Over 30 Hockey League

Article 234 April 6, 2013

Game results and Player(s) of the Week

Week of March 30, (Game 1) – Whether or not you believe in coincidence or not, last week’s result between Midas Touch and the Wanna Be’s was just plain eerie and we think the Hockey Gods applied the law of karma against the Wanna Be’s.  The Gods giveth and the Gods taken away.  Two weeks ago, in the game played between the Wanna Be’s and On My Own, the Wanna Be’s trailed 1-0 with two minutes to play and John Kelleher scored a natural hat trick, including the game winning goal with 6 seconds to play to record the victory.  This past week, it happened in reverse to the Wanna Be’s as they led for most of this game, only to watch Midas Touch come storming back on the back of John Desmond’s natural hat trick, and game winning goal with ONLY 6 SECONDS LEFT in the game, to grab a 3 – 2 win!  Eerie indeed!

After a scoreless first period, and the goalies for both teams (Bill Gardynski Jr. of the Wanna Be’s and Jeff Deharo of Midas Touch) stopping every shot thrown at them (14 and 13 respectfully), the Wanna Be’s finally broke through on Nick Romano’s rebound shot out front at the six minute mark of the second period.  Four minutes later following a non-icing call, Gary Goodwin hustled down to the corner to pick up the loose ball and slam home a rebound past a surprised Midas Touch team.  All signs indicated that the Wanna Be’s were in control after two periods and headed for their fourth straight win.

However, Midas Touch did not earn their place as the first place team by lack of effort and hustle themselves, and gave notice that they too could come back and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  At the six and a half minute mark, John Desmond scored his first goal of the game on a shot from the left wing to make this a one-goal game.  A minute later, Dez was right back at it as the Wanna Be’s could not clear the ball from their defensive zone, resulting in a turnover as Dez was set up by Mark Stickney and Jim Barber.  Finally, Dez completed his natural hat trick in dramatic fashion as once again Midas Touch was swarming all over the Wanna Be’s and Dez scored in the crease on his third rebound attempt past the goalie with 6 seconds to play in the game.  Unbelievable!    

Week of March 30, (Game 2) – With a chance to take advantage of the Wanna Be’s losing this week and In Sinjin We Trust on a bye week, the Portuguese Pretenders played inspired desperate hockey to jump out to a commanding four goal lead after two periods and coast to a 4 – 1 victory over the suddenly struggling On My Own team.  With the win, the Portuguese Pretenders now have a chance to move up in the standings next week over the idle Wanna Be’s team into third place overall.  Coincidentally, they will face In Sinjin We Trust and can eliminate Sinjin from the playoffs and end any doubt about Sinjin coming back to defend their title.

The line of Dominic Defrancisco – Scott Young – Tony Medeiros played their best game of the season, and what a time to explode with an offensive production and statement.  Dominic got things started and sent a direct message to On My Own by scoring the game’s first goal only thirty seconds into this game, as he was set up by Tony and Scott.  Four minutes later, the Portuguese Pretenders got some unexpected help from their second line as Mike Pereira scored his first goal of the spring season, set up by Sergio Costa and George Medeiros.

In the second period, the backbreaking sequence of this game happened halfway through the period as Dominic scored again off a pass from Scott Young out front and only twenty seconds later, the first line scored again, as Tony Medeiros scored in front on a set-up by Dominic and Scott.  This sequence essentially sealed the victory for the Portuguese Pretenders even though there was still half a game to play.  Ray Dow did his best to get his On My Own team back into this game as he scored from the point, as he was set up by John Mastrocola and Carlos Machado at the four minute mark of the second period.  Too little, too late for On My Own though.

“There Goes Swifty”… the race is on...

The Over-30 League Leading Scoring Title is up for grabs again this season… Last season Anthony Lauletta ran with the title with 30-points and a lot of help from teammates Dave Curcio and Joe Mancinelli. With Anthony going down early in the season… a “Matty Iannello” repeat performance was out of the question.

