Week of November 14 (Game 1) – There is an old saying “anything you can do I can do better” that Island of Misfit Toys made a reality after feeling the pressure from Consigliere’s huge upset win over HABitual Complainers the previous week that reduced Island of Misfit Toy’s lead for that final playoff spot to only a single point. Inspired by the Over-30 debut of fill-in goalie Sean Roach, Island of Misfit Toys not only shut out Labatt Blues by a 3 – 0 score, but, accomplished what no other team had done so far this season, shutting out Shawn Miville on the score sheet.
After a scoreless back and forth first period that saw both teams create scoring chances, Labatt Blues gained the advantage late in the second period as they went on the power play. However, Mike O’Neil turned the tables on Labatt Blues by scoring the game’s first goal short-handed on a brilliant individual effort.
The game remained in favor of Island of Misfit Toys late into the third period when captain Matty Iannello scored off some hard work of Sergio Costa and Ray Nickerson. With less than a minute to play, Ray was set up on the wing by Matty for the open net goal to put this upset win in the books.
With the win, Island of Misfit Toys accomplished two things; first, they increased their lead for that final playoff spot to three points, and second, they snapped Labatt Blues four game winning streak. In the process, as previously mentioned, they also snapped the 8 game scoring streak by the league’s leading scorer Shawn Miville. This was due in large part to the superb play of fill-in goalie Sean Roach. This was a complete total team effort on the part of Island of Misfit Toys.
Week of November 14 (Game 2) – Stuck in the midst of a three game losing streak, Broken Promises needed a confidence-building win if they were going to make a push late in the season and qualify for the playoffs. The road would not be easy as they faced off against one of the hottest teams of late, Consigliere, who was coming off a huge upset win last week. Broken Promises scored some timely goals and took advantage of their opponents mistakes, to walk away with a convincing 3 – 0 win over Consigliere.
With both teams hungry for a win, each team generated some scoring opportunities in the first period, only to have the goalies making some timely saves and looking sharp in the process. First it was Scott Rosato of Broken Promises stopping every shot, which was followed up by Alby Luise himself shutting the door.
Late in the second period, in a scoreless defensive game, a defensive mistake by Consigliere on the left wing was taken advantage of by John Kelleher who moved into the middle and found a wide open Mauro Colucciello on the right side. Mauro had time and didn’t miss as he used the defenseman as a screen beating the goalie short-side, giving Broken Promises the lead.
Throughout this game, Broken Promises kept running and fore-checking and it paid off early in the third period during a keystone cops moment involving the goalie and defenseman for Consigliere. With Broken Promises John Colucciello jumping up into the offense, a miscommunication between the Consigliere goalie and defenseman resulted in a collision and the ball rolled into the slot to a wide open Niko Vramis for an easy open net goal (Merry Christmas Niko). Less than two minutes later, with Consigliere scrambling around in their own defensive zone, John Mastrocola scored top corner short side (atoning for the earlier miss of a wide open net in the second period) to put this game away for Broken Promises. Scott became the first goalie this season to post two shut-outs.
