Jokers live up to name in AHA Summer League

Sept. 1, 2014

For the second consecutive summer, a selection of C3 Spiders along with friends from the C3 Wingmen hit the summer ice for the AHA summer league, competing at Level 5 (C3 equivalent).

As is the AHA’s summer league tradition, the league named teams with a specific theme, and this season was a selection of comic book villains, and the name chosen for the Spiders/Wingmen is perhaps the most appropriate label ever for an adult hockey team: the Jokers.

And the team did its best to live up to the name throughout the summer. While the season started out strong, the comic book theme crept up on the Jokers, and banished the team, first to its customary evil lair (the penalty box), and finally crumpled and discarded for a more compelling villain story line. And after a not-as-close-as-it-seemed plot twist in the first playoff game, the Jokers were free to return to their more traditional summer activities outside, namely golf instead of hockey.

In the regular season, the Jokers went .500, 5–5–2, including a three-game losing streak to close out the regular season, finishing in 5th place (out of 9).

In the single-elimination post-season, the Jokers lost first to the referees, then to the Riddlers (C2 Moose), 4–3. Those Riddlers then knocked off the first-place Azraels (C3 Maroons) in the following round to earn a ticket to the final vs. the sixth-seeded Ras Al Ghuls (C3 Leafs, captained by former Wingmen/Grape-Nut Chad Nissen). The Riddlers were duly shut down, losing 6–1 to the Ras Al Ghuls, who took home the trophy.

In the stat leaderboards, the Jokers made a few appearances:

• Point leaders

  • Sean Murphy (15; tied for 6th place)

• Goal-scoring leaders

  • None

• Assist leaders

  • Sean Murphy (10; tied for 2nd place)

• PIM leaders

  • Harry Long (16; tied for 4th place)
  • Though Dave Lavigne would make a solid showing in the penalty box in the playoffs, putting his season total at 16 PIM as well.
• Goaltender John Fleischhacker finished in 6th place among full-time goalies with an 89.32 save percentage and 3.55 goals against average.

See full division leader stats.

In all, a fun summer, and a great way to beat the heat, even if the humidity occasionally led to clouds forming inside the rink.

Season recap

• Standings
• Scoreboard
• Stats