Article 216 September 22, 2012
Game results and Player(s) of the Week
Week of September 8, first game – Kicking off the 21st season of the Over-30 league, Scott “the Finisher” Young’s insurance goal early in the third period held up as the game winner, as the Portuguese Pretenders held on for a 4 – 3 win over In Shannon We Trust. Dominic DeFrancisco scored the Over-30 league’s first goal of the new season, four minutes into the game and team mate Tony Medeiros increased the Portuguese Pretenders lead to two goals, scoring three minutes later. Ray Nickerson scored his first of two goals with just over two minutes to play in the period to make this a one goal game. In the second period, the team’s each scored a goal as Tony “the Munchcin” Mastrocola scored just over a minute into the second period to tie the game at 2-2, while the Portuguese Pretenders scored with just under three minutes left in the period to regain the lead. In the third period, Scott Young scored a minute and a half in to give his team a two goal lead again. Ray Nickerson scored halfway through the period to once again make this a one goal game and in the process kept complaining about why this team is giving Shannon all the promotion when he only had two assists in this game and Ray scored two goals.
Week of September 8, second game – A wide open shootout took place with Midas Touch outlasting On My Own in overtime by the score of 5 -4, showing everyone that they are the real deal and not a team known as Fool’s Gold. The shorthanded Midas Touch received all the help they would need from their first line of Mark Stickney – Rick Cassano – Angelo Deluca, as this line accounted for all the goals scored for their team. The duo of Angelo Deluca and Rick Cassano each scored 2-goals and added 2-assist, while Mark scored a goal and added an assist. For On My Own, prodigal son Joe “the Turtle” Mancinelli had a big game, scoring 2-goals and adding an assist, while rookie team mate Anthony Lauletta scored a goal and added 2-assists. A wild last two minutes of this game saw Mark Stickney score the go ahead goal with just under two minutes to play, only to watch the Turtle score with 50 seconds to play to tie it back up. Only 22 seconds into OT, Angelo scored from a bad angle after a save on a point shot, giving his Midas Touch team the win.
Week of September 15, first game – In a wild and wacky shootout that saw multiple changes of momentum, In Shannon We Trust outlasted On My Own and earn a 6 – 5 victory. Only two players from In Shannon We Trust failed to record a point in this game. Ray Nickerson stayed hot, scoring 2-goals and adding an assist, while his other “Big 3” line mates of Joe Shannon scored a goal and added 2-assists, and Matty Iannello finally got on the score sheet by recording 3-assists. Captain Dave Curcio of On My Own did his best to lead his team as he factored into every goal scored, by recording an assist on all five goals his team scored. Team mates Joe Mancinelli and Anthony Lauletta remained hot as the Turtle scored a natural hat trick and Anthony scored 2 more goals and added an assist.
Week of September 15, second game – After much anticipation, the Wanna Be’s finally made their league debut as they defeated the Portuguese Pretenders (and their lack of offense) by a 2 – 1 margin. This reporter can confirm that the final score was not as close as it appears as the Wanna Be’s had 7 breakaways throughout this game, but, failed to show any finish and put the ball into the net. Umberto Baldassarre’s goal and assist proved to be the difference in this game for his team, as was the overall team speed of the Wanna Be’s forwards. Niko Vramis also contributed to the victory by scoring a goal. For the Portuguese Pretenders, their lone goal was scored by Scott Young. Perhaps with October right around the corner, the Portuguese Pretenders are starting to turn into the Portuguese Pumpkins? Time will tell.