Sugar River Euchre

There were a few high scores on January 19th, with a couple of skunks thrown in for the aroma. In the match between the Red Mouse Shufflers and the Viking Bar & Grill Trolls, Shufflers Loretta and Dave Herfel lost only their sixth game to Jolene Hook and Kevin Ollendick to earn a share of this week’s high score of 118 points. Also scoring big for the Shufflers was Tom Meyer and Randy Skogen, with 112 points. Unfortunately the night was not so kind to Trolls Bruce Frisch and Keith Vobraska, who were skunked in the fourth frame by Steve Vogt and Ed Chancellor. The Shufflers, with three perfect rounds in the second half of the match, went on to win by 97 points.
Ope Haus Pub Express players Charlie Steinhauer and Dale Herfel shared this week’s high score with 118 points. They lost two of their games by 1-point, finding themselves 2 points short of that perfect score. Chief Engineer Opie Taylor and his stoker, Steve Thoni, losing only their third game, brought another 115 points into the station. Engineers John Scheidegger and Karen Miller, not wanting to be left behind, steamed in with another 111 points. Morgan Bar Pipe Benders Ryan Arneson and Chris Booth made a new friend by the name of Pepe Le Pew in the fifth frame when they were skunked by Engineers Dave Steinhauer and Tracy Haag. The Express rolled into the station 95 points ahead of the Pipe Benders.
The 112 points put up by J&M Bar River Rats Ernie Sarbacker and Jack Gehin just wasn’t enough to shut down the Pranksters. Norsk Pranksters Dave Hook and Richard Laufenberg tricked the Rats out of 115 points to offset Ernie and Jack’s score by 3. The Pranksters took home the cheese by 30 points.
Four of the Norsk Cowboy players, Ferdie Schmitz, Randy Schmid, Don Fields, and Harold Schlimgen, rode high in the saddle as they wrangled 112 points for the Cowboys. With Ott Haus Cheese Eaters Bryan Buesser and Ed Wettach slipping the Cowboy’s lasso, they nibbled 111 points out of the Cowboys to keep this match close. But, in the end, as is the case in most westerns, the Cowboys rode off into the sunset with 21 more pieces of cheese than the Cheese Eaters could afford.
It must have been a rougher night than normal in the match between the Red Mouse Uff-Da and Kleeman’s Hay Shakers. Three games into the match, Uff-Da Captain Tom Magnuson was forced to find a sub for Curt Herfel, who had to be whisked off to the hospital. I guess the Hay Shakers really know how to shake it up. The good news for Uff-Da is that Curt is ok, the bad news is they lost the match by 26 points. I recommend the Pipe Benders be on the lookout for a whole lot of shaking going on this Thursday when they play host to the Hay Shakers.
Here are the top ten averages of those players that played enough matches in the first half of the season to be in the running for the season high average if they play enough matches in the second half to qualify. Honker, 111.50; Jerry Judd, 107.38; Roger Truttmann, 107.29; Gordie Miller, 107.13; Jim Day, 105.75; Bruce Milestone, 105.75; Jack Gehin, 105.33; Mary Humphrey, 104.29; Jerome Krantz, 104.13; and Fred Ryser, 104.00.
Schedule for January 26, 2023: Pranksters @ Cheese Eaters (7:30); Uff-Da @ Shufflers (7:00); River Rats @ Cowboys (7:00); Hay Shakers @ Pipe Benders (7:00); Express @ Trolls (7:00).
Standings: Cowboys, 3-0; Hay Shakers, 3-0; Shufflers, 3-0; Express, 2-1; Pranksters, 2-1; Trolls, 1-2; Uff-Da, 1-2; Pipe Benders, 0-3; River Rats, 0-3; Cheese Eaters, 0-3.