Over 30 Hockey League

Free Season

Congratulations Gary Goodwin as the “Season of Giving Back” started out extra special for “Stonehands” as he was the recipient of the 2^nd Annual “Mary & Diane Abcunas Memorial Award”.

Gary’s 2024 Winter Season dues will be waived this season…, but the question is will Gary make the most of his free season and stay healthy enough to score lots of “Free” points…, or will he use the opportunity to purchase more “spark plugs” and have others share in his new found wealth?

Microsoft Glitch

Unfortunately there was another worldwide “Microsoft Glitch” that affected our 2024 team photos.  Sorry for the inconvenience and it also should be noted that some players are being flagged for a redo.

We’re not sure of the exact technicality…, but will let the photographer explain:

Please be patient as we look to complete the photos ASAP.

Father Time

The cat is out of the bag for those who attended opening day ceremonies.  The Over-30 revealed the new 2024 “Father Time” logo.

Thank you Todd Bryson for taking all of the elements we wanted to highlight in our new logo.  With players in their 50’s and 60’s…, “Father Time” is slowly catching up to them…, and who knows how many grains of sand are left in the upper half of the hourglass for them.  So make sure you enjoy every season, every game, and every shift…, until “Father Time” comes a calling.

Power Rankings

We updated the 2024 Power Rankings to reflect last season’s stats.  Click the tab to the left "2024 Power Rankings" to see where you stand “All-Time”…, and we’ll ruin the surprise for you…, you’re not #1 (not even close).  That spot is still reserved for “The Great One” Matty Iannello…, but you can still see where you stand vs greatness.

Don’t forget to click back and read the rest of this week’s forum.

Also, for the goalies..., don't panic!  Your career stats and power rankings will be updated too (next week).  we just need to make sure we addressed all the ego's first.

Milestones

With the updated rankings comes the updated milestones.  The following players have been identified as a possible milestone achiever (even if it takes both seasons)

For those on the list below… Good luck!!  (Goalies - See note above)

Pre-game Warmups

Congratulations Eric Fortin you are the new “Cooch” with your rendition of his “Jane Fonda Workout” moves and his weird pre-game stretching.  But don’t stop on our part…, it seems to be working for you, as you posted 2-goals and an assist in your rookie debut.

Your pre-games stretches are the complete opposite of “The Great One” Matty Iannello who post-surgery still doesn’t do any warmup stretches.  The extent of his pre-game  “stretches” is putting his butt end of his stick onto the dek and carefully bending that plastic blade to the precise curve.

Hot New Goalie

There’s a hot new goalie in the league… in recent years it was Jake Brum who started out on fire (and the fizzled out after an injury)…, then it was Steve Taddonio who went undefeated (before he stunk it up)…, and now the new hot goalie after his week #1 performance is AJ Larrabee.

This is what “Old Man” Dan Broderick sees during warmups… A hot new goalie with a mad "set of skills" that might actually be his swan song goalie this season, and retire with a championship.

@mikaylademaiterr

⚡️

♬ Back In Black - AC/DC

Penalty Line Up

Every couple of seasons we see a new first in the Over-30 League when it comes to Refereeing.  A few years ago, it was the “goal that was heard, but never seen”. 

This year it was the first ever “Over-30 Penalty Lineup” where the injured party got to pick his perpetrator out of a line up on the others team bench,

Hammertime defenseman John Carey took a highstick to the chin (drawing blood) while in his own defensive zone.  The problem was that the play continued for so long into the offensive zone that the penalty that the Referee was calling had forgot who the assailant was.  He looked to John on the bench to help identify the guilty party and get his attacker in the box for 2-minutes.

Turns out the culprit was not #5..., it was #10 (a fill-in player for M*A*S*H) who was described as the guy with the long hair and (ironically) he was wearing Jim Barber’s old Olive Pits #10 jersey.

Personal Footstool

Thank you, Dave Giusti, for your charitable contribution as a personal footstool for Donny Maccini who was called for holding.  Without your brave sacrifice the game could have gone into the 8:00 hour if we had to watch Donny struggle to leap into the penalty box to serve a one minute penalty.

In case you missed it… After seeing Donny get called for a holding penalty, Dave sprinted from his own net and beat Donny to the penalty box, and quickly got down on all fours.  Dave had to tell Donny (who got a little excited at first) that he was just  “helping” him into the penalty box and not “humping” him into the penalty box.

