Back in 1992, it started as an idea, a dream, to create an invitational only league that friends and players I competed with and against could call our own. After playing the tournament circuit from 1979-1986, I personally wanted more than just to play in an average house league. I wanted to keep challenging myself and my skills.
33-years later…, this dream continues with some of the same older veterans I grew up with still competing together with the next generation of new players. We wanted a league offering something more than just a neighborhood vs. neighborhood parking lot game or a local house league.
We started playing on Sunday mornings up at Hockeytown with five teams. As word of mouth got out, the league started to grow featuring more tournament level players competing with house league players. It didn’t matter if you were an elite player or an average player, the principles to which the league has strived to follow include having fun while playing, using a draft system to pick and balance teams (by ranking players) to provide the best competition while adhering to the team concept and recognizing individual accomplishments through a well-organized entity.
Over the years, the league has traveled to play games at (3) different facilities and locations. These included; Hockeytown USA (Saugus), Greater Boston Indoor Sports (Revere), Tewksbury Sports World Indoor Center (Tewksbury). Throughout the years, the league has had over 450-players participating, with as many as 9-teams competing for a championship jacket and their name engraved on the Over-30 trophy.
The league has created a website and weekly newsletter to keep the players informed, along with providing weekly awards recognizing player(s) performances and accomplishments.
Historic moments of the league include Matty Iannello, aka “The Great One”, becoming the All-Time Career Leading Scorer in Goals (510) - Assists (754) - Points (1264). Ed Nigro is the only player to play in every season and has won 16-championships out of 24-attempts (4x Back-to-Back). The Spring 2010 team of Bad Call winning the championship and breaking “The Curse” of the two longest active players without a championship (Dave Hill & Gary Goodwin). 3-teams have won back-to-back championships during a three-year consecutive span from 2013 till 2016 which include: Shooting Stars, Goodfellas, HABitual Complainers. The ONLY "undefeated" team ever to win a championship took place in the Spring 2023 season as the Roadrunners posted a record of 17-0-0 as they were perfect!
Three Players have won 4-Consectutive Championships; Pat Pirone (2008-2009), Jamie Kehoe (2013-2015), Tony Bono (2014-2016). None of them made it to the finals for an attempt at a 5th.
|
