Last Thursday’s visit to Fawcett by the CFCW Critters will go a long way to providing the Fawcett rink with a new score clock and announcing system.
The hockey game, which saw the Fawcett Funtimers take on the Critters, a ragtag group of hockey players from the CFCW radio station who are renowned for their hijinks on the ice, raised more than $3,500 for the community facility.
The Critters had played once before in Fawcett, back in 2012, and this year’s game simply built on the momentum from two years ago, said Kathy McKnight, president of the 44 North Outlaws Hockey and Skating Club.
“The community is electric when they come here,” she said.
“Everybody loves them. CFCW loved it last time; they had a fantastic time last time they were here.”
Planning for the game came in two parts, McKnight said. She got in touch with the Critters in September to try to co-ordinate their schedules; the rest of the organizing committee started working to bring the evening together right around New Year’s.
Last week’s game drew a full crowd of close to 200 people to the rink, enough people that ice guru Gordon McCann was overheard saying he had to turn on the fans to cool the arena down because there were so many people.
Aside from the game, the evening featured a silent auction, 50/50 draw and door prizes, some of which were donated by the Critters and others that were brought in by Fawcett’s hockey parents.
On the ice, it was a typical Critters hockey game — which is to say, “throw out the rule book.”
When you play the Critters, you should expect to have all five of your players end up in the penalty box at the same time, watch the Critters’ net shrink to the size of a briefcase, and learn that a Critter doesn’t need to touch the puck, or be on the ice at all, to get an assist.
And that’s not to mention the giant Critter itself, often giving its team a distinct six-on-five advantage.
In the end, the game ended with the Critters beating the Funtimers 14-8. But for those on the ice, the score was irrelevant.
Case in point was Funtimer Cody Borris, who got so into the game he decided the Critter was getting too big for its britches.
“The boys were playing sluggish so I thought I’d try to jumpstart them and give them a pick-me-up,” he said, explaining why he chose to fight the Critter.
Unfortunately, the fight didn’t end too well, as the five other Critters on the ice came to their teammate’s defence, jumping on Borris and tearing him limb from limb, throwing his body parts all over the ice — although the pieces did look decidedly rubbery.
After the game, Borris was in remarkably good shape, and credited a hot yoga routine as the reason he was able to pull himself back together.
Although most of the characters on the ice belonged to the Critters, the Funtimers had their own quirky player in the form of Sonny “Mr. Toothpick” Wasieczko, who played the game with a toothpick in his mouth.
“It was fun and really enjoyable,” he said. “It was a nice, easy game. Hopefully it was entertaining for the crowd, the paying customers.”
Wasieczko added his own wrinkle to the game, grabbing a bucket of pucks and carrying it into the Critters’ end of the ice while the action was at the other end.
His stunt didn’t help his team win, but it did earn the Funtimers two free goals.
