Dominions Derail Azores Express
After rolling through the regular season and their first playoff game with a combined 13-2-1 record, winning games in a blowout or grinding out close games, Dominions got their first real test this season, struggling to get their game and offense going for two and a half periods in the Finals. That is until an unexpected playoff hero emerged who will go down in Over-30 league history (more on this later), ignited his team’s momentum, as the Dominions stormed back from a two-goal deficit with just over five minutes to play in the game, for a shocking comeback win over Azores Express, by a score of 3 – 2 in OT. Dominions proved that they were indeed the best team of the Winter 2024 season!
If any team was hot at the right time heading into the playoffs, it was Azores Express, as they won a huge season ending game to climb out of the cellar and into fourth place overall, while overcoming some season long chemistry issues. That momentum carried them into the Finals where they were on a three-game winning streak. Dominions was even more impressive as they carried a four-game winning streak into the playoffs, scored the most goals of any team this season, while giving up the fewest. They were the consensus most balanced, fastest and productive team.
Headed into the Finals, during the regular season, Dominions swept the head-to-head series 3 – 0 between the teams and outscored them by a 16 – 3 goal differential. But all that didn’t matter as the first period played out. Everyone expected that Dominions would come out fast with their forechecking game taking a lot of shots. What nobody saw coming was how Azores Express flipped the script with their own running and swarming forechecking game preventing Dominions to get their game going. In fact, what was evident right from the start that this game would be determined by the defenses. How dominant were the defenses on both teams? There wasn’t a shot recorded on net for the first seven minutes. Teams had to settle for a dump it in strategy. After failing to convert on a powerplay, Azores Express gained momentum as they scored at 2:18, as Pedro Fontes was set up thirty feet out dead center by George Medeiros and Alex Loene, as his shot through a screen beat the goalie five hole. The edge in the first period definitely belonged to Azores Express who were quicker to the ball on the forecheck and kept moving the ball out of their defensive zone smartly. At the end of the first period, Azores Express had a surprising 1 - 0 lead while outshooting Dominions 5 – 1. Only 5 SHOTS ON NET by Dominions!
The second period continued to play out similar to the first period, as both defenses settled in with Azores Express working their running forechecking game to perfection. However, Dominions finally woke up and started countering with their own running forechecking game while generating more shots on net. At the 5:13 mark, Gino Tammaro managed to find some space a little further out above the right circle, as he was set up a pass from Mike Luise, and ripped a snapshot low glove side past the goalie to give his team a commanding two goal lead. A huge momentum boost for Azores Express that energized the entire team, as they pressed to deliver the knockout third goal punch to take complete control of this game. At the end of the second period, it was Azores Express leading Dominions by a 2 – 0 score, with Azores Express outshooting their opponent by a 13-8 differential.
As the third period started out, Azores Express had control of this game and were shutting down the offense of Dominions. However, playing some desperate hockey, you could see Dominions get the ball in deep, cycling, and generating scoring chances by simply throwing the ball on net as often as possible. Perhaps overlooked here was the key “in game” adjustment made by Dominions as they reunited and loaded up their first line of Dominic Defrancisco – Manny Nunes – Tony Medeiros. Adding to this, Dominions found themselves on the powerplay two minutes into the period, had a lot of different looks but didn’t take the open shots; instead looking for the extra pass. As that penalty expired, Dominions took a penalty giving Azores Express the opportunity to ice the game. Azores Express had some looks but didn’t score.
With the clock ticking down to the halfway point, all looked lost for Dominions to get back into this game until something very unexpected happened (twice). At the 5:29 mark, John Hines on the right point could have shot the ball but instead passed it over to Shawn Mulcahy on the left point just inside the blue line. Shawn got the ball and never hesitated as his slapshot broke through a screen of players in front of the net for Dominions first goal. Thirty-four seconds after that LIGHTNING STRUCK TWICE as Dominic hustled and broke up the defense and found Shawn open again on the left point who scored again through a partial screen at 4:54. Dominions literally had one foot in the grave and made an amazing comeback, thanks to those goals scored by Shawn. It was a game changing impact play at the right time that gave Dominions all the momentum heading into overtime. At the end of the third period, the game was tied 2 – 2, with Dominions holding a slight edge in shots at 19 to 17.
Early in overtime, on a play that came out of nowhere at 7:34, Dominions stormed all the way back scoring the game’s last three unanswered goals as Dominic swooped in at the top of the crease with bodies in front, to put back quickly a rebound of a Ray Dow slapshot from the left point. It came quickly, dashing the hopes of a stunned Azores Express team. Remarkably for Dominic, it was his only point recorded during the playoffs. Talk about making it matter when needed! Game over. Let the celebration begin for Dominions, as the final score was Dominions 3 and Azores Express 2 in overtime. Final shots had Dominions holding a slight edge of 20 – 17.
On the way to the Finals, the top seeded Dominions in the semifinals, dominated the Hammertime team winning 6 – 0, breaking this game open in the second period led by a Manny Nunes hat trick and 1-assist and goalie Sean Roach posting the shutout. For captain Dominic it avenged last year’s disappointment of having the top team and losing in the first round of the playoffs. For Azores Express, their three-way combination timely scoring by the offense, quick transition out of their own defensive zone by the defense, and solid goaltending drove their playoff run. In the quarterfinals, they overcame a one-goal deficit in the second period to score the next four unanswered goals, led by Gino Tammaro’s hat trick and 2-assists, to beat M*A*S*H by a 6 – 3 score. In the semifinals, they upset the favored and second playoff seed Phoenix Rising team with a 3 – 0 shutout, led by Gino and Pedro’s goals, and goalie Jake Deehan’s shutout.
Shawn Mulcahy’s completely unexpected (no one could see this coming) moment coming out of nowhere, solidified his place forever in Over-30 league playoff history (think back to the Winter 2010 season and Tom Bardascino scoring 2-goals in the third period). As a retired mailman Shawn made the biggest on-time delivery of the mail, with his 2-goals that had THE biggest impact in the outcome of this game, earning him the unanimous choice of Playoff MVP.
Congratulations to first time winners of the league championship, Derrick Power, Chris Torres and John Hines.
Congratulations to the Dominions team on winning the Winter 2024 championship of the Over-30 league. Players include: Captain Dominic Defrancisco, Tony Medeiros, Manny Nunes, Rick Cassano, Pat Pirone, Derrick Power, Ray Dow, Chris Torres, John Hines, Shawn Mulcahy and goalie Sean Roach.
|
