Well, sort of.
The top two all-time leading scorers for the Rubes are making their return to the roster this fall. Sagard (133-128=261) and Bacardio (119-103=222) are back with the Rubes!! Well, they're not all the way back with the Rubes. They are only on the sub roster. But at least they are back!

After leaving the team for personal reasons the past few years, it will be nice to have them back on the team. Sagard broke his leg riding his big wheel off road last fall and Bacardio was busy studying Karate in San Fransisco's China town. I guess those are good reasons as to why they were gone, but I am not so sure.

Stang has tried to fill the lost offense from these guys over the past few years, but it has not been enough to fill the void of their absence. The fact is, the team has been on the decline in the past few years. They have not made a Championship game in 3 years. That is a long drought for the Rubes. Management hopes that Sagard & Bacardio's return will help rejuvenate the lack of offense and help lead the team back to the runner up status they had in the past.

As for the Fall 2010 season, it's tough to tell how well the team will come together. The Rubes are not getting any younger. With 3 guys over 40, it's not gonna be easy to be in the upper echelon of the D league. Hopefully the return of the dynamic duo will help get things back on track for the Rubes.

Associated Press - In an effort to make the awards the league hands out more meaningful, there was a unanimous vote by all the owners to change the name of the "Goat of the Week", the award handed out to the player that does the least to help the team. (Or most, depending on the outcome of the game) Following is the press release:

"After much deliberation, and sifting through potential corporate sponsorships, we are proud to introduce the PEANUT AWARD. Given weekly to the Rube that best exemplifies everything that is NOT Rubes Hockey, the player will not only be single out and harshly criticized, but they will also receive a prize donated by the corporate sponsor, Planter's Peanuts. We would also like to thank Planter's for donating their Mr. Peanut logo to the weekly award, which will be presented on the Sunday after each game.

With that, we are ecstatic to present the first ever PEANUT AWARD to Rubes forward, Dennis Forster. Not only has Dennis' play generally decreased over the years, resulting in more penalties than points, but he has also shown a complete lack of respect for his teammates by missing quite a few games. By missing 3 games in a row, Dennis has launched himself to the forefront for this weeks award. Congratulations Dennis. Your contributions to Rubes Hockey does not go unnoticed"

The Rubes have dropped to 5th place after losing back-to-back games. A 5-1 loss to the Pipers and a 4-2 loss to the Feisty Goats.... It's not looking good with the MudHens up next.

7-2 and 2-0

Even though Hockeybum posted his first shutout of the season, all he could talk about after the game was the shaky "D" played in front of him. His view of the D would not have been so negative had he not been called up to the Chiefs for a game right after the Rubes game. The "big club" played tight in front of him and moved the puck well. Something that could not be said in the game prior.

Every defenseman on the Rubes had at least one shift they would like to forget. There were whiffed passes(Blueliner), poor breakup attempts(Lindy), horrendous passing(Gebs) and even worse stickhandling(pjoyn). All that aside, HB was still able to keep every shot out of the net. After the Chiefs game, with most of the Rubes in attendance, Hockeybum was quoted as saying, "Now that is how you play defense." An obvious shot at his D-league couterparts that were within earshot. It remains to be seen how "motivated" the defense is next week.

As poor as the defense was, the offense seemed to have woken up after the winless start. Pjoyn got the scoring started with a brilliant tip-in past the Renegades goalie after a nice setup by Stang. Stang really seemed to be playing with passion on this night. When the team left the locker room, Stang was seen caressing a tattered picture of Megan Fox and then putting it back into his bag. When asked about it, he flatly denied it and stormed out of the room mumbling something about Kate Beckinsale.



On loan from Tallahassee Warthogs, jamo potted the second goal of the evening. Crisp passing between Rookie and Stang let jamo work his way the front of the net and bang it home. Stang then worked his own little magic in front of the net to push the score to 3-0. The 4th goal of the night, many say the goal of the year, was scored by pjoyn (writers perrogative) when he ripped a laser of a shot along the ice, through the five-hole and into the back of the net. It wasn't so much the speed or accuracy of the shot that amazed his teammates, but rather the deft and uncanny way he circled the zone. Twice he skated the perimeter, weaving in and out of the Renegades D, until he found the soft spot, turned and buried the shot.

