|
Official Newsletter of the Old-Time Hockey Over-30 League
22 Seasons and counting
|
Article 245 November 2, 2013
Game results and Player(s) of the Week
|
Week of October 26, (Game 1) – This game featured two of the league’s hottest teams fighting for second place in the standings, with one team (Shooting Stars) winners of two straight, while the other team (Cuckoo’s Nest) winners of three of their last four games. In a wild old fashioned shootout of a game, the Shooting Stars overcame an early two goal deficit to erupt in the second period (scoring five times) to hold on for a 7 – 5 win over Cuckoo’s Nest. How much of a shootout was this? There were a total of 74 shots taken and another dozen or so that missed the net.
Late in the first period, Angelo Deluca of Cuckoo’s Nest scored the game’s first goal as he was set up by Rick Cassano and Brien Sullivan. With two minutes left in the period, Joe Shannon walked down from the point into the high slot and ripped a booming slap shot into the back of the net, set up by Ray Nickerson and Nick Romano.
In a wide open second period, it was all Shooting Stars, as they scored two goals within nine seconds of each other only twelve seconds into the period. First, fill-in player Naz scored, followed by Jim Barber. After Angelo’s second goal of the game, scored halfway through the period put Cuckoo’s Nest back on top, John Mastrocola had another déjà vu experience of scoring back to back quick goals, scoring two goals in less than twenty-five seconds to help the Shooting Stars retake the lead. Less than a minute later, Jim Barber provided some insurance as he scored his second goal of the game. Rounding out the scoring in the second period, Matty Iannello brought his Cuckoo’s Nest team back within one goal.
The game settled down briefly in the third period as three minutes in, George Medeiros bumped up the lead for the Shooting Stars to a two goal cushion once again. However, with four minutes left to play, Joe Shannon scored his second goal of the game to bring Cuckoo’s Nest back to within one goal. Finally, Jim Barber sealed the win with only four seconds left to play as he intentionally scored into an open net on a goal that some veteran Over-30 players have dubbed a “punk move.” Technically we are officially giving Jim Barber credit for 2 ½ goals scored not a hat trick for his efforts.
Week of October 26 (Game 2) – In a game between the two teams fighting to stay alive in the playoff chase for that last playoff seed, White Lightning finally earned their first win of the season after seven games played as they outworked and outhustled the Golden Oldies for a convincing 6 – 3 win.
It was all White Lightning early and often as they scored twice in the first period thirty-eight seconds apart as first Derek Shaw scored, set up by Niko Vramis and Dave Curcio, then Dave Curcio scored, set up by Niko and Mike Surette. Halfway through the second period, Mike Surette’s dump in long shot on net fooled the goalie to give his White Lightning team a commanding three goal lead (we thought you could actually read the word Mylec on the ball). Less than a minute later, Anthony Lauletta got his Golden Oldies back into this game, set up by Mike Luise.
|
Early in the third period, Mauro Colucciello scored off the right wing, tipping a shot from Joe Mancinelli into the net getting his team back into this game, down by one. However, White Lightning turned on the power and hustle to take control of this game, scoring three times all within a minute and a half. Pat Pirone led this charge as he powered his way to score twice along with Dave Curcio scoring his second goal of the game. Rounding out the scoring saw John Kelleher score with just over a minute to play. The Golden Oldies have now lost three straight and are officially free falling! They say that things happen in threes (let’s hope so for the Golden Oldies sake). After tying their first three games, then losing their last three, perhaps they can turn their season around by winning their next three games.
|
|
It’s Time to Walk Away
The 5 words that no athlete ever wants to admit and say to himself. Yet, there comes a time when age and time catches up to you and your body keeps reminding you that it is time to walk away from the playing the sport that you have loved playing over the years.
Such was the case with Dave Hill recently. The Over-30 league’s oldest active player, Dave retired and walked away on his own terms; without any fanfare and quietly. After 38 seasons and 3 championship jackets, the Anchor finally pulled up his weighted sinker and sailed off into the land of retirement.
