Mayhem Wins Championship by Grounding NetJets

By Michael Davis
The Ohio Mayhem, the only gay hockey team in the state, completed its unbelievable playoff run with a 4-0 victory over the NetJets in front of a standing room only crowd at the Chiller Ice Rink in Dublin, Ohio. With the shutout victory the Mayhem earned their first CAHL Championship in team history! The team is comprised of gay men, lesbians and their straight friends.

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As usual the NetJets' fans showed up in full force, but the Mayhem fans were not to be outdone. They showed up in bigger numbers and were able to drown out the NetJets fan base. Mayhem fans showed up with their faces painted, signs in hand, and chanted "Let's go Mayhem" for three periods of exciting hockey. And their team did not let them down.
Once again Forest "Ace" Edwards started the scoring early. Forest's shot trickled across the goal line just :34 seconds into the game. The goal was unassisted. It was the only goal of a very exciting first period. There were no penalties in the first period either.
The second period saw the play get more physical. At 7:48 of the second period, Michael "Quiet Man" Davis received a tripping call when he slid to break up a scoring chance by Matt Larimore. Larimore went down, but received a penalty of his own when he tomahawk chopped Davis's stick out of his hands. Two minutes later the NetJets were called for another penalty when Chris Counahan was sent to the sin bin for elbowing. Counahan was getting very frustrated by the excellent defensive play by the Mayhem and by the stellar goaltending of Kurt “The Wall” Knazek. The Mayhem's power play lasted only twelve seconds. Clay “Too Tall” Irwin was sent off for roughing with 5:35 remaining in the period. Neither team could score during the four on four situation. Seconds after Irwin came out of the box the NetJets were called for another penalty when "Fritz" was sent to the box for checking at the 3:21 mark of the second period. The Mayhem was not able to score on the power play opportunity. But they did get a crucial second goal with just :25 seconds remaining period. Jim “The Driller” Pun put the biscuit in the basket after receiving a pass from Eric “The Banker” Caridas.
The Mayhem headed into the third period with a two goal lead and needed only to play twelve minutes of solid hockey to pull off their third straight upset and earn their championship win. “Ruthless” Ryan Jones scored his first goal of the season :38 seconds into the third period with a beautiful wrist shot over sprawling NetJets goalie Thom Wright. Matt “Leatherneck” Betts and “Too Tall” Irwin had the assists on Jones’ goal.
The last nail was put in the NetJets’ coffin when Udo “Wingman” Schmidt-Sinns skated by the NetJets’ defense and scored at the 9:53 mark of the third period. The goal was unassisted. Doug “Cowtown Bound” Massey was sent to the penalty box for roughing at 8:16 of the third period, but once again the NetJets couldn’t capitalize on the power play. Once the power play was over one could feel the energy was sucked out of the NetJets, and the Mayhem knew the title was theirs.
Notes: The Mayhem’s championship win caps off a season in which the team lost three players for the entire season due to injury. Mark “Pulitzer” Miller was lost early in the season due to heart surgery. We are all thrilled that the surgery went well and that Mark has been able to come to the final few games to see us win the title! We look forward to his completing his recovery and rejoining the team as soon as possible! Uwe Scharfy was lost due to a serious back injury. We also hope he will be able to get back on the ice soon and rejoin the team. Lastly, we lost Mike Miller to an ankle injury. We wish Mike the best of luck with his move to Maryland. We were lucky enough to get Jim “The Driller” Pun back from a broken knee cap just in time for the playoff run.
Special thanks to Mayhem rookie Kurt “The Wall “Knazek in goal. There is no way we would have been able to make it as far as we did without him in between the pipes. Good luck with soccer this summer and we hope you’ll be back in the fall! Rookie defenders Matt “Mad Dog” Reiter, Paul “Stinky” Betts, Eric “The Banker” Caridas and Mike “Softballer” Asher were excellent additions to the defense.
The Mayhem finish the season on a five game winning streak, and have won six of their last seven after starting the season 1-6.
Thanks to all the family, friends, and fans that have supported the team this especially those who have been there since the Mayhem was founded. We will need your support again starting May 11th when the Spring/Summer session begins. The schedule will be released next week and we look forward to going for the repeat!