Over 30 Hockey League

Article 233 March 30, 2013

Game results and Player(s) of the Week

Week of March 23, (Game 1) – Every season in the Over-30 league, a team or teams puts together a winning streak that makes the difference in their clinching a playoff spot.  In doing so, this usually involves beating one of the top teams along the way.  Such was the case last week as the Wanna Be’s again came from behind in the third period to erase a one goal deficit to get by On My Own in the closing seconds of their game, winning 3 - 2.  In the process, the Wanna Be’s proved that they could hang with the big boys of the Over-30 league and be a contender come playoff time, as they separated themselves from the two teams chasing them for that final playoff spot.

Things did not start off smoothly for the Wanna Be’s as a defensive breakdown resulted in a tap-in goal by John Colucciello as some strong fore checking by John Mastrocola and Carlos Machado resulted in the game’s first goal.  In fact, the first period play was dominated by On My Own with some prime scoring chances.  It wasn’t until the last two shifts of the first period that the Wanna Be’s finally got their running legs under them. 

The Wanna Be’s managed to push the pace of the game in the second period and should have taken the lead, however, couldn’t capitalize on some prime scoring chances out front.  Their physical aggressive style was causing some turnovers by the defense.  Late in the third period, goalie Scott Rosato was working on a shutout and this looked like the one goal lead would actually hold up. That is until the last frantic and exciting two minutes of the game took place.  With two minutes to play, John Kelleher started his incredible scoring outburst as he unloaded a bomb from the left wing that tied the game, set up by Nick Romano.  Just under a minute later, Bill Abcunas took advantage of a defensive turnover in the middle of the rink and immediately fed the hot scorer as John Kelleher again scored on the left wing giving the Wanna Be’s their first lead of this game.  However, before you could blink, only eight seconds later, Carlos Machado tied this game up as he came down the right wing and scored on a perfectly placed shot to the low far corner that seemed to fool the goalie.  What looked like a game that was heading to overtime quickly changed again as who else but John Kelleher capped off his hat trick by scoring off the left wing again with only six seconds to play in the game.  It was one of the best finishes to a game that this reporter had ever seen in the Over-30 league.

With the loss, On My Own finds themselves in second place overall in the standings after holding the top spot since the third week of the season.   

Week of March 23, (Game 2) – With a prime opportunity to take over first place overall in the league standings, Midas Touch left little doubt of the outcome in this game as they raced out to a four goal lead and never trailed in beating In Sinjin We Trust 6 – 2.  With the win, Midas Touch reaffirmed that they are the hottest team in the Over-30 league, going undefeated in their last six games.

In a span of two minutes halfway through the first period, Midas Touch jumped out to a commanding lead and never looked back.  The duo of Mark Stickney and John Desmond accounted for all of the damage as Mark scored the game’s first two goals and Dez accounted for the third.  Two of these goals were set up by Jon Pickard. 

Continuing to build on this momentum, Midas Touch’s big Mike Surette scored off a bomb from the point just over three minutes into the second period.  Three minutes later, In Sinjin We Trust finally got on the scoreboard as Tony Mastrocola scored out front, set up by Matty Iannello and Ray Nickerson.  Any thoughts of mounting a comeback by In Sinjin We Trust were quickly extinguished as Mark Stickney completed his hat trick, set up out front by Dez and Jim Barber, to once again extend this to a four goal lead for Midas Touch.

Late in the third period, with the game well in hand, Dez scored his second goal of the game and figured in on five of his team’s six goals scored in this game.  Setting Dez up for this goal were Jim Barber who registered four assists in the game, and Mike Surette contributing his second assist for a three point game (sending a message to his teammate Jon Pickard, that there is more than one quarterback defenseman on this team).  Rounding out the final score was Ray Nickerson scoring out front after being set up by Joe Shannon.

Fast forward to 2013 and the (3) boys that were featured in that photo are now 63 years old and still playing competitive hockey in the Over-30 Hockey League.

Who would have thought that a little 10 year old Mark Stickney at age 30 when he joined the league in 1980 was going to be only 2-points off the league leader at age 63, some 33-years after Dave Hill and Dan Broderick asked him to play center in a new league they joined at the GE parking lot next to St Michael’s in Lynn.

It’s no surprise to see Matt “Matty-I” Iannello sitting on top of the leader board.., but he’s holding on to a slim 2-point lead over the current Dunkin Donuts Player of the Week Mark Stickney.  Mark’s performance last week (scoring a hattrick and adding an assist) was one of his finest.  Mark teamed up with wingers John Desmond (2-goals, 3-assists) and Jim Barber (4-assists) showed the rest of the league that Midas Touch is going to be a competitor this playoff season.

The double headers are now behind us… There were two big winners and even a bigger loser.  The weeks biggest loser, In Sinjin We Trust.., as they dropped both games to the Wanna Be’s.  A recharged Wanna Be’s offense is now firing on all cylinders with the recent (typical) mid-season add-on Bill Abcunas.  History shows that when Bill decides mid-season which team he wants to impose his mutiny on… that team instantly becomes a contender and in recent years a Champion (Remember: Dead Men Walking – Spring 2011), when he jumped on an already stacked team of Matty Iannello, Joe Shannon, Ray Nickerson, Jim Barber, Billy Mack, Billy Gardynski Jr (and then rookie) John Desmond.

The week’s biggest winners… Wanna Be’s clawing their way out of the basement, Midas Touch taking 3-out-of-4 points against the Portuguese Pretenders… and the fan favorite Scott “El Baby” Young ripping off a hattrick after teammates Dominic Defranscisco and Tony Mederios abandoned ship after game 1.  Scotty had two unassisted goals and further proved to his skeptics that he doesn’t need anyone else’s help to finish.

If anyone has seen KISS in concert… every show opens the same way with “YOU wanted the BEST… you got the BEST… the hottest band in the world… KISS!!!

I’ve applied that to our semi-new Assistant League Director and even newer Assistant Webmaster Michael Naczas.

You wanted the UPDATES… You got the UPDATES… the hardest working man in the league… NAZ!!!

Everyone can thank Naz for the timely updates… while on his weekly 4-day business trips away from home selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door throughout the US.  Michael Naczas doesn’t want to spend his night his motel room watching over-priced porn.  So Naz has stepped up (once again) to keep the updated fresh and current… which makes no sense to me because he barely gets to update his own name/stats.

So all you whiners… whining about “where’s my stats, I want to see how good I am”… you can all picture Naz is some cheesy motel room sitting in his tighty-whities with greasy fingers from a couple of half-eaten Chalupas and Gordito from Taco Bell updating your messy 1-point performance.

Goal-less In Seattle

The pressure is on Mr Tony Bono… (3) games to score (2) points… and during the next two games you have to go up against a Hall Of Fame Defensemen, Dan Broderick and his counter-part BIG Mike Hollingsworth.  Then you have the shutdown league’s best defense in Midas Touch to contend with.  So you’re last game might be your best chance against this season’s worst defensive pairing of Michael Naczas and Joe Shannon.  Not to mention there are a few side wagers floating around the league.  Eh!, no pressure Tony… hope you don’t miss another game or an empty-netter like Jim Barber did to lose his challenge by one measly point.  Good Luck!  Oh, and don’t forget my $10 bucks… when you lose!

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