"Amazing" - Boob
"Lindy-esque" - Bacardio
"I wish my Dad was like him" - Jakob Sprague
"I wish he played D like he shoots" - Hockeybum

The win pushes the Rubes record to 1-1-2. It seems unlikely that a second win will come next week as half of the team seems to be coming down the dreaded Purple Kool-aid Virus. Extra oxygen tanks have been ordered and the paramedics will be close by for the game.

Notes: Points were recorded by (Jamo -1G; Rookie - 2A; LC19 - 1A; Stang - 1G/2A; pjoyn - 2G)....Pjoyn's 2 goals gave him 60 points in his career....Hockeybum's shutout was the 7th of his Rubes career...Jup missed his first game since July 27, 2004 (149 straight) for family reasons.

After getting thrashed against the Bombers in the opening game, the Rubes played much better in a 2-2 tie against the league's top team. The Rubes #1 goaltender HockeyBum decided to let Old Pirate play net so he could skate out at forward. Sounds like that was a great decision since he sparked the Rubes with the first goal and assisting on the tying goal. Of course, the game did start like a typical Rubes game. The Bombers, even though outplayed managed to get a 2-0 lead. But the Rubes stayed strong and eventually tied it when Stang got a shot through a lot of traffic to beat the Bombers goalie for the game tying goal.

During their previous tie game with the MudHens last season, it was the Rubes that gave up a big lead in the 3rd period. Monday night, the roles were reversed as the Rubes overcame a 4 goal deficit leading to a 4-4 tie with their arch rival.

During the post game news conference, the MudHens were not happy with the way the game turned out. "I can't believe we lost a 4 goal lead" said MudHens superstar Brian Maloney. "I am pissed off!!! This is unacceptable!" he added. Maloney had a great game for the MudHens with 2 goals and 2 assists. But he could not prevent the collapse by the MudHens. "I am pretty upset about this result. We haven't played this bad since we gave up a 4 goal 3rd period lead back in 2005." noted MudHen forward Jessica Christopherson. What she may not remember was that the game back in 2005 was against the Rubes.

As usual, the Rubes started off slow giving up 3 goals in the 1st period. The MudHens made it 4-0 before St. Clown scored his first career goal for the Rubes cutting the lead to 3. Then came the hectic 3rd period when the Rubes finally woke up. A goal by Rookie and a 5 on 3 powerplay goal by Stang got the Rubes within one. The Rubes tied it with a huge individual effort by Rookie. He battled behind the net and managed to get the puck out front where he sniped a upper corner shot over the MudHen goal-tender's glove. The Rubes then held on tight for the tie having to kill a penalty in the last 3 minutes of the game.

Wednesday night the Rubes play their 2nd game in three days when they face off against the Bombers again. The Rubes have a lot to prove after getting pounded by the Bombers last week 7-3.

Maybe the Rubes should just skip the first game of every season. For the 4th season in a row, the Rubes opened with a loss. This time is was a 7-3 drubbing by the Bombers. As with those other opening losses, it was the first period that killed the Rubes. By the time the first period horn sounded, it was already 5-0 Bombers.

Once out of the first period, the game was fairly equal. The Rubes did struggle getting offensive pressure, but the Meat line did pop in a few goals. Of course the game would have been much closer if the Goat of the Game Jupiter, would have actually converted one or two of his five wide open chances in front of the net. Overall the Rubes just looked old and slow.... Especially the Fat Planet.

Now the Rubes move on to play the MudHens, who are the Rubes biggest rival. Well, I guess it has not been much of a rival lately with the MudHens. They are 5-0-2 against the Rubes in the last 7 games. Overall, the MudHens lead the series 7-6-4. The Rubes will have to shut down #7 Brian Maloney if they want to have a chance to win the game. He has been a Rube killer!

