Over 30 Hockey League

Without a doubt, you mention these two players and everyone associates “the curse” with each of them.

Like Babe Ruth to the pre-2004 Red Sox, like King Tut to his tomb, like the Chicago Cubs and that damn goat, Dave Hill and Gary Goodwin have been infamously linked to Over-30 league history and curses. 

Even if you don’t believe in curses, the longer these two players play in the Over-30 league and watch rookies win a jacket before they win their first one, (year after year), you can’t help but admit that they are indeed cursed. 

Though each of them has played in multiple championship games, they still remain without that coveted first championship jacket.  Even smiling Pete Lodi won a jacket before these two.  When you mention to players that they will be playing this year on either Dave’s or Gary’s team in the Over-30 league, their first reaction is “oh great, I’m cursed.., I have no shot at winning a jacket.  I may as well just kiss my registration fee and a championship bid goodbye for this year.”

Nicknamed the “anchor,” for planting his heavy ass in front of the net and using its lethal force on unsuspecting opposing players (sometimes even on his own teammates), you could even say that Dave Hill has perfected the art of literally being an ass out on the rink.  Always standing up for the little man, the grunt, Dave can be heard loathing on the bench about the alleged superstars of the league, the Prima Donnas, the entitled ones who always want the ball but don’t want to come off the rink even after a 5 minute shift.    

Nicknamed “stone hands” for his lack of scoring ability, known for his helter skelter Tasmanian Devil style of playing with reckless abandon, Gary is also known as the player you can always count on to utter a few F*** bombs during his game.  This usually occurs after he has shot the ball wide of the net, into the goalie, up into the protective chicken wire surrounding the rink, or fanned his stick over the ball completely.  Gary has also perfected the art of transforming his hockey stick into a golf club to clear the ball out of his defensive zone.  

Rumors & Facts:

• Despite his nickname of “Stonehands”, Gary’s hands are not really made of stone.
• Gary updates the league career stats in a timely manner.
• Seeing how he has total control of the career stats updates, Gary is often tempted to put a “1” next to his and Dave’s name on the jackets won stat… but he knows, like touching the Over-30 trophy before winning it, is truly a jinx.
• Gary created an elaborate and complicated excel file for the entire league's history of stats that now only he can comprehend and support.  The league director, Scott Young, and Jim Barber have all read the Divinci Code to try and get clues on how Gary's complicated spreadsheet works and is maintained.  Good luck to the next one that takes over that task!

• Dave earned the nickname "The Anchor" because he was either a solid defenseman, or someone that can take the whole team down with him.
• Although Dave has always been known as a “throwback” hardnosed player, he apparently is getting softer in his old age and now apologizes for rough plays and stick infractions.
• Dave almost won a jacket in the early 2000’s, but playing in the final year of his contract with the Over-30 league, Dave became embroiled in a playing time dispute with team management, which lead to him intentionally sitting out and refused to play in overtime game during his team’s 14^th game of a 15 game season. He followed this up by walking away from the team and the league.  Players have always reminded Dave that you NEVER “DQ” yourself in the 14^th week of a season.   That team went on to win a championship jacket only 4-short weeks after his departure, and once they shook off “the curse?”.

#1 Rumor & Fact:

• Everyone thinks they will be the one to break the curse, and yet... no one has!  Next year, Matt Iannello will have his shot of winning that jacket for either Dave or Gary… or both???