Week of November 9, (Game 1) – In a crucial game that would go a long way to determine if Blame the Girl will keep rolling right along and wrap up first place overall in the Over-30 winter 2013 standings, the Shooting Stars had the opportunity to temporarily slow the juggernaut Blame the Girl team down. They failed to. Blame the Girl featured a balanced scoring attack, smothering team defense, and almost impenetrable goaltending to post a 3 – 1 victory.
As they have done in seven of their previous eight games played, Blame the Girl came out fast and often, pressuring their opponent’s defense with hustle and fore checking in scoring early in the game. Just over four minutes into the game, after a turnover, Blame the Girl was off to the races as Naz pushed the ball up to Dominic Defrancisco who found rookie Chris Ponte breaking down the right wing, who beat the goalie glove side. Two minutes later, the Shooting Stars answered right back off a turnover, as John Desmond scored from the high slot on a bullet pass from Mark Stickney. However, in what would hold up as the critical play of this game, only nine seconds later off the faceoff, Naz spotted John Leite open on the right wing who took the defenseman down deep and found Tony Medeiros in the high slot, whose deflected shot eluded the goalie to put his Blame the Girl team back on top. Simply put, it was early in the game, but this was a killer goal!
Early in the second period, Blame the Girl’s first line struck again. This time, Dominic found himself open off the left wing in close off a feed from Tony and John to increase his team’s lead. From this point on, the team defense of Blame the Girl took over, preventing any quality scoring chances to develop. After three straight wins where their second line has stood out and carried the offense for the Shooting Stars, this same trio came up empty and failed to record a single point.
Week of November 9, (Game 2) – How many more heartbreaking last second losses can the Golden Oldies endure before they are mentally done for the season? For the third time this season, the Golden Oldies jumped out to an early two goal lead in the first period, only to watch in stunned silence as their opponent scored in the waning second s of the game. Sticking the dagger in the heart of the Golden Oldies team this time was Cuckoo’s Nest, as they completed their comeback, scoring the winning goal with only three seconds left in the game, to win 4 – 3. Ouch!
Less than a minute into this game, Joe Mancinelli rifled his shot past the goalie as he was set up by Mauro Colucciello. Just over two minutes later, Anthony Lauletta scored from the high slot area as he was set up by Dan Broderick and John Coluciello. For most of the period, the Golden Oldies were controlling the play, keeping Matty Iannello contained and quiet. When Cuckoo’s Nest did generate a scoring opportunity, there was goalie Matt Anctil to make the key save for them.
In the second period, both teams generated some scoring chances, but, it was soon apparent that Cuckoo’s Nest was quicker to the ball and controlling the play. In gaining the momentum and pressuring the opponent’s defense this soon resulted in a power play opportunity. Cuckoo’s Nest did not fail to capitalize as Mike Fleming and Dan Driscoll moved the ball D-to-D on the point before finding Ray Nickerson all alone on the right wing whose one-timer sailed right past the goalie.
The third period was where all the excitement played out in this game. After a quiet two periods, Matty Iannello started getting noticed as the premier playmaker that he is. With three minutes to play in the game and his team down by a goal, Matty I. rose to the challenge. First, he found himself playing defense on the right point, and Mike Fleming passed across the point where Matty’s bomb from the point found the back of the net. Taking advantage of the huge momentum swing, Matty shifted back up front and scored off a rebound out front of a Ray Nickerson shot, set up by Mike Fleming. Fighting back, the Golden Oldies Anthony Lauletta countered, set up by Dan Broderick and Joe Mancinelli to tie the game. However, heartbreak struck again for the Golden Oldies as Ray Nickerson scored with only three seconds to play, sliding on his knees, as he was set up by Matty and Dan Driscoll.
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