The Race is On!

"The race is on!" said team captain and local drunkard, Francois Hamelin.

The race he is referring to is the race to the end of the season and more importantly, the positioning for the playoffs. Taking a peek at the current standings, the Shockers would be taking on the Hawks, a team where the Shockers narrowly lost in over-time 4-3. However, if the Shockers pick up the pace they can easily move up the ladder as there are only 8 points dividing the Shockers (currently 10th) and 4th place (currently occupied by Special Delivery).

The Shockers have potential to move up the standings with their last 5 games of the season. Tonight is the Underdogs, a team who has been reaping the benefits of a defense-first style of gameplay and currently sit up in 3rd place narrowly escaped the Shockers with a 2-1 win last time they faced. After that we got Special Delivery, who despite being a 4th place team, had all kinds of trouble against the Shockers and lost that battle 5-3 at the beginning of the season. Then it is Mike Minkiewicz's brother's team, Subzero. Last time they face it was a showdown of no brotherly love and in the end result, Mike, took home the 'W' and the most points of that game. The second to last game is against Mobilart, a struggling team who are pretty much playing the spoiler role at this point since their playoff aspirations are fading out way in the distance. Despite Shockers winning last time 5-2, look for Mobilart to give it all they got left, afterall, don't you find teams who try to spoil it for other teams seem to play their better hockey? And last but not least, the Saints who had a rough start to the season walked all over the Shockers 5-0 last time they played each other. Shockers have to win that one or else they will probably lose a lot of wood going into the post-season and we all know how the Shockers do in the playoffs even with inflated tires...let's hope the Saints don't get to stick a wrench in the gears for the white-black-red.

And then there are the rumors...

Rumors already about the summer season? Yes, this is true. According to semi-reliable sources, there has been some chatter about some Shockers jumping ship to reform the now-defunct Damage Inc. who contained the likes of Mike Rossi, Mike Minkiewicz, Carlo Varano, Giancarlo Capaz and spare, Nick Petosa. That being said, if the Shockers lose these plays that means 90% of their offensive production goes out the window, Capaz does double duty for both teams again and there had even murmurs about the conspirers poaching players from the Shockers.

When asked about the rumors, Francois Hamelin had this to say: "There might be people talking but that is their business. Right now, the team has to keep focus on the playoffs and making this team go forward. The summer is a long way from now and no one is trapped to stay on the Shockers."

All rumors aside, the Shockers have a tough game tonight against the Underdogs @ 6:30pm. Look for the Underdogs to play their smart defensive style, they don't take too many chances, so goals won't fall into the Shockers' forwards laps.