Grunts are people too
For all you “grunts” and “blue collar” role players or players in the Over-30 league who have never made the Forum, or only been mentioned maybe one time, this is a long overdue way for the Over-30 league to recognize you and your efforts……just because you may play a boring style of hockey, never stand out on the rink, never utter any controversial comments, manage to trip over your own feet, and just don’t catch the eye of the web master, your efforts should still get recognized. So for John Leite, Steve Oppedisano, Shawn Wyatt, Mike Delorey, Tony Mastrocola, Umberto Biancardi, Mike Hollingsworth, Brien Sullivan, Ed Nigro, Derrick, Power, Luigi Derenzes, Derek Shaw, George Medeiros, Sergio Costa, Jim Clarke, Sal Provanzano, Jason Glista, John Kelleher, Joe Mancinelli, Tony Bono, Angelo Deluca, Rick Cassano, Mike Collins, Jamie Kehoe and Mario Deluca we give you the spotlight for one week.
Okay your time is up’ it’s time to get back to focusing on the interesting players in the
Follow the yellow brick road
Tony aka the Munchkin Mastrocola played his best game of the season last week and was a big influence in the outcome which turned into a victory for his team. With his team clinging to a one-goal lead, Tony first scored the big insurance goal mid-way through the third period, then followed that up with an open net goal. It was Tony’s first multi-goal game in years.
Ironically, Tony accomplished his feat playing against his brother John Mastrocola’s team. However, John was not present at this game. Unconfirmed reports claim that John was seen following the yellow brick road and ended up in sunny warm Florida for the week. After finding out about Tony’s performance, John commented “that would never happen on my watch.”
We want to give Tony credit for coming back from a major core injury after taking a year off to rehab, but before we do that, we want to check with John for his permission to actually give Tony any credit on a job well done and show him the proper respect.
Team captains……necessary or just figureheads?
Team captains, do they really make a difference? Do they really take a leadership role on their teams and lead by example? We know that the Great One Matty Iannello is one of the top players in the Over-30 league and always finds himself near the top of the scoring leaders. However, he always finds one of his underlings to manage the in game proceedings and behind the scenes responsibilities.
Verdict – figurehead.
The living legend Dan Broderick is still coaching his team as if he was back in 1984 coaching the Seahawks. Dan can still be seen wearing his traditional green Seahawks tournament t-shirt under his Over-30 shirt during his games.
Verdict – necessary as Dan is a captain for life in the Over-30 league.
For Who Needs Superstars, there is no captain, rather three assistant captains in Mike
Luise, Ray Dow and John Mastrocola. Enough said.
Verdict – figureheads.
Team captains…….. necessary or just figureheads (Part 2)
Let’s not forget about Scott Young and Jim Barber here. The Pretender Scott also known as “El Baby” has been more of an absentee captain this season than an actual captain, missing multiple games due to injury and family commitments. When he has managed to show up and play for his team, the record of the team is 1 – 2. Clearly not leading by example. When he did show up to play last week, the league front office mandated that Scott wear a name badge, walk around before his game to re-introduce himself to his players, and to cover up that captain’s C. Oh and his team lost. You could tell El Baby was there as throughout this game, the referees got an earful and were complaining of headaches after the game.
Verdict – usually necessary, but, this year has been downgraded to figurehead.
Jim has missed two games this season and both times his team has won. Clearly his leadership role and managerial skills are not needed by his team as they clearly can fend for themselves. When watching captain Jim on the rink he reminds us of one of those table hockey players going straight up and down the rink, never deviating from that straight line. Everyone knows that he owes those 3 consecutive jackets more to Dez and Mark Stickney than to any captain leadership skills.
Verdict – glorified figurehead
Why Pink is the favorite color of the Over-30 league
For those of you who have not been paying attention and following the weekly non-accomplishments of Tony Medeiros in his chase to beat that Pink Stick Bag challenge, he only has three games left to play and still needs to score 6 goals. Will he do it?
The jury is still out here as Tony is very capable of scoring goals in bunches…….plus there is always the Dominic factor playing a role in this. We know of one player in the Over-30 league who is enjoying watching Tony’s weekly struggles – Matty Iannello the current owner of the pink stick bag.
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