The Steelers began their inaugural season in the ASHL (Adult Safe Hockey League) - by the end of the game, the newcomers to the ASHL on the Steelers were wondering 'what the hell kind of league is this'? Perhaps it was the bad karma created by Mark Lee who wore a dreaded Bengals jersey into the Steelers dressing room. This may lead to a new team rule - no Bengals clothing allowed - team management is thinking this one over.

Although the Steelers dropped their first game by a score of 5-1, the score itself was not the story. The Steelers' opponents, perhaps appropriately named, Hells Satans, proved to be a group of drunken or high 20'some year olds that showed no interest in sportsmanlike play. Many incidents occurred throughout the game that caused us to consider simply to skate off the ice. These incidents were about as blatant as you can imagine but we had the worst official in the league (trust me from experience on this one; Justin, Larry and Mark will vouch) who simply allowed the Satans to do just about anything they wanted and let the game get completely out of control. From body checking yours truly into the boards, to crushing Larry into the boards, to going full tilt at Chayim's knee with 30 seconds left in the game, the incidents wouldn't stop and certainly took the fun out of the game.

On a positive note, the Steelers looked good for the first half of the game. After a scoreless first period, the Satans hit the scoreboard first on a nice two-on-one passing play that beat Durigon. The Satans went up by two after a couple of Satan players banged in a rebound that seemed to have been covered by Durigon however a slow whistle allowed the puck to come loose and be banged in. Justin got the Steelers within one from a nice set up (but I don't have the score sheet and the website isn't updated yet, so I don't know who assisted - likely Larry and Darren). Then, playing short handed the Satans got a bit of a fluke goal as a centering pass was niftily tipped in past Durigon by Mark Lee (probably the prettiest goal he's ever scored). Then the bullshit really started and the game got out of control.

Today, yours truly went to see the league manager (Phil Horner) to discuss the events of last nights game. He seemed to be genuinely interested in the concerns put forth and will look into the incidents.

He stated that the Hells Satans played on Sundays in the summer time and never caused any problems - (I guess they had a few changes to their roster!)

Of the officials, he said that one guy was completely new to the league while the other guy (older guy with short beard) has given him concerns in the past. He promised to look into it to understand why the game got out of hand.

Oh yes…and of my suspension - I will know more as the week goes on.

NEXT GAME - Tuesday, October 3rd at 7:15pm

Once the game sheet gets onto the website we'll see who got the first penalty. Team rule - guy who gets the first penalty has to pick up the room key.