The Spotlight on Jeff Wrobleski

We put the spotlight on
Jeff Wrobleski.


Jeff Wrobleski entered the Spongee World with Apocalypse Now in 1983 and has transcended spongee from a street to a Canadian sport. He has won the Apocalypse Now scoring title on five occasions in three different decades. He has played and dominated three Spongee Leagues for over a quarter century, and there appears to be no end in sight.

Wrobleski, a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan, plays a determined game. On January 25, 2000, he produced the greatest offensive game in the history of Apocalypse Now guaranteeing his place in the record books even after Pete Pearson had come and gone. Apocalypse Now tied the Soggy Sausages, 11-11, in one of the wildest score-fests ever witnessed at Old Ex, but Wrobleski was the big story. He had two goals and an assist in the first period, two goals in the second and another goal and three assists in the third. The total of five goals and four assists set a franchise record with 9 points, falling one point shy of the NHL record set by his boyhood idol, Darryl Sittler.

In celebration of his 250 plus goals, we thought we would break it down the first 250, in terms of how those goals were scored. The most he scored in one season is 17 and the least is 2, in his rookie season. He has scored ten or more goals in a season, 13 times and has 61 multiple goal games.. He has 14 hat-tricks which include two 4-goal games and two, 5-goal games.

Who assisted on those 250 goals? Well, 39 different players assisted on 245 of the goals and 5 were unassisted. Jeff Solylo assisted on Wrobo's first goal and on 12 in total. Wrobleski's top assister is Myron Fiks with 24, followed closely by Guy Sever and Pete Pearson with 22 each, and Joe Moore with 21. Here is the complete list...

Myron Fiks 24 Guy Sever 22 Pete Pearson 22 Joe Moore 21 Gary Ledrew 16 Jim Moore 14 Rob Moore 13 Jeff Solylo 12 Grant Kostal 11 Jason Allard 8 Mike Allard 8 Patrick Nikolaus 8 Mike Keating 5 unassisted 5 Bryan Finney 4 Don Price 4 Greg Kostal 4 John Olson 4 Rob Burnett 4 Rob Haithwaite 4 Bryan Wiebe 3 Cam Tauffenbach 3 Darren Woo 3 Duncan McKay 3 Jim Heim 3 Ron Porada 3 Bill Kerr 2 Darren Warbeck 2 Jeff Wilkie 2 Ken White 2 Kevin Grant 2 Leo Silva 2 Rodney Slater 2 Terry Dean 2 Dave Stewart 1 Kerry Fisher 1

Jeff Wrobleski is arguably the most recognized player in the history of Apocalypse Now, but with that incredible honour comes intense scrutiny. When other teams talk of Apocalypse Now, they usually begin with “Isn’t that the team with the guy with the Afro who never wears a touque?” Wrobleski told the Winnipeg Free Press, “I'm fortunate to still be playing spongee, but sometimes I ask myself, 'Wouldn't you give up everything just to lead a normal life?' I always ask myself that and the answer always is 'no.'"