This week, Entech will be suiting up their 18th goalie of the season, after Chris Geszvain suffered a lower body injury in the third period of their game against the Ice Shack on Sunday.

"I'm convinced that the Hockey Gods hate us," said Entech captain Scott Knaffla.  "Between injuries, work schedules, church kickball games, and sometimes the need to wash their hair...I've had goalies cancel on me for just about every reason under the sun over the last three seasons.  I don't know if it's the jersey, but I feel like we're cursed."

In an attempt to corroborate the story, I set up an interview with one of the aforementioned Hockey Gods.

"Oh, yeah, they're cursed alright," said Jean-Luc St. Laurent, one of nine actual Hockey Gods.  "At first it was just because they replaced McGarry with Rinka that one year...we made sure they didn't win that tournament.  But after that, it's just been kind of fun.  A hobby of sorts for us."

St. Laurent says that they need some levity like that since the day-to-day work of the Hockey Gods is way too serious too much of the time.

"I wish people would lighten up about hockey, to be honest.  It's okay to say the word 'shutout' midway through the third period of a hockey broadcast.  We're not going to jinx anybody. It's not that we COULDN'T...it's just that we don't.  It's not like we're from the Old Testament or anything.

"And I'm not sure why NHL fans waste their time praying to us before we even hit April. It's a marathon...not a sprint.  April to June is kind of our busy season."

You'd be surprised how many hockey traditions can be attributed to these Gods.

"Playoff beard? Of course that was us. Throwing hats on the ice?  Totally us.  Although, octopus?  That wasn't us.  Frankly, that's just gross."

Despite the NHL continuously finding ways to insert its proverbial foot in its proverbial mouth, the Hockey Gods are usually there to make sure that things turn out okay.  Case in point: the John Scott story.

“I love when people say that they couldn’t have written a better ending to the John Scott story than what happened in the All-Star game.  And they’re right.  We were pretty happy with the story we came up with.”

How does one get to become a Hockey God?  Is there a long nominating process?

"Turk, if someone asks you, if you're a God, you....say.....YES!"

Fair enough.

St. Laurent wouldn't reveal how he sees the OCHL playoffs ending, but he did remind us of some history.

"In the three years of the novice league, the #1 seed has never won the tournament. Think it's a coincidence?"

As of press time, it sounds as though Bryan Malkowski will be suiting up in net for Entech this week.  And St. Laurent won’t tip his hand if there’s anything bizarre in store for Malkowski.

“I just hope he stretches well in the pre-game.  Milwaukee Express is hungry for a win.  They're going to make him work.  Should be a good game.  We’ll probably stay out of this one, but we’ll be watching….just in case.”