean Carpenter reach out to retired tender Brian Kauffman for some new equipment. However, one of the most shocking picks of the first round will reunite uncle and nephew on the same team once again. Team captain Nolan Mock felt he needed some “back up” on the blue line to be as productive as he can be. Nolan then went with 3 forwards for his next few picks. First was former Red Jags, Zach Wesner, and then he scooped up two champions from last years season Russ Griffith and Ben Grove. Will Russ be in game shape after battling covid this off season and can Ben round out the offense with that pesky play of his. Last and certainly least was defensemen Bernie Seth. Rumor has it Seth will be playing with a chip on his shoulder after being drafted in the 35th position.

#5 Orange Iguanas

Team Captain Brandon Curtis may have been shook from the start by knowing he would not be partnering up with Nate James for the first time ever. Curtis went with part time player Todd Kamzik for his first pick while leaving Tre Pridgen on the board. Six in one half dozen in another as both these athletes will surely put points on the board. Curtis next pick, Austin Smay, will have to shoulder some of the offensive load and find that other gear if the Iguanas wanna find some success. Next two picks showed Curtis securing his blue line by drafting veteran Adam Stahl and steady eddy Mike Crowe. This pairing will challenge for the leagues best blue line. At this point in the draft the Iguanas already knew their goalie would be Tyson so Curtis used his last forward pick for a guy that spends most of his time on his ass (because Alan Homan puts him there), Steve Costic. Costic loves to battle down low and will do what it takes to get points.

#4 Silver Snakes

Interesting strategy from first time captain Nate James by only drafting one defenseman on his entire roster. There may be some early season struggles as someone has to help CJ Boxler on that blue line. Unfortunately, early reports show that the Snakes will have to battle night in and night out as no one wants 2.5 time champion Brandon Bird to win another one or even make the playoffs. Nate started draft night by probably the most predictable pick of the evening by going with stud Johnny Poloyac. Poloyac had a bit of a down year last year and no doubt will be looking to right the ship. Next was PC Callahan. PC is coming off an injury filled summer that left him playing little hockey. With all that down time he decided to ask his girl to marry him. The question is will she be marrying a champion when the time comes? James then eyed 4th rounder Zack Podrasky and 5th rounder Alec Devlin. Depending on how lines will be created, that may be the hardest working line in the league.

#3 Purple Parrots

First year caption Chad Davis got the steal of the draft with forward Tre Pridgen falling the whole way to 6th . Unfortunately, Tre may be missing some time with a broken hand suffered during the Jacob Hale Memorial Tournament. Rumor has it that this year’s tournament team was soft and couldn’t protect their star because Alan Homan was out with a covid scare and replacement Ryan Akers (your read that right) couldn’t command that presence needed. Anyway, I digress, Davis used his second pick to secure one of the leagues top tendys in Tomko. This marks 2 straight years Tomko was picked in the first 7 picks. Hockey Talk was on Chad’s mind for his next two picks as he went with the Seidel brothers. For those who don’t know these three men works footsteps away from each other so I can only imagine the amount of game planning that will go on week in and week out. So, no one call DB Homes for a house or SimCloud for computer repair for the next 12 weeks. Sign on the door will read come back after “Hockey Talk”. Unlike the Snakes who decided to only roster 1 dman, the Parrots decided to take 3 with their last two picks being Scott Bassett (back for his 40th season) and Derrian Matchock.

#2 Blue Barracudas

This isn’t the YMCA league of old. Captain Jeremy Hobor will have to prove he can play two-way hockey to get over the hump and win his first JRHL Championship. With his first pick in this year’s draft Hobor went with second year player Jordan Brant. Last year Brant turned some heads with an impressive rookie campaign posting 32G & 11A. Brant was projected to be a high second round pick, but no one thought he would be 5 th overall. Next up last year’s scoring champion decided to go with someone for his blueline by drafting league veteran Alan Homan to help protect goalie Matt Pfeil. Hobor then benefited by Ryan Akers not drafting because that let Duane Reed slip past round 1 and 2. Reed is known for his relentless work ethnic and always being in the top 12 in scoring at season end. So Blue now has two offense and one defense so it was time to balance that out with the big man with the big shot, Travis Turchak. Turchak will join Homan on a blue line that may be the best in the league, so people are saying. Hobor then selected the energizer bunny Matt Andrascik to round out his team. When its all said and done the Barracudas may be a team to watch considering they have 3 of last years top 10 offensive scorers and 2 of last years top 4 defensive scorers!

#1 Red Jaguars

The people have voted and those votes all point to the Red Jags holding the top stop in this years Power Rankings. The real question is will goaltender Ryan Akers head actually be in it. A lot of reports are surfacing that he is transiting to skater and his goalie days are numbered. If one person can pull his head out of the clouds its two time champion and the league’s top player Tim George. Tim started his draft off by selecting Bryce Bostian. Bryce will be coming off an ankle injury that ended his season last year after only a few games. Inside information tells us that his ankle took much longer than expected to heal and his ankle strength may suffer. Either way Tim took a chance and started his team off right. Next on the radar was the world traveler and Miller Lite lover Bryan Scott. Beezer is looking to get back to the playoffs and will pose as good support for Tim and Bryce. Round 4 of the draft brought long time hustler Cory Mesteller to the Jags. If they decide to put Tim and Cory on the same line, look out, that will be one of the fastest lines in the league. If attendance was ever an issue this next guy may take the cake. Brian Terek has more of a problem getting to games than that shot of his hitting the net. Maybe this year will be different. The Jags draft ended with their selection of their only defensive player, John Matchock. Bold strategy cotton.

Celebrity Picks for Week 1

Joseph Inscho AKA Joe Lee #LeesLocks

Snakes 12 Parrots 8
Jaguars 10 Iguanas 7
Barracudas 8 Monkeys 6
Most Points – Nolan Mock
Most Goals – Tim George