After a 4 month break, the Rubes will be back in action tonight at the SuperRink against the Bombers. It will be their 13th season in the league spanning 5+ years. The Rubes have faced the Bombers just one time back in October of 2008. It was a 3-2 victory where they were lead by Puma with 2 goals and Jupiter one. Hopefully HockeyBum won't kick the puck in to his own net like he did last time which earned him Goat of the Game honors.

This season, the Rubes have a few new faces on the squad. St. Clown who played for the Rubes minor league team in Sioux Falls has been called up to fill the void left by Vegoe. Vegoe decided that coaching football was more important than playing full time for the Rubes. So he will fill in as a sub when he is not too busy playing "coach".... Also joining the team is Gebs who is a speedy forward that has been a sub in the past, but now gets a chance with a full time spot. Both are worthy D league players that should fit in quite well with the team.

Missing from the squad this year is the Rubes all-time leading scorer Sagard. He is not even on the sub roster. He broke his leg riding is mountain bike a few weeks ago... But there is a rumor that he actually broke it while coaching his son's youth hockey team. Apparently he was posing for the team photo when his previously broken skate blade gave out and his leg just buckled. Tough break for Sagard.

It's been about a year and a half since the Rubes last hoisted a runner up banner at the Super Rink in Blaine. Tonight, they begin the quest for #5.

After back-to-back runner up titles in 2007, the Rubes have had quite the drought. So why has it been so long? Well... I am guessing that age and weight have something to do with it. The Rubes have also had a bit of turnover in that time as well. At least one or two players! Maybe it's this new website? We have not won a thing since we redesigned the site. Or maybe it's just that we need to start cheating? Bring in 20 year old whipper snappers? Steal Bryan from the Mud Hens? Who knows!!!

Well... Regardless, the Winter playoffs start tonight at 8:50 with a match up against The Under Achievers. The Rubes are 2-0 against them this session, but we all know that does not mean much come playoff time.

In order for the Rubes to stop their 2 game losing streak, they need veteran Bacardio to get back on his game.

It's seems like Bacardio has been with the Rubes for so long that we have watched him grow up from a kid to an adult. But he is actually not an original Rube. He first started playing as a sub with the Rubes back in the summer session of 2004. A few sessions later in the Spring of 2005 he became a full time Rube. Monday night he will play in his 125 game as a Rube which will tie him with Boob for 4th all time. He is currently #2 on the all time scoring list with 213 career points.

These last two sessions at the SuperRink have been a bit of a struggle for him. He used to average almost 2 points a game. For Fall and Winter he has averaged 1.17 and 0.71 ppg. I huge drop for his standards. It appears he really misses his former linemate Sagard. Sagard, the all time leader scorer for the Rubes, has moved on to bigger and better things and only comes back to play a few times a year. When they were together they were a machine. Now that machine has broken apart and appears to have died.

"I thought I could keep my game on top when Sagard left, but I just have not gotten in synch out there" Barcardio said in a recent interview with USA Hockey. "It's time for me to forget about Sagard and to get back in to the game that I love."

The Rubes hope to get Bacardio and the team back on track Monday night when they face the Banana Hammocks at the SuperRink in Blaine. It's family night at the rink, so the Rubes are hoping a record crowd will show up and help get them back on in to the win column.

Did you know that Bryan Maloney of the Mud Hens is a cook? He sure did carve up the Rubes once again the past Monday night with a come from behind 6-5 Victory over the Rubes. The Rubes held Bryan in check for about 2 and half periods. Then he got his carving knife and sliced us at will.

The Rubes lead for most of the game thanks to the Jupiter-Rookie-Fear line. The "JRF" line scored 4 or the 5 goals for the Rubes. Rookie and Fear each had 2 points and Jupiter had a goal and 3 assists. Jups goal put the Rubes up 5-2 and it looked like the Rubes were gonna coast to the victory.

But it wasn't meant to be. Maloney and the Mud Hens could not be stopped late and the third period. They tied it up with a few minute remaining and then got the winner with just 13 seconds remaining in the game. This is the 4th straight loss against the Mud Hens over the past few seasons. With the win, the Mud Hens took over sole possession of first place in the league.