“Orange You Glad….”
Matty, from worst to first, “orange you glad” Pic joined the team? After back-to-back forgetful seasons of futility and missing the playoffs each season, the Jake-O-Lanterns went from last place to champions of the Over-30 league to close out the 2021 Deja Flu season. The addition of Pic and Steve Silveira to the team, did not pay off immediate results in the early going, but paid off big time when it mattered, in the playoffs. Going down by two goals early did not halt the inevitable as Jake-O-Lanterns put their impressive team speed by both lines to wear down Drama Queens and run away with a convincing 6 – 2 win. For the season, this was the first time in five games that Jake-O-Lanterns had posted a win against their opponent in head-to-head pay.
Coming into this game, Drama Queens was the most consistent team all season and was the team to beat, based on their record. It also featured the top two goalies facing off against each other. Two minutes into the first period, Drama Queens found themselves on a power play and made it count as Tim Hickey was in the right place at the right time to score top far corner off a rebound of a Ray Dow point shot. Less than two minutes later, off a scramble out front, Manny Nunes scored on the rebound of shots by Shawn Wyatt and Don Maccini. It was a gut check moment for the Jake-O-Lantern team. They simply refocused and got their running game in gear, as four minutes later saw George Medeiros score off the rebound of shots by Angelo Deluca and Cappy, giving Jake-O-Lanterns a huge momentum lift. From this point on to well into the second period, for some reason Drama Queens kept dumping the ball in rather than controlling the ball and only sending in one fore-checker. At the end of the first period, Drama Queens had a one-goal lead, while Jake-O-Lanterns held a 13 – 10 shot advantage.
In the second period, Jake-O-Lanterns took over this game with their constant team speed and never let up, scoring three goals in just over three minutes. It was Jake-O-Lanterns second line of George Medeiros-Angelo Deluca-Gino Tammaro that took over this game. With Drama Queens unable to counter, Jake-O-Lanterns kept fore-checking and applying pressure on the defense, causing turnovers. Even when Drama Queens was able to get the ball in deep, the defense of Jake-O-Lanterns quickly moved it up and out preventing any attack zone time. Four minutes into the period saw Angelo position himself in close and convert a rebound off the shots of George and Gino in close tying this game. Thirty seconds later saw Angelo make the play of the game as he showed a burst of speed to poke check the ball off the defenseman’s stick from behind in deep resulting in a turnover that saw George and Gino pass until they found Angelo wide open, giving Jake-O-Lanterns their first lead of the game which they would not relinquish. Three minutes later, Angelo completed his natural hat trick as he was set up in the high slot by the hustle of George and Gino. What was a two-goal lead, with the constant speed attack by Jake-O-Lanterns felt like a one-sided game. If not for the play of goalie Jake Brum, the score could have been a lot worse, as he did all he could to keep his team in this game. One other observation from the second period was captain Matty Iannello on the bench not returning to play with a lower body injury. At the end of the second period, Jake-O-Lanterns was clearly in charge with a 4 – 2 lead, and held an impressive 27 to 18 edge in shots.
Heading into the third period, Drama Queens was still in this game, but one could clearly see that Jake-O-Lanterns was clearly in control. With Matty still not available, it was surprising to see Ray Dow remain on defense for Drama Queens and not be shifted up to forward. After the game, it was confirmed that Ray was playing through a lower body injury himself. Any chance Drama Queens had of tying this game disappeared two minutes into the period on the power play as Gino blocked a shot out near the point and was off to the races and didn’t miss, scoring a huge insurance short-handed goal, taking the wind out of Drama Queens. The same pattern from the second period played out in the third period as every time that Drama Queens was able to get the ball in deep, the defense of Jake-O-Lanterns quickly moved it up and out preventing any attack zone time. With the game all but decided, Nick Doherty was set up by Steve Silveira with three minutes to play to account for the final scoring. Jake-O-Lanterns went from worst to first in capping off an amazing turnaround season. The final score was Jake-O-Lanterns 6 and Drama Queens 2, with Jake-O-Lanterns holding a relentless 39 – 24 edge in shots.
On the way to the Finals, Jake-O-Lanterns put an end to Olive Pits quest to become the only team in league history to win three championships in a row as Todd Bryson scored a hat trick opening up a four-goal lead and winning by the score of 4 -2. The three-peat was put to rest by the relentless team speed of Jake-O-Lanterns.
For Drama Queens, they jumped out to a three-goal lead against Shockwave then stifled any scoring attack by employing a suffocating team wide defense for a convincing 3 – 0 win in a defensive battle. Mike Surette, Manny Nunes and Tim Hickey each scored for Drama Queens.
For his overall play and hat trick and 1-assist in the Finals, Angelo “Kato” Deluca was named the Playoff MVP. For Angelo, it was his second Playoff MVP award.
For goalie Jake Deehan, it capped off an amazing turnaround season that saw Jake named the co-winner of the Richie Chambers memorial Best Goalie award, together with the Bill Mayne memorial award, in addition to winning the championship.
Congratulations to first time winners of the league championship Nick Doherty, Gino Tammaro and Jake Deehan. For Steve Silveira, it was his first championship since the Spring 2005 season.
Congratulations to the Jake-O-Lanterns team for their 2021 Déjà flu Season championship, whose players include: Captain Matty Iannello, Jon Picard, Carlos Machado, Nick Doherty, George Medeiros, Angelo Deluca, Gino Tammaro, Todd Bryson, Cappy, Steve Silveira, Steve Medeiros and Jake Deehan.
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