You’re a brave man Dave…, others would not have gotten in that position to help and would have just instructed Donny to walk around the rink.

So how does Donny pay you back for your kind gesture…, He smokes your “Get that shit outta here” defenseman Mike Naczas to the ball..., and takes it in for a one-on-one breakaway.  

All this time (while Donny was looking back at Naz in his rearview mirror) he simultaneously watched you flopping around in front of your net like an Australian Olympic Breakdancer.  Donny just waited for your routine to be over and just simply undressed you in front of your bench for the GWG.

Head Start

Mike Duggan was a Week #1 “No Show”…, rumor has it just like Roger Goodell’s 4-game suspension of Tom Brady…, Mike is giving the rest of the league a head start before he starts ripping off hat tricks and 6-goal games.

Plus, don’t forget he’ll miss the Topsfield Fair (Saturday game) when he puts on the matching vests with his fiancée, grabs a pumpkin spice latte and visits the spot where he gave up his freedom with those four simple words… “Will you marry me?”

Dynamic Duo’s

A few years ago, we highlighted our own international competition with Team Portugal vs Team Italy vs Team Mongrel.

With the new season underway…, we wanted to design another internal competition, but we didn’t want to use the top line from each team (or nationalities). We’re more interested in the “Batman and Robin” combinations, aka the “Dynamic Duo” for each team…, (and) we wanted to compare them to other famous crime fighting duo’s throughout television history.

We will track their performances throughout this season to see who is the most successful “Dynamic Duo” in the league.

There are only two “Jokers” in our new fundraising game we’re calling “Joker’s Wild” that’s not hosted by Jack Barry…, but brought to you by our new Director of Fundraising Tony Medeiros.

Tony’s first fundraising event as the new director is designed to be a little fun with zero skill.  Unlike the bowling a turkey idea that the ALD Mike Naczas once pitched for the holidays.

Joker’s Wild is a double-sided game board with all 26-red cards (and the red joker) on one side… and all 26-black cards (and the black joker) on the other side. 

Not even Tony knows where the Jokers are randomly hidden.

Players can purchase a card for $10 and sign their name on the card.  Once all 27-cards are sold on either side… Tony will randomly flip over the cards of the completed side until the Joker is revealed and that lucky player will win $180.

Once we complete the other side…, we will do the same, another $180 to the Joker winner.

As part of the “Season of Giving Back”…, the leagues Accounts Payables Department will round that number up to an even $200 (per joker).

New Challenger

Ok Scotty Rosato…, this may be your last season wearing that pink warm-up shirt…, and to even the playing field, we offered the new challenger Sean Roach the same “Blind Goalie Challenge” that you came sooooo close to passing (but failed!)

For those who don’t know what the challenge is…, We challenge a goalie in the Winter Season (only), before the draft is announced.  Sight unseen of his team and defense…, he must beat a predetermined goals against average based on his historical stats.

The goalie without knowing who their teammates are or their defensemen in front of him are... is issued the challenge over the summer and then given a sealed envelope to sign with their historical goals against average inside.  That GAA gets nudged slightly and they must beat that mystery number by a single decimal point.

Now for the debate… because this reporter looked at the previous MISI Champions and didn’t see Leo in the 2023 Hook’ems championship photo, assumptions were made.

Since Leo didn’t play in the 2024 MISI championship game… is he really a 3x "consecutive" champion?  What if he played in that game and missed his 2 or 3 wide open net chances (and choked) and they lost as a result?

Or... and you can debate this; Is Leo just trying to steal Mike Surette's limelight?

Engaged

Congratulations Pedro Fontes on your recent engagement to your #1 fan Janet.

Janet has attended more Over-30 games in a single season than almost half the league.  Congratulations to you both.

To Pedro:  Just remember what Mike Duggan’s engagement did to his game.  He tanked for a while before it got better.

To Janet:  Pedro might be that knight in shinning armor…, but just remember one thing…, “A Billion Dollars” is a lot of money.

Players Wanted

We are looking for 10-12 players from the Over-30 League (to represent the brand) and play in the Thursday night Hockeytown league.  Last winter season several players played on the “Over-30 Masters” team…, but did not play in the summer league.

We are looking to put another team in for this coming winter season.  If your looking to play please reach out to Jim Barber.