Over 30 Hockey League

Great Retirement

For those of you that care … this is Matty “The Great One” Iannello’s last game of the regular season.  With (1) guaranteed playoff game, anything after that is up to the players on Phoenix Rising to extend his final season.

With inductees like Ed Nigro and Scotty Young, Matty is a shoe in for the Over-30 Hall of Fame, it’s just a formality and collecting the inductee fees from the nominee.

Top Seed Battle

Today’s 6:30 game will be three things… a repeat of last season’s 2024 Winter Season championship finals … a battle for the top seed as the first-place team in the standings … and a potential preview of the rematch for the 2025 Spring Season championship finals.

If “America “Runs” on Dunkin” … then the 2025 Spring Season champions “Runs through the Dominions” as they are the DraftKings odds on favorite to win.

Special Announcement

Before one of the games this week … The League Director, Bill Abcunas will have a special announcement to reveal the 2024-2025 Mylec Player of the Year Award.

58-ballots were cast … every player got votes, but there can only be one winner, and that one winner will be announced tomorrow at either 4:30, 5:30 or 6:30, so listen up!

Also, the League Director and Assistant League Director will be handing out the 2025 Spring Season Player Awards, or as Sean Roach likes to call them “Back-to-back Bitches!!”

It’s Over!

The Pink Shirt Challenge is over for Scotty Rosato… current challenger Mark Stickney is 3-goals or 5-assists away from breaking his challenge and with today’s expected roster, Mark should take the shirt from Scotty before the game.

But seeing how Tony Bono passed his challenge with 25-seconds left to play in his last game of the season … we’ll wait until post-game to pass the shirt to the new rightful owner.

Oh, and Scotty, if you F’ this up… it’s on you!  This could be your last day in pre-game pink.

Spring Challenge

The following stats are updated… this is your last chance to beat your 2024 Winter Season stats.  Those of you who do will be qualified for the 2025 Spring Scoring Challenge Drawing when (1) winner will win a $75 Amazon Gift Card. 

The drawing will be held next Saturday before the 6:00PM game.

Currently (4) goalies are beating their previous season GAA, but that could change with today’s performance … and only (24) of the (61) eligible players have qualified (so far). 

There are (7) players to watch that need just a point (or two) to qualify… and the rest of the pack has a slim to no chance in hell of beating their previous season point totals.

Check out the names on the bottom … and good luck to those on the bubble.

Delayed Opening

Due to the newly imposed tariffs on construction materials and the mass deportation of all the laborers that were being used to build the tremendous hall … Creating the new Over-30 Hall of Fame has been a monumental task in terms of researching, creating, uploading and especially formatting.

The goal was to have it unveiled before the end of this season … but the reality is we need the (off season) and the uninterrupted summer months to really focus on the tasks at hand to do it right. 

The 30-year Anniversary Booklet went from a 30-page booklet to a 60-page booklet to the final 92-page booklet, because we wanted to do it right.  That booklet is now a priceless collector’s item and a masterpiece of the league’s 30-year history (up to that point).  We want to do the same for the Over-30 Hall of Fame.

The League Director requested a partial opening, but we want to open both the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Exhibits at the same time.  The Hall of Exhibits will document the league’s history, media coverage, league records, and current “All-Time” career stats.  We want the opening to reflect this season’s stats, and that is a summertime project after the spring season ends.

So, for those of you who are waiting (or care) … our apologies, we promise you that the Hall(s) will be ready for the 2025 Winter Season opening day.

We have late breaking news that just game into the Over-30 Sports Desk.  We just received and confirmed its sources (this morning) that Jon Brown is officially done for the season.  He has a lower body injury that will require that he shut it down and/or may face potential surgery.  Jon is also bowing out of the 2025 Players Jamboree.  But, he will be a top draft pick in the 2025-2026 Seasons.

With Jon’s confirmation of shutting it down for the season, and the team facing a 6-man potential this week, Cam Long was called up from the minors for his last “fill-in” assignment of the season. 

Cam will play today but not be eligible for the playoff despite Jon’s unexpected departure.

“Breaking the Ice”

He couldn’t “Break the Ice” because by the time he scored, the ice has been thawed for weeks now.

