***OPENING WEEKEND***

Opening weekend is done with a few surprises in the mix.

Puget hosted Tri for two and came out on top on both, not a big surprise as Puget has more returners than Tri. With Kaufman and Surgalski, Tri could not keep up. Curious as to why Romieke didn't play in net for Tri, he's a solid tendy and could have kept those pucks out of the net. Puget is usually a pretty gritty team and they don't tend to lose at home. After i slow start last year they picked up and finished strong, taking tri's spot in the playoffs, and even beating the Totems more than a couple times as the season and playoffs came to an end.

Rogue Hosted Seattle on Thursday, no surprise there with an 8-2 blowout in favor of the Green 'n' white. River City than come down I-5 for two games and they blew the lead and let Rogue come back, take it into overtime, and WIN! That's left a bad taste in they're mouth and they made sure too smother the wranglers Saturday night with a big 7-1 win. Rogue seems to have a short bench I'm surprised they even had the stamina to push river over in the first game. 4 wins in 3 years? Not bad...;]

Seattle bussed up to Eugene for two, hoping to continue the momentum from they're game in Medford but Eugene had something to say about that. Seattle was on the board first both nights in Eugene but every time the totems scored... The Generals Veterans answered. Mainly Watters, Mcdonald, and Holder , with an impressive 20 PTS between the three of them! Seattle's goaltender Kevin Maile was pulled in the second period of the 1st game and Rookie tender Anthony Chimenti Played well for his norpac debut, he started the second game but his impressive play was not enough. Eugene answered every totems goal and then some. One thing that surprised me was how Eugene was dropping the gloves, is this a new era? This is not their usual style of play, especially with the Totems. There were 6 fighting majors in two games for Eugene this weekend, they're not known to have 6 fights in half a season usually. Although Seattle had more instigators which would explain the excessive amount of general Power Play Goals.

In the EAST...

Yellowstone and Missoula, Yellowstone picking up where they left off as the Eastern Division Regular Season Champions, with a 7-3 win over The Maulers. Missoula had a bad taste in they're both with this one as they pulled out a 3-2 win the next night for the 1-1 split.

Helena beats Billings, no surprise here as Helena has been the top team in the whole league for the better half of a decade. With a score of 5-2 on both nights, with the second win over Bozeman.


Bozeman routes Butte 10-1, biggest win of the weekend!.. Although the next night they dropped a 5-2 loss to Helena

Billings and Butte Saturday night, The Bulls hold on for a 5-2 win although the shots were 74-10!!! Hats off to the Butte goaltender Bryon Berryhill who seems to have stood on his head. Hopefully it wont be such a long season for the riders with him in net.

STANDINGS

EAST
1. Helena
2. Bozeman
3. Yellowstone
4. Billings
5. Missoula
6. Butte
*2-5 All tied at 2 pts.

WEST
1.Eugene
2. Puget Sound
3.River City
4.Seattle
5. Rogue Valley
6. Tri Cities
*3-5 tied at 2 pts.

That's All Folks.