Steel 25/26 Winter Champs: Jackwagons - A Family Affair

Jackwagons Steel 25/26

 

The Jackwagons continue the underdog story this season in Havoc League. Another div that finished with the last place team in the standings, hoisting the trophy. Reminding you that the regular season is just for fun and hanging out afterwards.      

The Bandits got off to the start everyone expected. #6 Mark Rocks opened the scoring at 15:51 of the first on one of those goals — you know the kind — where the puck took a weird bounce right off the faceoff and somehow ended up in the net before anyone really registered what happened. The assist? #60 Zakary Rocks. Father and son. (I think??) 1-0 Bandits. The script was holding. 

"Three goals. Three families. Father-son, father-son, husband-wife. This wasn't a championship game — it was Thanksgiving dinner with skates." 

👨‍👩‍👦 The All-Family Championship: A HAHL First?   

And then the Jackwagons remembered they were here to ruin everyone's bracket. #77 Casey Walton tied it at 8:44, assisted by his son #55 Caleb Walton — a father-son combination that's basically the beer league dream scenario. Then, just over four minutes later, #83 John Anderson buried what would turn out to be the championship-winning goal at 4:33 of the first. 

The assist? #75 Maria Prather. Anderson's wife. So in the span of about 11 minutes of game time, this championship had already produced TWO father-son goal connections (the Rocks for the Bandits, then the Waltons for the Jackwagons) AND a husband-wife combo. Three goals. Three families. This wasn't a championship game anymore — it was the most heartwarming game of pickup hockey ever played. There is absolutely no way the Anderson-Prather car ride home wasn't insufferable for everyone else who was within earshot. "Remember when I gave you that pass? In the championship? The one you scored on? Remember that, John? Just checking." 

"Marriage advice from a hockey rink: the couple that connects on a championship-winning goal together, stays together. And also probably argues about it for the next forty years." 

Anderson wasn't done either. He potted his second of the night at 17:11 of the second period, this one assisted by Casey Walton, to make it 3-1 and effectively end the conversation. The Bandits had a full third period to mount a comeback, fired 31 shots over the course of the game (nearly double the Jackwagons' 16), and got absolutely nothing for their trouble. Sometimes you outshoot a team 2-to-1 and still lose. That's hockey. That's especially beer league hockey. 

A couple of penalties on each side kept things spicy — Dillon for tripping, Wright for roughing, Rocks for slashing — but nothing that derailed the Jackwagons' march. They got the lead, they extended the lead, and then they just survived the third period like a team that knew exactly what was on the other side of that final horn.     

🏃 The Ironmen: Andrew Wright & Dennis Booth   

Quick shoutout to Andrew Wright and Dennis Booth, who play for both the Jackwagons AND Really Swift. Today they had to play in BOTH championship runs — Steel and Bronze — across multiple games. That's playoff hockey on top of playoff hockey on top of probably not enough water. By the end of the day these two had skated more shifts than most of us skate in a month, all while their teammates on each squad were probably yelling at them to pick a side. Beer league ironmen. Tip of the cap.             

💍 The Anderson-Prather Game-Winner   

Special shoutout to the GWG specifically. John Anderson scored the eventual championship-winning goal off an assist from his wife, Maria Prather. In a beer league championship game. This is the kind of stat line that gets framed and put on a wall in their house forever. This is anniversary card material until the end of time. Every future argument they have for the rest of their marriage now ends with one of them muttering "yeah, well, I assisted on the game-winner." There is no comeback to that. Maria has won every future disagreement, in advance, by the laws of beer league hockey.






     

🏆 The 25/26 HAHL Underdog Trifecta   

Let's just appreciate what the HAHL playoffs delivered this year. The Iron Division was won by the 7-seed Vipers (5-12-3, dead last). The Silver Division was won by the 4-seed Goal Diggers, who admitted they were terrible all season. The Steel Division was won by the dead-last Jackwagons. Three championships. Three underdogs from the bottom half of the standings. Anyone who tells you regular season records matter in beer league owes the Vipers, the Goal Diggers, and the Jackwagons a beer. Or three. Each. (And yes, Bronze kept the streak alive too — but that's a story for another recap.)