Week of September 30 (Game 1) – With a chance to regain a share of first place in the league standings, Blues Brothers would have to do this without its captain and inspirational leader who is on IR for the next few weeks with an upper body injury. Thanks mostly to the unbelievable play of goalie Alby Luise, Blues Brothers emerged victorious with a come from behind 2 – 1 win against Fool’s Gold. For Fool’s Gold, they outplayed Blues Brothers for most of this game and deserved a better outcome, but could not solve how to beat Alby after scoring early in the first period.
In the first period, Fool’s Gold carried the play as evidenced by their 7-3 shot advantage. Fool’s Gold carried the play offensively and forced multiple defensive turnovers. One of these turnovers led directly to a goal four minutes in as Shawn Wyatt scored his first goal of the season, being in the right place at the right time in banging home a rebound of shots from John Colucciello and Niko Vramis.
In the second period, Fool’s Gold still carried the play but Blues Brothers was starting to find its legs and game. Both teams generated scoring chances but Alby and goalie Sean Roach would not allow a shot to beat them. On the power play late in the period, the second line of Blues Brothers, by far the better of the two lines in this game, tied this game up with only five seconds to play in the period as Mike Luise banged home a rebound after shots by Tim Hickey and Todd Bryson.
In a back and forth third period that continued to see both goalies come up big (especially Alby), halfway through the period saw Tim Hickey receive a pass down the right wing from Mike and Todd and used his skinny legs speed to beat the defenseman and score for the comeback win. However, every player on Blues Brothers should personally thank Alby for this win as he single-handedly won this game for them.
Week of September 30 (Game 2) – In the battle of winless teams, and the Vegas line predicting a low scoring tied game, Maybe One finally got their first win of the season by defeating Team Cherry by the score of 2 – 1. The win however did not come easily as Team Cherry carried the play for most of this game but could not solve goalie Jeff Deharo who was solid in net. The win comes at the right time for Maybe One, heading into their bye week.
The first period was played at a more deliberate pace as both teams were searching for an opening and trying to exploit the other team’s weaknesses. With three minutes left in the period, Ray Nickerson took a pass from Matty Iannello and Brien Sullivan, and buried his shot from the left faceoff circle giving his team the early lead.
In the second period, Team Cherry started to generate more scoring chances and carried the play with an aggressive fore checking game that forced defensive turnovers. The pressure paid off as fill-in player Peter Morris buried a shot from the left wing circle after the passing of Ron Aquino and Mark Stickney with just over a minute to play in the period.
Before you could say momentum swing to start the third period, on the opening face-off, Matty took a breakout pass from Alex Leone up the middle, drew one defenseman towards him and smartly led Tony Mastrocola down the right wing who beat the goalie only twenty seconds into the period. That goal gave Maybe One the lead back again as they had to survive a pushback by Team Cherry. Halfway through the period, Joe Carlton’s slap shot down the left wing just missed the far top corner, which was followed by Brian Kehoe stealing the ball for a breakaway only to miss in close on a backhand tuck move.
Like the game before them, it was the solid play of their goaltender Jeff that made a difference here and secured the first win of the season for this team.
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