The inventor and owner of the lethal ass check move out in front of the net, Dave may not have been the most skilled or most talented player, the fastest player, or even the best looking player. As an original Over-30 player who started playing back in 1992 when the league officially began operations, Dave epitomized and lived what the Over-30 league stood for. He had a passion for this sport. He played every shift as hard as he could. He competed giving his team everything that he had. He was loyal and committed to his team and team mates. He showed up and played through multiple injuries. And he continued to play well past his prime, savoring every chance he got to live out his boyhood dreams. Yeah he thought the referees had it against him; yeah he was always complaining about being short-shifted in playing time by the so-called superstars of the Over-30 league; yeah you would be sitting on the bench shaking your head as you watched Dave make the occasional bad pass that resulted in a scoring chance for the other team. So what, we all have done it, it was entertaining and made Dave the character that he was in the Over-30 league. The only difference between Dave and other players was that he was the one who would speak his mind and tell it like it is with no reservations. For Dave it was never about winning that championship jacket or collecting individual awards. It was always about just playing the game that was in his blood.
I met and grew up with Dave back in the old West Lynn days when we would find an open parking lot or school yard and played hockey, one neighborhood group facing off against another. Some of these informal pickup games would last for hours and would only end when the sun went down. From there, we moved on to the West Lynn Street Hockey league, then Hockeytown, then tournaments held in Leominster and other States, and finally settled into the Over-30 league.
The Anchor, one of the original Over-30 league players, will be missed. How bad will Dave actually be missed; if you watch that video on the Forum that talks about Dave’s retirement, “ehhhh.” I will leave you with this Facebook posting by Dave himself when he publically announced his retirement:
“So to put my Hockey career in perspective, and trust me it is not easy to say good bye, but this helps.
I started playing Dek Hockey in Saugus 1980, playing 4-5 nights a week for several teams. I started playing tournament level hockey in 1985 to 1992 in Leominster, Long Island, and couple of other spots. I started playing in the Over-30 league in 1990, finally breaking the curse 2 years ago and walking way with 3 jackets. So the long and short of it is I have been playing a high level of competitive Dek Hockey for 33 years. I am walking away from this with my head held high, still able to compete and on my own terms. While I will miss the game and all that comes with it, I know in my heart (and in my knees) it was time to walk away.
For those of you on my Facebook who have played with me over the year’s thank you for the competition, memories, and the never ending friendships we have formed over the years. Good luck and make sure the beers are cold as you never know when I might drop in.”
- The Anchor
|
So Dave Hill officially called it a career… and now what does the man who’s known for blocking shoots with his ass do? It looks like Dave is keeping busy and keeping his competitive spirit by starting his own professional retirement drill team… but instead of blocking shots with his ass, his new team “The Anchor’s” specialize in sitting on it.
|
Dave Hill’s new competitive drill team… The Anchor’s
|
Shakespeare once wrote; "To Score or not to score that is the question?". For Shooting Star winger Jim Barber the choice was never so easy… Score!
Leading by 1-goal with only seconds to play, Jim was sent in all alone on an empty net opportunity. Most veterans would have opted to just dump the ball in the corner and let the time run out for the victory… However, Jim had (5) thoughts running through his decision making process.
1) Do what his idol Matty Iannello would do and dump the ball gracefully into the corner and take the high road.
2) Potentially miss the open net and give Joe Shannon and Cuckoo’s Nest another last second opportunity to score the tying goal… as perfectly executed in the video below
|
Jim Barber was not going to let this happen
|
3) Bury the empty net goal, knowing that he is blacklisted from the weekly awards… and had he just posted (2) goals, it would be an easy decision to overlook his (2) goal performance and give either award (DD & FG) to anyone else (except Jim or John Colucciello)… so he decided to put the nail in the coffin and make the decision making process a tough one… as no one else had a Hat Trick (or a shutout).
4) Points… Points… Points… while scoring the “Jimmy Picardi” Hat Trick, and I owe my teammates who earned points for the assist as well.
5) Missing an empty net opportunity is why Jim is the current pink stick bag carrier… had he buried that pass from Rick Cassano on an empty net he would have beaten his 7-goal challenge.
Feeling comfortable in his progress thus far with the “Smiling Pete Lodi” – Pink Stick Bag Challenge… White Lightning Captain Scott “I’m leading the league in points” Young decided to take the week off. So how does White Lightning respond to Napoleon missing the game? Quite well actually… not only did they post their first win on the season.., they did it very convincingly with a 6-3 win.
Speaking of White Lightning… Our spies tipped of this reporter that Pat Pirone was seen taking a picture of Steve Oppedisano (pre-game) ???
Without actual details we can only speculate that it was either Pat’s phone and he wanted a picture of Steve (for whatever reason)… or that it was Steve’s phone, and he wanted Pat to take a picture of himself for his future Facebook retirement announcement and plans to join “The Anchor’s” with Dave Hill.
|
|
|