Week of October 12, (Game 1) – Every so often, an Over-30 team will need its second line to step up big and provide a much needed lift, be the catalysts and heroes, for their team. Such was the case last week as the Shooting Stars received a tremendous performance from all three players on their second line in defeating White Lightning, by a 5 – 2 score.
White Lightning, still searching for their first win of the season after five games, came out flying and carried both the pressure and the play in the first period. That pressure paid off as Dave Curcio scored off a rebound, set up by Scott Young and Jim Clarke with just over a minute to play.
Continuing to carry the play, White Lightning created some prime scoring chances. If it wasn’t for the stellar play of goalie Bill Gardynski Sr. in net, this easily could have been a two or three goal lead for White Lightning. Inspired by their goalie, the Shooting Stars used that momentum to take the lead, scoring two goals in a span of 38 seconds. First, John Mastrocola scored off a scramble out front, and then Mark Stickney followed that with a brilliant unassisted goal, as he froze the defenseman to the outside, quickly shifted inside, and angled around another player to score far side.
A minute into the third period, Sergio Costa FINALLY scored his first goal and point of the season after five games played, on a slap shot from the right wing to give his Shooting Stars team a commanding two goal lead. A minute later however, Niko Vramis scored out front as White Lightning picked up the pace to make this a one goal game again. With five minutes to play, John Mastrocola scored his second goal of this game off a rebound as his team mates Sergio Costa and George Medeiros hemmed the defense in. Rounding out the scoring, saw John Desmond score off the left wing with just over two minutes to play, set up by Umberto Baldassarre and Jim Barber, to seal the win.
Week of October 12, (Game 2) – In a battle between the Over-30 league’s two hottest teams, Blame the Girl exploded and ran wild in the third period, thanks to Dominic Defrancisco, to defeat Cuckoo’s Nest by the score of 3 – 1. With the win, Blame the Girl remained undefeated for the season, going five games without a loss.
Halfway through the first period, Mike Fleming scored off a bomb from the point to give Cuckoo’s Nest the early lead. After a scoreless second period, and Cuckoo’s Nest nursing a one goal lead, Blame the Girl finally woke up, specifically, Dominic Defrancisco. It was all Dominic and Blame the Girl in the third period as their relentless running and fore checking finally took a toll on their opponent. A minute into the third period, Dominic was set up on the left wing by Tony Medeiros. Three minutes later, Dominic’s hustle paid off again as he scored out front off a rebound of another Tony Medeiros shot to give his team its first lead of the game. Not letting up the pace by Blame the Girl, soon took its toll on the tired defense of Cuckoo’s Nest as Dominic scored in close to complete his hat trick, set up a third time by Tony Medeiros as well as by John Leite.
How dominant was the third period by Blame the Girl? They out hustled and outshot Cuckoo’s nest by a 14-7 differential. Goalie Bill Gardynski Jr. is having a career season for the ages in net, only giving up 4 goals after 5 games played. He has a real shot of eclipsing Jim Osgood’s modern day record set back in 2006 of playing in at least 10 games and only allowing 14 goals in 11 games played, with a 1.27 GAA and 0.940 save percentage.
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