Over 30 Hockey League

Over-30 League official interpretation of the Delay of Game penalty

A Delay of Game penalty shall be called on any player who shoots the ball FROM THEIR OWN DEFENSIVE ZONE and ABOVE THE PLEXIGLASS surrounding the rink into the perimeter netting, causing a stoppage in play.

No warning shall be given to the offending player and that player shall be given a 1-minute minor penalty for Delay of Game.

If any player shoots the ball directly into the PENALY BOX area or onto the player BENCH AREA, this WILL NOT result in a Delay of Game penalty.

The only exception to this rule is if the player is a goalie who shoots the ball into the PENALY BOX area or onto the player BENCH AREA. If, in the discretion of the referee, if this is done intentionally, the offending goalie will be issued a warning on their first offense, then assessed a 1-minute minor penalty for Delay of Game for any further subsequent offenses.  Any Delay of Game penalty by the goalie must be served by one of the players on the dek at the time of the offense.

Week of February 23, (Game 1) – This game featured two teams that have struggled to score goals during the spring 2013 season.  Midas Touch has averaged scoring just over 2.6 goals per game, while the Wanna Be’s are an anemic 1.5 goals scored per game.  However, on a positive note, both teams are tied atop the team standings only allowing 12 goals against so far this season (an average of 2 goals against per game).  Going into this game, the consensus was to expect a low scoring game and that is exactly what we got, as Midas Touch came back to defeat Wanna Be’s 2 – 1.

Outplayed for most of the first period, and generating only 2 shots on net, the Wanna Be’s made one of those shots count as John Kelleher ripped a shot from the left wing past the goalie as he was set up by Gary Goodwin and Niko Vramis with just over a minute to play in the period.

In the second period, the pace picked up and both teams had limited chances to score, but both goalies played very well in stopping any potential goals from going in.  With just under four minutes to play, Jason Glista’s slap shot from the right point had eyes as it found the low far side corner of the net through a screen after a clean faceoff win by Mark Stickney.

In the third period, you could tell that whichever team scored the next goal was going to win this game.  What you didn’t expect was that team would do so by scoring a short-handed goal.  After Jon Pickard took a double minor penalty with just over six minutes to play, his team was killing off the first penalty when the Wanna Be’s made a crucial error.  Keeping the ball in the attacking zone, one of the defenseman of the Wanna Be’s jumped up into the play as a forward was covering the point along the boards.  Only thing is the forward got stripped of the ball resulting in a two-on-one breakout for Midas Touch.  Mark Stickney found Derek Shaw down the right wing and Derek made no mistake in burying his shot to give his team the lead with just over five minutes to play.  With thirty seconds to play in the game, the Wanna Be’s pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and Gary Goodwin had a golden scoring chance in the crease, taking three whacks at the ball, with seconds remaining, only to have the goalie and defenseman foil his attempt. 

Week of February 23, (Game 2) – Observers noticed that the two teams playing the second game, based on win-loss records were heading in opposite directions.  On My Own currently was cruising along winners of their last three consecutive games, while the Portuguese Pretenders had lost their last two consecutive games.  Those trends continued as On My Own outscored the Portuguese Pretenders with a 6 – 4 victory.

On My Own left no doubt in the first period as to who was the better team as they outhustled and outscored their opponent, scoring three times to the Portuguese Pretenders one goal.  Joe “Turtle” Mancinelli, John Mastrocola and Ray Dow each scored to give their On My Own team a commanding lead, while Sergio Costa answered with the lone goal scored for the Portuguese Pretenders.

In the second period, in a span of one minute, three goals were scored to make this a one goal game.  First, Tony Medeiros scored on a laser of a shot coming down the right wing at the four and a half minute mark.  Then, only forty-two seconds later, the Turtle struck again, upping On My Own’s lead back to two goals.  However, Dave “the Anchor” Hill scored from a scramble out front only eighteen seconds later to once again make this a one goal game (no the goal did not go in off his lethal ass as some have suspected).

(2)  Games back… and (2) Goals for former Playoff MVP Derek Shaw.  2-weeks ago Derek got a taste of the scoring life by putting the nail in the coffin of In Sinjin We Trust and scored a meaningless empty net goal with just a handful of seconds left to tick on the clock.  However, last week Derek had a game winning goal worthy of the Dunkin Donuts Player of the Week Award.., but like so many others before him, Derek was snubbed and overlooked by the judges. 

While killing off a 2-minute tantrum penalty on teammate Jon Pickard… Midas Touch Centerman Mark Stickney sent Derek in all alone on a breakaway to beat the hottest goalie in the league Billy Gardynski Jr.  Derek was able to finish what Nick “Don’t send me in alone” Romano couldn’t… Score on a breakaway.  Come on Nicky.., you’re like 0-5 in the last 2 seasons.

Did anyone see Old Man Dan Broderick break up the league’s leading scorer Joe “Turtle” Mancinelli.  Dan may look like an aging pylon all dressed in orange, but one only needs to get close to Dan with the ball to get a reminder of how good Dan actually is (and was) as a defensemen.  There is no finer hockey sense when it comes to a well-placed “stick drop” to break up an offensive attack. Unlike fellow senior citizen Steve Oppedisano.., when Dan lays the body out for a play it’s not an accidental fall.  Old man Broderick is not shy at (age 74) to show these young whippersnapper’s the art of using to body to break up a seemingly well thought out offensive attack. That my friends is the reason why Dan’s jerseys is hanging in Leominster while Bill Abcunas’ is hanging is his closet.

