It has been said that skunks are more prevalent in the spring of the year, but I’m not sure that’s true based on the couple of skunks the Sugar River Euchre League experienced on February 3rd. After picking on a fellow teammate for being skunked the previous week (January 27th), Shuffler Erik Massey had to eat his words after getting skunked himself this week, along with partner Ed Chancellor, by Mounties Jim Day and Tom Magnuson. Shortly thereafter, River Rats Gordie Miller and Kurt Beutel were skunked by Cowboys Don Field and Dean Disch. Rarely does a team with a skunk win the match. On this night, that norm held true. The Mounties out maneuvered the Shufflers by 10 points, while the Cowboys out gunned the Rats by just 3. On the bright side, Dan (Honker) Palmer and Mark Raiders did manage to score 112 points for the J&M Bar River Rats. As for the Mounties, Curt Herfel and Bruce Milestone put 110 miles in the saddle for their team.

Kleeman’s had a good night, leading the Pipe Benders the entire match. The Hay Shakers stacked 414 bales to Jones’ Plumbing’s 358 bends. Hay Shakers Roger Truttmann and Rick Skindrud stacked 117 of the bales (this week’s high score). Rick and Roger lost only the 4th frame to Jerome Krantz and Ross Neshiem, who ended the night with a mere 68 bends to their names (this week’s low score).

The Starlight Express continued to roll down the track at full speed, passing the Walk-On Trolls by 45 points. Kurt Wedig and Pat Baier scored 113 points for the Trolls, but John Scheidegger and Charlie Steinhauer countered that with 111 points of their own.

The Pranksters tricked 2 more points out of the cheese wheel than the Cheese Eaters could nibble away from the Pranksters. What’s most impressive about this win is that not a single Prankster couple scored over 99 points, while two Cheese Eater couples did.

Standings: Starlight Express 4-0; Kleeman’s 3-1; Cowboys 3-1; Pranksters 3-1; Mounties 3-1; Shufflers 2-2; Jones Plumbing 1-3; Sportsman’s Bar 1-3; J&M Bar 0-4; Trolls 0-4.

February 10 Schedule: J&M Bar @ Starlight (7:00); Pranksters @ Shufflers (7:30); Kleeman’s @ Cowboys (7:30); Mounties @ Sportsman’s (7:00); Jones’ Plumbing @ Walk-On (7:00).