On Monday, September 14th at Meiji Jingu Ice Rink the Tokyo Canadians kicked off their 2020/2021 season with a spirited Red & White scrimmage. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the TCHC.
For a quarter century the Tokyo Canadians have been hockey pioneers, growing the great game of hockey in a non-traditional market. Tonight’s skate began the next quarter century.
Team White
D; Rico
D; Leon
F; Yamashita
F; Colucci
F; Tsukasa
D; Hartwick
D; Trost
F; Medcalf
F; Hamashima
F; WolfeTeam
Red
D; Holt
D; VanLangen
F; BJ
F; Yuya
F; LaRose
D; Takenami
D; Kunishita
F; Chawanya
F; Hayakawa
F; Meehan
A visitor for the Red team,
Take, who we’ll name ‘Europe’, donned a jersey with a dozen logos and advertisements. This type of jersey either: a) was a gift from a friend in Austria, or b) means the fella may have been played to play hockey.
Team White looked on with caution.Kevin Meehan began the night wearing a White sweater, but due to a mishandling of the puck bag and his kindhearted-nature, he had to swap jerseys and play for Red. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first player traded in the 2020-2021 season.Shu Hayakawa was a game-time decision and jumped over the boards midway through the game’s fourth shift, injecting a rested-body into Red’s line up.
Stephen Faulkner, per the NHL’s reporting rules, was unfit to play.White jumped out to an early lead with a pair of Colucci-assisted goals from Tsukasa and Jake Trost. Tsukasa finished a silky 2-on-1 while Trost hammered a shot past Eisuke Shimizu’s glove.BJ answered right back for Red with an innocent-looking but deceptively-quick snap shot from the top of the circle just over Takeshi Tasumoto’s right pad.
Fashion statement of the night went to number six in Red, Yuya. His orange mouth guard was stuck to the outside of his helmet and remained there as he played. It looked like an orange tracking device you would place on a dolphin. Rumor has it this was on purpose. Number six no doubtedly has a name, but the nameplate on his jersey was written in an awfully illegible Gothic-style font.
Think Meat Loaf from the ‘70s. Satoshi Chawanya scored one of the most memorable goals of the evening, firing a hard wrister from the corner behind the goal line and banking it in off of Tatsu’s pad. In his post-game press conference, Chaw credited his years of experience using a protractor.
Eric Wolfe, better known as “the guy who screams when he changes,” notched a hat trick, kicked off by a beautiful rebound goal and a Bobby Orr-like in-the-air celebration.The night ended with Derek Hartwick rifling a slapper past Tatsu from the point, sealing a 14-8 victory for White.Tonight’s Celliant Extra Effort award goes to Yamashita-san. His relentless and aggressive forecheck caused a number of turnovers. Quick sticks in passing lanes created a headache for Red’s defense.