With 2-weeks left to play in the regular season,we review the top 6 vying for the tile;

1) Mattay Iannello               12-goals, 9-assists (21-points)      

A proven points leader with an “All-time” League History leading (10-titles) to his name. Matty has to be the odds favorite to add yet another glass trophy to his vast collection of meaningless awards.

2) Mark Stickney                 7-goals, 14-assists (21-points)      

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Mark is the #2 dog in the race.., which is partly due to his league leading 14-assists so far this season. Mark could be the oldest recipient of this award, but he’s going to need a huge effort during his last game of the season this week.

3) John Desmond              10-goals, 11-assists (21-points)   

The guy with the real golden touch for Midas Touch and leading the team in goals and tied for 3^rd in the league with 10 tallies on the season (including a league leading 3 GWG).  Two weeks ago, Dez proclaimed prior to last week’s game that he would be tied for first in the race, and after posting a hat trick his prediction was true. However, he also has just one game left to turn points into gold.

4) Ray Nickerson                5-goals, 13-assists (18-points)      

The “All-time” League Leader in points, Ray is always a contender and probably would be leading the race… “if” he wasn’t consistently screwed by the refs on assists. Sitting tied for 2^nd in assists, Ray can probably name (4 or 5) of In Sinjin We Trust goals that he did not get credited for an assist on. So technically Ray has 26-points and probably will not be getting his name etched in glass this season.

5) Dave Curcio                    10-goals, 8-assists (18-points)      

A fairly new winner of the award (Spring 2012), Dave has the most production with the fewest games played with just 8 and a (2.25 points per game average). Had Dave not missed those 2-games, he too would be sitting on top with a projected 22-points. With 2-games to go… Dave has to not be “Own His Own” but instead ask for help from his teammates to make that final push for points.

6) Dominic DeFrancisco:              9-goals, 9-assists (18-points)        

This kid is what every Over-30 player wants… Speed, Talent and most importantly Youth!  An explosive player that some say could have been into the 30-point category by now had it not been for line-mates Tony Mederios and Captain Scott Young . Think about how many points Dominic would have if Tony learned to pass more (as he has only 7 assists) and Scott Young learned to finish more (as he has only 4-goals). Regardless, this kid could be the dark horse in the race.

Another week.., another couple of blown calls. If one more Ref says “That’s not my call”… I’m going to lose my mind a-la Jon Pickard. Thankfully he was not there to witness last week’s travesty of blown calls against Midas Touch.

We changed the identities of the Referees to protect their safety and their family’s safety.

First; A ref we’ll call (Donny) missed a BLATANT lob/icing courtesy of Nicky Romano’s stick 5-feet behind his defensive white line.., results in Gary Goodwin scoring on what should have been an icing call, but instead turns into a blast of a shot over Jeff Deharo’s shoulder. However the other ref we’ll call (Jorge’) observed the offense but hid behind the “that’s not my call” defense.

Second; Jason Glista’s spectacular acrobatics at the line to keep the ball in the offensive zone was quickly waived off by a ref we’ll call (Jorge’) who was 10-feet inside the offensive zone while the other referee we’ll call (Donny) was in position on the line observed and quickly concluded that Jason’s efforts were valid and the ball did not leave the zone as waived off by the other out of position ref (Jorge’)

Lastly; Neither (Donny) nor (Jorge’) gave an assist to Jim Barber who’s last second efforts clearly contributed to the 3-2 win with only 5-seconds left to play. First Midas Touch Captain Jim uses his finest judgment with only 20-seconds left in a tie game and calls for the best face-off centerman in the league Mark Stickney and the hot hands of the game John Desmond to take the draw in the offensive zone. With 20-seconds to play Jim’s first attempt at an assist was a pass to Mike Florentino (at the point) who’s blast was saved and redirected to the corner, where once again Jim sent pass #2 out front of the net where both Mark and Dez were camped so Dez could bury the GWG.

