横浜グリッツ対北海道レッドイーグルス 辛レビュー Yokohama Grits Vs. Red Eagles Review – Up and Downs Of Japanese Hockey

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Grits VS Red Eagles 11th (Sat)

Game 1

Hockey is the best sport possible.
You can feel the lowest of lows on Saturday and then the very next day feel the highest of highs.
What a crazy weekend.

Game One was a perfect storm of injuries, playing a great team, incompetent refs, and playing horrible.
If we continue to play like we played Saturday there is no way we can make the playoffs.

KFC Day At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game

Go Grits Go!#横浜GRITS 🆚 Red Eagles #爆アガリ #横浜GRITS #横浜グリッツ #yokohamagrits #レッドイーグルス北海道 pic.twitter.com/MUiI5rVjnU

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 11, 2025

Yokohama Grits Official Match Day Program vol.03 (English translation) 

The Yokohama Grits haven’t given up this many goals and lost this bad in a while.
As an organisation they have to hope this is the worst game of the year.

Import Referees!!!

Grits down 4-1 to Red Eagles

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game

Go Grits Go!

横浜GRITS 🆚 レッドイーグルス北海道#yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/zYiJyh01VC

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 11, 2025

It shows how much Alex Rauter means to this team, we hope for a fast recovery and healthy return.

It is going to be hard to stop the Red Eagle this season.
They have size, power, skill and speed.
They are close to perfect as it gets in this league.

The Red Eagles don’t need favors from the league.
Don’t take away the honor from the players’ hard work due to corruption. 

Long Day

Grits down 7-1 vs Red Eagles

Import Referees!!!

Grits down 4-1 to Red Eagles

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game

Go Grits Go!

横浜GRITS 🆚 レッドイーグルス北海道#yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/DYSysWU7r3

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 11, 2025

The Japanese Players that leave and come back to Japan know of the flaws, interview them behind closed doors with no punishments for their honesty. 

Grits Lost 9-4

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game

Go Grits Go!

横浜GRITS 🆚 レッドイーグルス北海道#yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/haQY9hePyN

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 11, 2025

Red Eagles Vs. Yokohama Grits Game 1 this day

3 Stars of the Game

1. Seiji Takahashi – Had TwoGoals and Two assists in a Red Eagles Dominate Win
2. Kohei Mitamura – Two Goals for The Red Eagles
3. Ryoki Ikeda – Two goals and 3 Points for Yokohama in a losing effort

 

Game Stats (Thanks to Daniel from Grits Gang for finding them for us)

Scoring progress

Number of shots

 

Grits VS Red Eagles 12th (Sun)

Game 2

Money can buy you a great team, but it can’t buy you heart. 

They usually play worse on Sunday, but not this Sunday.

Game one and game two from The Yokohama Grits were night and day.
If the Grits can play like this every game they have a chance to do something really special this year.

Guluga Working Hard

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game 2

Go Grits Go!

横浜GRITS 🆚 レッドイーグルス北海道#yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/JYLKgnmyOr

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 12, 2025

The reality is the way the league is set up the Yokohama Grits will always be underdogs. That is why their wins are so much sweeter to the fans.
I always say it is us vs. The World.
The Yokohama Grits are not full time players yet and have road block after road block thrown at them.

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game 2

Go Grits Go!

横浜GRITS 🆚 レッドイーグルス北海道#yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/dwhvNlDctD

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 12, 2025

Sunday, The Yokohama Grits lived up to their name and showed pure grit and heart, when they were down in the second the old Yokohama teams would have crumbled under the pressure but this team fought.

Grits won 8-4!!!!

At Yokohama Grits vs. Red Eagles Game 2

Go Grits Go!#横浜GRITS 🆚 #レッドイーグルス北海道 #yokohamagrits pic.twitter.com/54ednEKTUB

— KocoSports (@kocosports) October 12, 2025

It was back and forth with huge hits all over the ice.

I was so happy that Kuji and Osawa scored the first two for Yokohama, both former Red Eagles.

Tyler Rockwell has been a huge get in the off season.
He has been on fire this season adding to his totals with 1 Goal and 3 Assists game.

I have been impressed with Taneichi this season.

Ikeda, Sugimoto, and Gondaira all had huge goals.

Kobayashi Dou Wei had a huge night for Hokkaido.

 

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Kon, one of my favorite Red Eagles players, had a game misconduct penalty that had a huge delay to be called and meetings on the ice. 

One of the referees apologised on X/Twitter, if The Red Eagles won would he have?
If it wasn’t for the loud foreigners aka me and others, would the call have been made at all?
The league did not suspend the player, would other teams have been as fortunate?

The two idiots on commentary with no passion, and lack of hockey knowledge, and know nothing about hockey culture would not have called and seen it.

The referees wouldn’t have said anything, they are more concerned about keeping their jobs than improving their skills or the league.

I say import referees and people see it as an attack on Japan.
It is not an attack on Japan, it is an attack on the referees and the league.

The examples I use are all Japanese leagues.
Baseball in Japan has always had strong umpires the last few decades.

Speaking of baseball, shout out to the fans who made it to both games while our beloved Yokohama Bay Stars beat the Giants in playoff games.
This is a great sign for the team and the city.

Look how much rugby has improved in a short time..
Thanks to the national team’s success.
The Red Eagles have a ton of players who represent Team Japan and they have to win on a big stage to get a spark to light up the country and sponsors.

In basketball, they rearranged the league because of international failure.
The sport of basketball has improved so much over the last ten years here in Japan.
It would be cool for someone new to step up and fix hockey the way they did basketball.

American Football in Japan had horrible officials and they improved a lot during the last few years, the key factor was that all the teams wanted it improved.
The important lesson in hockey is does Hokkaido and the league actually want it to improve?

I know Red Eagles Players who have told me personally they want to improve the officiating and the league. 

Your main source to improve is importing referees and asking players in the league who have been to higher leagues overseas.

I want it to be clear that every Hokkaido fan I have met in person has been wonderful to me and my family.
I wish them no ill just want the league to improve and be fair.

Red Eagles Vs. Yokohama Grits Game 2

3 Stars of the game

1. Shuhei Kuji scored the first and last goals of the game
2. Yuto Osawa with 2 Goals and 2 Assists
3. Tyler Rockwell 1 Goal and 3 Assists

Game Stats

Scoring progress