It only took 14-weeks 7-minutes and 48-seconds, but Jim Barber finally scored a goal on his dismal 1-goal and 3-assist season.  We tried to ask Jim for a comment on his only goal of the season and he said “We’re on to Phoenix Rising”

Dom-ination

Once again Dominions captain Dominic DeFrancisco does what he does best … put a team on his back and run into battle.  Dom had 2-goals and 3-assists to extend his lead on the leaderboard to 7-points.  Dom (37-points) leads both his teammate, Manny Nunes and Azores Express Gino Tammaro both with 30-points.

Manny who’s having his 2^nd best Over-30 season is just 5-points behind his personal best 35-points (11g-24a) set back in 2021 during his championship run with Omerta.

Not to be outshined Tony Medeiros scored a hat trick and we believe it was his second of the season.  We’re just glad Hammetime’s Donny Maccini wasn’t on the rink when Tony emphatically celebrated the goal to make it 6-1 with 3-minutes left, we all know how Donny likes when players emphatically celebrate goals.  He’s probably jealous because like Jim Barber he only has 1-goal on the season.

Broken Meter

We have more late “breaking” news… after missing last weeks game and 6-1 loss to the Dominions, after the game we found Rob’s Progress Meter (broken) as it looked like someone “stepped on it”

From here on out… the only measurement of Rob Sheridan’s road to recovery will be documented on the game sheets.  With one game left before the playoffs can Rob and the rest of Hammertime stop the losing streak at 4-games?

Will Rob send Matty Iannello to the locker room with a loss for his final regular season game of his career?  Tune in today at 4:30 to find out.

Playoff Vibe

If you wanted a preview of playoff hockey, and you stuck around for the 6:30 game … you got to witness what playoff hockey and playoff emotions looks like.  Azores Express captain Dave Costa didn’t let his team get down after being down 4-1.

The emotional comeback was intense with goals by Brian “Cappy” Capodilupo and Pedro Fontes to force overtime.

Game Changer

Noun: game changer;

Merriam-Webster (Definition): A newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way.

Last weeks interaction between Mike Duggan and Dave Costa was a “Game Changer”

With 3-unanswered goals already on the scoreboard, Mike celebrated his second goal of the game off a sweet Leo Trombley pass from the corner… “Doo-gan” celebrated the 4-1 lead a little too emotionally for Dave’s liking, and the Azores Express captain let him know by slashing his stick out of his hands and earning himself a 1-minute minor penalty.

For 60-seconds Dave sat in the box and stewed over his team’s 4-1 deficit.  Dave was so fired up that when he existed the box with 25-seconds left in the period he sprinted towards the ball and took it into the offensive zone with George Medeiros and together they made it 4-2 just 12-seconds after Dave’s exit from the sin bin.

That single event was the definition of a “Game Changer” as Azores Express went on to tie the game and earn a valuable point in the standings.

Chemistry

Barney & Friends captain Angelo “Kato” De Luca and newly hired hand Anthony Petrillo have one more week to take a crash course in “Chemistry”. 

“Kato” who was the pilot for his “Helicopter Line” needed another runner and scorer to help balance his team scoring potential.  After being bounced around the league for 2-seasons as a “fill-in”, Anthony found his forever home with Barney & Friends and just in time to compete for a championship.

Last Chance

This is it … last week and last chance for those players who have failed to light the lamp this season.  No pressure, but we like to use Dan Broderick, Mike Naczas and Colleen O’Connell as the watermark level for those players who haven’t scored a goal this season.  The only exception is, Colleen has a goal on the season and those two don’t (yet?)

While we’re at it … Here’s a list of the other players who have 30-minutes to try and get off the 2025 Spring Season “No goal” list.

Playoffs Reminder

For those players in “Hecklers Row” … this is your last week to be a “Heckler” as the playoffs start next week and we want those attendees in “Hecklers Row” to become fans and supporters of the playoff games and not chirping at the individual players.

Signing off

This is our last Forum edition for the 2025 Spring Season and the last edition until the 2025 Winter Season opening day.

Once again, we want to thank all those players who contributed to the forum stories in one form or another.  We always say, “The Forum writes itself” and thankfully you give the various reporters plenty of material.

We like to open each forum season with a motivation video… and typically like to close the season with a goodbye video.  With our newest fans in “Chicklets Corner” … we’ll dedicate this one to the ladies … as we say…