So I’m not sure what the biggest gaff of the game was for (Donny) and (Jorge’)

• A) Missing an icing call that resulted in a goal
• B) Blundering an offside call
• C) Screwing Jim out of an assist.

Oh!, and we do now that a player from the Wanna Be’s who we’ll call (William) was seen handing out checks to both (Donny) and (Jorge’).., a new low for the Over-30 League. Referee’s being paid off by a player on the loosing team… who was obviously paying for his pre-game purchases of a few bad calls against Midas Touch. For Shame!

What’s next? The Assistant League Director overlooking valid “Player of the week” efforts.., because he’s prejudice against a few award-worthy players??

While doing some research on Wikipedia I came across the subtle differences between Street hockey, Dek Hockey, and Ball Hockey

Street hockey (also known as Dek Hockey, Ball Hockey, and in some parts of Canada "Road Hockey")

Street hockey in pickup form is generally played under the following guidelines, since there are no "official rules" for local pickup hockey:

• Physical contact between players is extremely limited to avoid injury.
• Minimal amounts of hockey equipment by the runners are worn depending on player preferences.
• Players agree whether or not to allow slap shots and raising of the stick, both of which can incur serious injury to players since there is minimal equipment worn.
• Players determine whether to use a ball or a street hockey puck.
• There is no referee, except when agreed upon by both teams.

Dek Hockey rules stipulate the following:

• The center line is considered the off-sides line.
• You are not allowed to raise your stick above the shoulder at any time except when in the act of shooting or moving around another player while running.
• You cannot close your hand around the ball.
• Official rink dimensions are 160 feet in length by 80 feet in width

Ball Hockey rules stipulate the following:

• Offside is determined by a "floating blue line".
• You can raise your stick above the shoulder to call for a pass.
• You can close your hand around the ball provided that you bring the ball straight down to your feet and do not change the direction you are moving in.
• International rink dimensions are the same as international ice hockey rinks 197 ft × 98.4 ft.
• North American rink dimensions are the same as North American ice hockey rinks 200 ft × 85 ft.

So How about the best of all (3) worlds with the new... Over-30 League Hockey

Over-30 League Hockey (Being voted on for the Winter 2013 Season)

• Physical contact between players is extremely limited to avoid injury
• The center line is considered the off-sides line.
• You can raise your stick above the shoulder to call for a pass.
• You can close your hand around the ball provided that you bring the ball straight down to your feet and do not change the direction you are moving in.
• Smaller rink dimensions are 80 feet in length by 40 feet in width

And most importantly:

• There is no referee, except when agreed upon by both teams.

Tony… Tony… Tony… Wow! There you were all alone next to a half-open empty net with an easy “tap in” for a point and instead you roofed your shot into the netting above the glass.

I felt bad because I was there… the pressure… the stress… the sleepless nights replaying missed opportunities and of course the fans booing. It was a slow motion moment that quickly became humorous as the spectator next to me quickly yelled… “YOU STINK BONO!!”

The premise behind this individual challenge is simple. Tony’s offensive point production has steadily decreased ever since he reinvented himself as a defensive forward in the Over-30 league.  We thought that this scoring slump may have also been due to Tony trying to balance his Over-30 league responsibilities with his son’s hectic and always changing youth hockey schedules. Thus, Tony was the consensus second pick for the dreaded Pink Stick Bag Challenge to prove to us that we are all wrong in our assessment of his talents. Simply put, Tony has to score 9 total points this season.  Otherwise, the Pink Stick Bag will be passed down from the first original loser of this Pink Stick Bag Challenge, Jim Barber, and Tony will have to carry onto the rink with him his new pink stick bag during the 2013 winter season, courteous of the Over-30 league.  

For those of you who are counting, here are the game by game weekly running totals for Tony’s chase for pink stick bag infamy.  This table will be posted on the website on a weekly basis so that you can all place your side bets and have a good laugh at Mr. Bono’s expense.

Tony Bono Pink Stick Bag point Watch 2013