Speaking of phantom legends… Welcome back Mr. halfway through the season team jumper.., Bill Abcunas.  If last week’s performance was any indication of what you’re brining to the table for the Wanna Be’s, then go sit down “Mr. Ineffective.”  You’re one measly shot from the point was blocked by Jim Barber, who based on the speed of the shot thought it was a wrist shot  from Colleen Sedille.

Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time… Big Mike Hollingsworth and Little John Mastrocola got tangled up doing battling for a loose ball.  Big Mike’s stick came up high and caught John on the top on the noggin and opened a nice little bloody cut.  But in all fairness to Mike every stick is a potential “High Stick” to the Mastrocola’s… however despite the obvious blood pouring out of John’s head there was no call on the play.

Medical Update:  Bill Gardynski Sr. was up and about after spraining his five-hole late in the game during the Own My Own and Portuguese Pretenders shootout.  However we're not sure what the proper aftercare is for a sprained 5-hole?  Do you ice it or use a heating pad?

While pulling into my parking space at Hockeytown… I happen to notice the car next to me seemed to be on fire.  With smoke pouring out of the windows, I knocked on the passenger window to alert the driver to the immediate pending dangers.  With the radio blasting on 10 and smoke filling the car.., I continued to knock louder and it was only then I realized that as the window was rolling down I was assured everything was OK.., the unnamed occupant was just listening to his favorite song and relaxing before going to work at the second floor daycare center.

File this one under having a tough day at the hockey office

“For Jim Barber, the Over-30 league’s webmaster and writer of the P.U.T.A. Forum, the law of karma finally caught up to him.  For quite some time, the constant cries of frustration from players over why the website is not updated on a regular basis have gone unheard.  Comments could be heard from players stating how they never look at the website because it is never updated, so why bother.  Even the league director’s pleas for updating the website have fallen on deaf ears.  As players, wouldn’t you want to see where you stand in the updated career stats?  Or see just how many championship jackets you have won as compared to other players in the league?  Or see the names of those players from championship teams past?  So would I.  The irony here is that these career stats have been updated as of last season and STILL they have not been posted onto the website.  I am sure that I am not the only one who is curious to see just how close Matty Iannello is in catching Ray Nickerson for the overall lead as Over-30 career stats leader.

For too long now we have been told by Jim that perfection takes time and cannot be rushed.  Or, how he works 3 jobs, sometimes putting in 15 straight hours, and just doesn’t have time to update the website.  Or, something broke down at the tanning salon and needed his immediate attention and took him away from making his website updates for the Over-30 league.  Or, his dad asked him to fill in at the bowling alley and that no laptops were allowed when manning the front desk.  Yes, we have heard a lot of excuses, the only one we haven’t heard is that the dog ate his notes for the Forum (we expect that this will be forthcoming in the near future).

Last week, as we previously mentioned, the law of karma finally caught up to Jim in the form of the league director and one Colleen Sedille.  We will never admit to any collusion that may have been involved or that their actions were done intentionally.  We will only go on record as saying that Jim found himself twice in the wrong place at the wrong time, and paid the price for it.

First, playing his second shift of the game, Jim was on the right wing in his defensive zone.  As he was verbally trash talking and taunting the league director who was playing defense, Jim got caught in no man’s land and found himself in the line of fire of a full slap shot which caught Jim right on the thigh.  As soon as the shot hit him, Jim was seen grimacing in pain, doubling over and eventually falling to the floor unable to get back up for a few seconds.  We even thought we saw Jim crying tears like a little girl and overheard the referee comment that the shot was definitely going to leave a mark. Unconfirmed reports have surfaced that the league director just smiled and commented to Jim, that the pain Jim was feeling was the pain and frustration from all the league players tired of not seeing the league website not being updated.

Secondly, in the third period, Jim was running down the left wing trying to make his typical (and only) move of beating the defenseman with his speed.  The problem for Jim was it wasn’t a defenseman he was going up against.  It was a defense girl in the form of Colleen Sedille.  Little did Jim know that Colleen was not about to let Jim run right past her.  In a classic move that you would normally see from a cagey veteran, Colleen moved in to Jim to close down the angle and rubbed him into the boards, taking him down in the process.  It’s bad enough that you get checked into the boards; but, getting checked into boards by a girl hockey player?  How embarrassing.  As Colleen finished her check and started running behind the net for the ball you could hear her comment how she doesn’t even look at the league website but is still pissed at Jim for not doing his job and updating the website.  Jim’s reaction?  He caught up to Colleen behind the net, pushed her, and tried enacting some revenge.  Unfortunately for Jim, his leg was still hurting from earlier and he was still shaking off the concussion effects from Colleen’s devastating check.

The moral of this story Jim is do your job and update the website, or else you never know when the law of karma will catch up to once again.”         

The premise behind this individual challenge is simple. Tony’s offensive point production has steadily decreased ever since he reinvented himself as a defensive forward in the Over-30 league.  We thought that this scoring slump may have also been due to Tony trying to balance his Over-30 league responsibilities with his son’s hectic and always changing youth hockey schedules. Thus, Tony was the consensus second pick for the dreaded Pink Stick Bag Challenge to prove to us that we are all wrong in our assessment of his talents. Simply put, Tony has to score 9 total points this season.  Otherwise, the Pink Stick Bag will be passed down from the first original loser of this Pink Stick Bag Challenge, Jim Barber, and Tony will have to carry onto the rink with him his new pink stick bag during the 2013 winter season, courteous of the Over-30 league.  

For those of you who are counting, here are the game by game weekly running totals for Tony’s chase for pink stick bag infamy.  This table will be posted on the website on a weekly basis so that you can all place your side bets and have a good laugh at Mr. Bono’s expense.

Tony Bono Pink Stick Bag point Watch 2013